Tracklist
album info:
Verified yes
Discs1
GenreMetal
Rank−
Released1998-04-20
Record labelOsmose Productions
Charts
Added
Last updatedMarch 18th, 2018
AboutNightwing by Marduk (SE)
Type: Full-length
Release date: April 1998
Catalog ID:OPCD 064
Label:Osmose Productions
Format: CD
Reviews:
The concept album is always a treacherous undertaking for any band; usually it's a road paved with folly (especially when bands set out to cover something with a double CD, the horror!). Here however, Marduk have gone for only a partial concept album and it works rather well (much like when all black metal albums were divided into sides 'Blood' and 'Lucifer'). The conceptual tracks here are limited to one side of the album (much like Helstar's masterpiece Nosferatu). In truth Marduk kept things very simple here and as such the album is a rewarding listen both conceptually and musically; that medieval darkness is very much intact and it follows down the same paths trodden by Heaven Shall Burn,.
Of course, by the late 1990s the metal world was no stranger to Vlad Țepeș and his deeds had already been covered by a handful of bands (Manilla Road's '(Vlad) the Impaler', Countess's 'Son of the Dragon' and a certain French black metal band all spring to mind). It's certainly no mystery as to why the prince of Wallachia was such an intriguing figure; demonised in the West and canonised in the East (he's considered to be the Romanian Robin Hood, apparently), Țepeș's legend spread throughout the world in his own lifetime. He was a man so cruel that his violence even outraged the Catholic Church (well, he did have a penchant for mutilating papal envoys – one suspects, however, that they'd be less offended if the papal envoy was a six year- old boy). The fact that he was considered a monster in his own lifetime is probably why he's been a perennial figure in metal and that's not even to mention his links to Stoker's Dracula.
Certainly, part of Nightwing's success stems from its lyrical details on one of history's most controversial characters. Musically it doesn't differ much from its predecessor but it serves the album well due to its austerity and mercilessness (it could be argued that no two successive Marduk albums are radically different). Still, I can't help but fall for it; it's as straightforward as a Marduk record should be, but it's not lacking in nifty riffs or melodic earworms. If anything the material here could have come from the same writing session as the previous album but that's really not much of a criticism. Subtle variations and slight mood changes tend to be more welcome than a big jolt when it comes to black metal.
Even in terms of individual song variation this album follows the same pattern as its predecessor; mostly blasty black metal with one slower, thunderous epic. The good thing is that the band continue their winning streak (which Panzer Division Marduk would break. There are some slight chinks in their armour, however, 'Slay the Nazarene' shows how Marduk would sometimes fall into writing ho-hum material that, while not bad, feels rather perfunctory. Similarly, the re-recording of 'Deme Quaden Thyrane' falls on its face in comparison to the original. Legion was never a particularly dynamic vocalist but he was usually entertaining. On this re-recording he completely forsakes the changes in mood and tone that Joakim Af Gravf had on the original. Take the intro, for example; the 1994 version has an ominous spoken intro that builds into something more ferocious – like the eerie calm before battle – whereas Legion just barks his way through it. On the same note, the instrumentation shows that Marduk had also become a less dynamic band in the years since Opus Nocturne (blame the producer, maybe?). Honestly, I'm of the opinion that all re-recordings are more-or-less pointless and this serves as an early example (long before the re-recording trend fully took off). All in all, though, you're in for a bloody (geddit?) good time here.
Consistency is something I value highly and with Marduk you can take any album between 1992 and 1998 and the chances are that if you liked one you'll like the other. They've certainly made some good albums with their current vocalist, but it's really these initial five albums that I keep on coming back to. On a side note, the title track's main riff is based on the score of a mid-1990s vampire flick called Subspecies. I checked it out as usually metal bands tend to reference good horror films. Unfortunately, Subspecies was fucking shite.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
No doubt, Marduk is one of the most popular names in black metal. In my opinion, their phenomenal reputation is mainly based on their early works. "Panzer Division Marduk" marked the point of culmination, but its predecessor also shined with extremely hostile and fantastically constructed songs. "Nightwing" was divided in two chapters. Both "Dictionnaire Infernal" and "The Warlord of Wallachia" developed their own aura. The album's first part was focused on high velocity and consisted almost exclusively of highlights.
