Marduk - Glorification EP (1996)

The 90s were the 'cool' time for bands that grew large enough to release an EP with an original track or two and then a few covers of the bands that inspired them. This was usually done with a sincere intention to pay tribute to the influences, but let's be honest: a lot of younger listeners in that period had their first exposure to the classics through the covers that their favorite black or death metal bands performed, and such offerings helped contribute to the mold of the 'cool' bands to listen to. I mean, on just how many of these releases did we find covers of Bathory, Possessed, Venom, Sodom, Kreator, Metallica, Celtic Frost, Mercyful Fate, Slayer, and Motorhead? The answer is most of, if not all of them.

Enter Marduk, who had been creating a stir by the middle of this decade for their crude but intense brand of traditional Swedish black metal, creating albums such as Those of the Unlight and Opus Nocturne which have still held up rather well in the ranks considering how many have become disenchanted with the band's purposed monotony. Like fellow Swedish bands Bewitched (Encyclopedia of Evil) and Necrophobic (Spawned by Evil), they decided to cast their dice into the cover bowl, imprinting their virile and raw edge to a series of tracks that were, well, already pretty nasty to begin with...

To begin with, Marduk offers one of their own tracks, or rather a remix of "Glorification of the Black God" from their Heaven Shall Burn...When We Are Gathered album, which had come out just a few months earlier. The track contains samples of Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain", and in fact the riffing itself is fashioned about the classical piece in tribute, so it's kind of a nice inclusion to go with the more contemporary influences. This is a fairly savage piece, epic and evil even where it's not orchestral, although the cheesiness of the narrative bit is arguable. After this a wall of feedback heralds the cover of Destruction's "Total Desaster", which is quite more energetic than the original due to this Swedish band's ability to play on 'fast' and 'faster' speeds. I like the louder bass here, and Erik Hagstedt does his best to salivate the track in more festooned frontman debauchery than Schmier had originally used. The solo also shreds in this.

As influential as they were, covers of Canada's Piledriver were not so common as the rest of the pack, but here Marduk earn some scene points by including not just ONE of their songs, but TWO. And they are both quite well conceived, with the bombastic warmongering given to the drums of "Sex With Satan" and then the ripping arrangement of "Sodomize the Dead" which just might be the crowning piece on this EP. The band closes the CD with Bathory's "The Return of Darkness & Evil", a rather common cover and though Marduk have their way with it, it sounds the most natural and closest to the original, thus rendering it the least interesting of the chosen tracks. On the limited vinyl of Glorification the band also covered Venom's "Hellchild", so if you happen upon a copy you may want to grab that version for the increase in value and playtime.

This is a fairly fun release, and not a wretched way to kill 18 minutes of your life. The covers are all lovingly performed, and as typical for this Swedish butcher crew, with a sincere, professional effort. I won't give it a high grade since it's not original material, except for the opening track which is only a slight variance on the album version. But it does sound quite amazing due to the searing production values. So if you love Marduk, or cover song albums in general from black metal bands, you probably wouldn't kick this out of bed for crackers.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10] (presiding over the revelry)

http://www.marduk.nu/