Like their last record, "World Funeral" continues to change things up for Marduk without completely abandoning the sound they're known for. Blistering speeds are still present, but the recording is a great deal heavier, and there are a lot of pummeling slow tracks as well. "Bleached Bones", for instance, is easily one of the slowest and heaviest Marduk tracks to date. There's still a thread of melody on occasion, but oddly enough some of the fastest material really reminds me of Angelcorpse. Even the vocals sort of remind me of Angelcorpse, and that's something that's never come to mind when listening to Marduk in the past. I don't know. I actually tend to prefer the slower songs, though. Some of the faster tracks don't hold their weight when they run in excess of five minutes, but the slower pieces like "Bloodletting" can generally hack that no problem. Ironically some of the fastest songs are also the longest, but when they mix up the tempos regularly (see "Hearse") it works out a lot better. The recording is pretty fucking awesome. The guitars are loud, heavy, and powerful, the drums are rigid without being overbearing or obnoxious, the vocals are mixed right in with the music, and thankfully they've once more allowed the bass to play a large role. I love the incredible bass performance that doesn't mirror the guitars all that often, if the bass sound was slightly more prominent it would truly be incredible... this guy is an excellent bassist - he could really carry this material to greater heights if given a little more room to breathe. The layout's actually pretty damn good, too. The band photo is cheesy, but I like the color scheme, the crisp fonts, and the dirty layers of red texture quite a bit. It looks consistent and for the most part is very solid. Lyrics... well... I've never been into Marduk's lyrics (except for the hilarious "Fistfucking God's Planet" and things like that), and this record's really no different. "Violent death is storming from all corners of the Earth, I burn the ground, poison the air, all seas and every well, I crush all kingdoms, I kill all men, I crush anything of worth, I unlock the dusty gates of hell..." You sort of know what to expect, and that's what you get. But things could be much worse, I must say. This is another good record from Marduk. I wouldn't say they're weakening with time. I think cutting one or two songs from the record would make it flow a bit better and give things less time to tire you out, but nonetheless...
[The End/Regain]
Running time - 47:10, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: Bleached Bones, Hearse, Bloodletting]
The End Records - http://www.theendrecords.com
