Viktoria

Marduk - “Viktoria” 2018

Marduk
“Viktoria”

Origin: Norrköping, Östergötland, Sweden

Genre: Black Metal

Label: Century Media

“Panzer Division Marduk” - probably the most infamous war-themed BM record ever created. Fucking brutal, man, and the sheer power/momentum of whole thing like a thousand panzers cruising balefully over corpse heaps onward toward the next front - unstoppable in their path - the rumble and the crunch of earthen soil like the sound of every grinding passage. Hardware barking, code red alarms sounding and the charge is on! Black metal of the most impossibly savage variety to see you off into the minefield. Shit, dude, how do you top an album like that? You don’t…

Marduk have released a few war-themed (WWII) albums and not too many squadrons out there monger war with as much passion as they. But “Viktoria”? Released in 2018 via Century Media and boy, what a broke-dick album in comparison to the above-mentioned gem. It’s war! And this is boring… The glory of “Panzer” was in its chaotic energy. Each cut, aside from the two blasphemy-based tracks, captures the total fucking chaos of battle: unforgiving, unrelenting and unending. This just sounds like Marduk threw something together for the label. That’s not the reality of it, but to call this album anything more than uninspired would be a sin. You’ll hear those telltale swirlingly chaotic riffing patterns, machine-gun blasts and a ton of aggression… It just doesn’t sound organic. “The Last Fallen” - a valiant effort that features all of those juicy components, sounds decent, but as I mentioned before, doesn’t feel like war… Just feels like a mediocre Marduk track. So fucking studio clean and devoid of that whole historic vibe that made “Panzer” so special.

Sweep it under the rug, not even worth remembering… Marduk released one of their finest volumes in “Memento Mori” last year and appear to be on the path toward forgetting about “Viktoria”. They do death better these days anyway. Maybe because they’re getting old. I’m not too far behind… What “Viktoria” lacks, the new album makes up for in spades and Marduk’s energy feels like it’s where it needs to be. They sound inspired. All artists have thrown pieces together out of boredom. That’s what “Viktoria” feels like, but when an artist is truly inspired and in tune with their passion, then you get “Panzer Division Marduk” and “Memento Mori”. Their entire discography except for this album, this travesty, this entire battalion of Uphams type of war record…

Experience “Viktoria” by Marduk right here as presented by Black Metal Promotion:

https://youtu.be/SlTAI1-Wipo?si=MVymRG9cyPBrqBg6

~Jeger