CoC : Marduk - Plague Angel : Review

Marduk - _Plague Angel_
(Regain Records, 2004)
by: Jackie Smit (8.5 out of 10)

So this is it: Marduk, fourteen years and nine albums into a career that in this writer's opinion has teetered between mediocre and overrated. Yet there's something different about _Plague Angel_, a sense that the band has at long last managed to reach that previously unattainable level where they are able to consolidate their greatest assets and do away with that which held them back. Hard as it may be to believe, boys and girls, _Plague Angel_ is the sound of Marduk growing up, even though on first impression it isn't exactly a drastic stylistic departure from the breakneck blasting of _World Funeral_ or _Panzer Division Marduk_. Hell, there's enough misanthropic venom coursing through "The Hangman of Prague" and "Throne of Rats" to power small cities. Likewise, the introduction of the infinitely superior Mortuus to the vocalist's podium proves to be a boon for the band in every respect, and while it's highly debatable whether or not Marduk are -- as their press release claims -- the only true black metal band around, _Plague Angel_ is definitely one of the best releases of its kind this year so far.

Contact: http://www.marduk.nu

(article published 29/11/2004)

CHATS
11/4/2009	J Smit	Marduk: Unholy Blasphemies
1/31/2008	J Smit	Marduk: Echoes of Decimation
6/10/2007	J Smit	Marduk: Hosannas From the Basement of Hell
11/29/2004	J Smit	Marduk: The Plague Rages On
3/14/1999	D Rocher	Marduk: Far Beyond the Grace of God

ALBUMS
7/1/2012	J Carbon	7.5	Marduk - Serpent Sermon
6/26/2011	J Carbon	6.5	Marduk - Iron Dawn
10/24/2009	J Ulrey	8.5	Marduk - Wormwood
5/1/2007	J Smit	9.5	Marduk - Rom 5:12
5/13/2001	M Noll	8	Marduk - La Grande Danse Macabre
8/12/1999	D Rocher	9	Marduk - Panzer Division Marduk
4/13/1998	S Hoeltzel	7.5	Marduk - Nightwing
8/12/1997	S Hoeltzel	8	Marduk - Live in Germania
10/11/1996	S Hoeltzel	8	Marduk - Glorification
10/11/1996	S Hoeltzel	9	Marduk - Heaven Shall Burn When We Are Gathered

GIGS
12/2/2007	J Smit	Marduk / Vreid	A Doomsday Celebration
5/13/2001	M Noll	Marduk / Mortician / Vader / God Dethroned / Amon Amarth / Mystic Circle / Sinister / ...And Oceans / Bal Sagoth	Baptized by Fire and Beer
8/12/2000	M Noll	Deicide / Immortal / Cannibal Corpse / Marduk / Vader / Dark Funeral / Hate Eternal / Vomitory	There's No Mercy in Satan's Oven
1/15/2000	P Azevedo	Marduk / Angelcorpse / Enthroned	Night of the Living Corpses
1/15/2000	M Noll	Cannibal Corpse / Marduk / Angelcorpse / Aeternus / Defleshed	Two Corpses, One God and No Flesh