by John Serba
Despite the title, any kind of tank analogy would be inappropriate in describing Panzer Division Marduk, Marduk's sixth shard of studio shrapnel. Tanks are massive, mobile cannons that crush whatever is in their way; the eight-song frenzy of blastbeats that is Panzer Division Marduk is more akin to being strafed by machine guns for the album's 30-minute duration. Song variation isn't the point here, just straight-up, full-force pummel; raspy vocal belching; blurry death riffs; any sense of rhythm buried under sheets of noise; a vacuum cleaner set on eviscerate; and, all things considered, good recording quality (it is an Abyss Studios production). And the only thing guiding the listener is the list of song titles: "Baptism by Fire," "Christraping Black Metal," "Scorched Earth," "Fistfucking God's Planet" -- no subtlety there, either. Now, there is a place for albums of this kind (see Immortal's Battles in the North) being as anti-commercial, nasty, menacing, blasphemous, and proudly one-dimensional as music gets; the wretched, hairy tail of the plague-carrying rat known as the black metal genre seems to exist only to invoke hatred and malice. So yes, Panzer Division is certainly admirable, the true definition of extremity; the album exceeds the Swedish group's solid, if unremarkable, previous output -- and only because the band had the gall to sound like a somewhat organized medley of buzzing household appliances. A "fun" record for genre fans who can appreciate a dynamic foil to their more ambitious (and comparatively pretentious) Emperor and Cradle of Filth albums, even if Panzer Division only comes off the shelf once a year.