After the superfluous intro, Marduk got down to the nitty-gritty. High velocity eruptions like "Of Hell's Fire" or "Slay the Nazarene" did not only impress with their sheer relentlessness. The unforgettable ending of "Of Hell's Fire" as well as the massiveness of "Slay the Nazarene", the dynamic breaks and the expressive performance of lead vocalist Legion were also very important components of the songs. But "Bloodtide XXX" was not to be outdone. It possessed an extremely sustainable and mercilessly growing chorus. Under the bottom line, "Dictionnaire Infernal" offered an almost unsurpassable triple pack.
The title track linked the two parts of the album. It put the focus on grandeur and velocity at the same time. I have read that the main riffs are taken from a soundtrack. Be that as it may, the chorus revealed a great melody line and the nightly aura became omnipresent. In view of the nearly pompous harmonies, an orchestral version of the song could perhaps be an interesting experience. But this does not mean that the here presented implementation failed to impress. Instead, it convinced with regard to its high degree of power and pressure. The fierce production offered no opportunity for whiners to practice their hobby, because it was more or less flawless.
Almost as expected, the second half of the full-length could not fully compete with the first tracks. Nonetheless, the unholy riff of "Dreams of Blood and Iron" crept out of the speakers in a grim manner and laid the foundation stone for another killer track. Its aura led the listener straight to the dark medieval times of the 15th century and the slow-moving rhythm gave Legion room to develop the whole mercilessness of his voice. With a length of more than six minutes, the song could be seen as a monument of slowly killing riffs which were combined with a lively and powerful rhythm section. In contrast, "Kaziklu Bay (The Lord Impaler") represented the only speedster of the album's second part. It appeared as a welcome summary of the previous excesses of velocity. Despite these great songs, "The Warlord of Wallachia" suffered from the fact that "Deme Quaden Thyrane", actually a strong mid-tempo piece, had been already released on their third full-length. The militaristic outro brought the vicious opus to an end.
"Nightwing" did not offer something completely new, but its songs kept firing full blast and they did not lack of variety. Nobody could blame Marduk for delivering just more of the same. Therefore, 95% for the first half and 75% for "The Warlord of Wallachia" result in 85% for the entire album which is still absolutely recommendable.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Released in April 1998, Nightwing was the last album from Marduk that I was able to enjoy, until recent years. Like its predecessor, it was recorded in Tägtgren's Abyss Studio. This L.P. features a lot of the flaws that would be more greatly emphasized the following year, while still possessing enough of the band's original qualities to make it worth listening to. It also seems to be the final album to have more of a campy atmosphere, rather than the darker themes that would be explored later on.
The music is not the best that they had ever written, yet the production actually makes it seem worse than it is. The slick and modern Abyss sound is one of the worst things to happen to black metal in the mid-to-late '90s. Bands like Marduk, Dark Funeral and Immortal flocked to this rotten studio and got a sterile production job for their efforts. While the truly worthwhile compositions managed to rise above this, in some regard, even the best songs were partially crippled by the terrible sound. It would appear that Marduk had always suffered from lousy producers and sub-par mixing. Evil's songwriting deserved much better, certainly. On Nightwing, the pummeling drums take over and the guitar melodies are much harder to distinguish. It is almost as if Tägtgren tried to smother the very best riffs, rendering the finished product almost lifeless.
