Dark Endless

Have you ever wondered what the early Edge Of Sanity could look like in black metal style? Of course not, me either, but Marduk's debut album gives us great insight into such a discussion! A little reminder, Andreas Axelsson (guitarist of EoS) was their vocalist at that time, Dan Swanö was also responsible for the production and mixes of this band and the rest of the Marduk line-up showed quite clearly inspirations of Swedish death metal and patents associated with the Swanö band. It just so happens that an excellent album resulted, in my humble opinion one of the best that was created under the name of Marduk! On "Dark Endless" there was created a deadly good mix of Swedish death metal and raw black metal, which is not so easy to find in this trend.

At that time, the group was still dosing at fast paces (although there are also quite a few blasts) or "tremolous playing". Of course, the average tempo prevails, a lot of Carnage/Entombed sound, even more playing under the aforementioned "Nothing But Death Remains", as well as an interesting, dark atmosphere of the whole - not much like Marduk from the perspective of later releases. Anyway, it's a very specific black/death, with well thought out arrangements, quite catchy and quite varied.

Right after the introductory part of "The Eye Of Funeral", the band serves the best in this set "Still Fucking Dead (Here's No Peace)", "The Sun Turns Black As Night" and "Within The Abyss", quite brutal, aggressive and simultaneously with multiple slowing down and without constant blasting. In the following part, however, it's not worse. The quintet serves another "hits", although a little less diverse, but much more black metal and focused on simpler chaff, for example "The Black..." or "Departure From The Mortals". At the very end, more atmosphere is brought by "Holy Inquistion" and the title track, nicely varied and at the same time no less specific than the other tracks.

The "Dark Endless" rating is therefore self-generated. Each of the tracks on this release maintains a similarly high level and is a total confirmation that good black metal is not just blasts. Another thing is that Marduk's debut still draws a lot from death metal, but to be honest, does it have any impact on the worse reception of the album? In my opinion, absolutely not. A big advantage of this release is also its relatively easy digestibility for those who are not quite into this kind of music and at the same time are looking for something in these climates, so that it is relatively legible, but also raw. Those more skeptical about the mix of black/death or the beginnings of Marduk should also give this album a chance, because after all, "Dark Endless" is just a piece of very good music, regardless of the stylistic.

Originally on: https://subiektywnymetal.blogspot.com/2019/11/marduk-dark-endless-1992.html