MARDUK - Plague Angel
January 17, 2005, 19 years ago
(Regain)
To be truthful, this album initially underwhelmed this black metal fanatic. Sure, blitzkrieg opener 'The Hangman Of Prague' and the marshal instrumental 'Deathmarch' are to die for (pun intended), but when this album was played in full next to recent output from Azaghal and Anaal Nathrakh, it paled in comparison. While energy readings were indeed high, most tracks failed to grip the imagination on initial listens. Happily this view changed somewhat over time as songs slowly crept into the memory banks, none more so than the two crushing mid-tempo ditties 'Seven Angels, Seven Trumpets' and 'Perish In Flames', leaving bleached bones in their wake. The switch at the microphone position proves to be a non-event really, considering that Mortuus follows in the same throat-shredding tradition of former lead throat Legion. So, while this is not their best work, Marduk has proven once again that they are incapable of releasing a bad album.