Whether mostly due to the production or just lazy songwriting, Marduk's fifth full-length suffers from a real lack of memorable riffs and songs, in general. The first few songs, "Bloodtide", "Of Hell's Fire" and "Slay the Nazarene" seem to run together, with a lot of the pointless blast beats and meaningless guitar riffs that would define the band's middle period (though the first track offers more variety and more thoughtful arrangement, about halfway in). The most memorable song on the album is probably the title track, yet this is largely due to the fact that they ripped off the Subspecies theme and built the song around that. While it was very awesome to hear this being used by a black metal band, it still says a lot for the lack of creativity in that the best melody on the whole record was borrowed from something else. Furthermore, the subsequent riffs do nothing to build on the atmosphere created by this main theme. In fact, they almost seem to contradict the dark feeling that the song begins with. Songs like "Dreams of Blood and Iron", once again, demonstrate what a terrible vocalist Legion was, as he could never shut up long enough for the riffs to take full effect. This is a problem with a lot of bands; trying to fit in more lyrics than are necessary and drawing too much attention to the vocalist, rather than doing what is best for the song and the atmosphere that it is trying to convey.
Nightwing is a rather boring and uninspired album, especially when compared to Marduk's earlier output. It has its moments, with decent riffs and ideas scattered throughout the record, but can be considered only lackluster at best. It says a lot that the best song on the album is a re-recorded version of a track from Opus Nocturne and that the most memorable riff was taken from a low-budget horror film. While this isn't horrible, you are better off sticking with the first few albums.
Written for http://ritesoftheblackmoon.tripod.com
Type: Full-length
Release date: April 1998
Catalog ID:OPCD 064
Label:Osmose Productions
Format: CD
Reviews:
The concept album is always a treacherous undertaking for any band; usually it's a road paved with folly (especially when bands set out to cover something with a double CD, the horror!). Here however, Marduk have gone for only a partial concept album and it works rather well (much like when all black metal albums were divided into sides 'Blood' and 'Lucifer'). The conceptual tracks here are limited to one side of the album (much like Helstar's masterpiece Nosferatu). In truth Marduk kept things very simple here and as such the album is a rewarding listen both conceptually and musically; that medieval darkness is very much intact and it follows down the same paths trodden by Heaven Shall Burn,.
Of course, by the late 1990s the metal world was no stranger to Vlad Țepeș and his deeds had already been covered by a handful of bands (Manilla Road's '(Vlad) the Impaler', Countess's 'Son of the Dragon' and a certain French black metal band all spring to mind). It's certainly no mystery as to why the prince of Wallachia was such an intriguing figure; demonised in the West and canonised in the East (he's considered to be the Romanian Robin Hood, apparently), Țepeș's legend spread throughout the world in his own lifetime. He was a man so cruel that his violence even outraged the Catholic Church (well, he did have a penchant for mutilating papal envoys – one suspects, however, that they'd be less offended if the papal envoy was a six year- old boy). The fact that he was considered a monster in his own lifetime is probably why he's been a perennial figure in metal and that's not even to mention his links to Stoker's Dracula.
Certainly, part of Nightwing's success stems from its lyrical details on one of history's most controversial characters. Musically it doesn't differ much from its predecessor but it serves the album well due to its austerity and mercilessness (it could be argued that no two successive Marduk albums are radically different). Still, I can't help but fall for it; it's as straightforward as a Marduk record should be, but it's not lacking in nifty riffs or melodic earworms. If anything the material here could have come from the same writing session as the previous album but that's really not much of a criticism. Subtle variations and slight mood changes tend to be more welcome than a big jolt when it comes to black metal.
Even in terms of individual song variation this album follows the same pattern as its predecessor; mostly blasty black metal with one slower, thunderous epic. The good thing is that the band continue their winning streak (which Panzer Division Marduk would break. There are some slight chinks in their armour, however, 'Slay the Nazarene' shows how Marduk would sometimes fall into writing ho-hum material that, while not bad, feels rather perfunctory. Similarly, the re-recording of 'Deme Quaden Thyrane' falls on its face in comparison to the original. Legion was never a particularly dynamic vocalist but he was usually entertaining. On this re-recording he completely forsakes the changes in mood and tone that Joakim Af Gravf had on the original. Take the intro, for example; the 1994 version has an ominous spoken intro that builds into something more ferocious – like the eerie calm before battle – whereas Legion just barks his way through it. On the same note, the instrumentation shows that Marduk had also become a less dynamic band in the years since Opus Nocturne (blame the producer, maybe?). Honestly, I'm of the opinion that all re-recordings are more-or-less pointless and this serves as an early example (long before the re-recording trend fully took off). All in all, though, you're in for a bloody (geddit?) good time here.
Consistency is something I value highly and with Marduk you can take any album between 1992 and 1998 and the chances are that if you liked one you'll like the other. They've certainly made some good albums with their current vocalist, but it's really these initial five albums that I keep on coming back to. On a side note, the title track's main riff is based on the score of a mid-1990s vampire flick called Subspecies. I checked it out as usually metal bands tend to reference good horror films. Unfortunately, Subspecies was fucking shite.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
No doubt, Marduk is one of the most popular names in black metal. In my opinion, their phenomenal reputation is mainly based on their early works. "Panzer Division Marduk" marked the point of culmination, but its predecessor also shined with extremely hostile and fantastically constructed songs. "Nightwing" was divided in two chapters. Both "Dictionnaire Infernal" and "The Warlord of Wallachia" developed their own aura. The album's first part was focused on high velocity and consisted almost exclusively of highlights.
After the superfluous intro, Marduk got down to the nitty-gritty. High velocity eruptions like "Of Hell's Fire" or "Slay the Nazarene" did not only impress with their sheer relentlessness. The unforgettable ending of "Of Hell's Fire" as well as the massiveness of "Slay the Nazarene", the dynamic breaks and the expressive performance of lead vocalist Legion were also very important components of the songs. But "Bloodtide XXX" was not to be outdone. It possessed an extremely sustainable and mercilessly growing chorus. Under the bottom line, "Dictionnaire Infernal" offered an almost unsurpassable triple pack.
The title track linked the two parts of the album. It put the focus on grandeur and velocity at the same time. I have read that the main riffs are taken from a soundtrack. Be that as it may, the chorus revealed a great melody line and the nightly aura became omnipresent. In view of the nearly pompous harmonies, an orchestral version of the song could perhaps be an interesting experience. But this does not mean that the here presented implementation failed to impress. Instead, it convinced with regard to its high degree of power and pressure. The fierce production offered no opportunity for whiners to practice their hobby, because it was more or less flawless.
Almost as expected, the second half of the full-length could not fully compete with the first tracks. Nonetheless, the unholy riff of "Dreams of Blood and Iron" crept out of the speakers in a grim manner and laid the foundation stone for another killer track. Its aura led the listener straight to the dark medieval times of the 15th century and the slow-moving rhythm gave Legion room to develop the whole mercilessness of his voice. With a length of more than six minutes, the song could be seen as a monument of slowly killing riffs which were combined with a lively and powerful rhythm section. In contrast, "Kaziklu Bay (The Lord Impaler") represented the only speedster of the album's second part. It appeared as a welcome summary of the previous excesses of velocity. Despite these great songs, "The Warlord of Wallachia" suffered from the fact that "Deme Quaden Thyrane", actually a strong mid-tempo piece, had been already released on their third full-length. The militaristic outro brought the vicious opus to an end.
"Nightwing" did not offer something completely new, but its songs kept firing full blast and they did not lack of variety. Nobody could blame Marduk for delivering just more of the same. Therefore, 95% for the first half and 75% for "The Warlord of Wallachia" result in 85% for the entire album which is still absolutely recommendable.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Released in April 1998, Nightwing was the last album from Marduk that I was able to enjoy, until recent years. Like its predecessor, it was recorded in Tägtgren's Abyss Studio. This L.P. features a lot of the flaws that would be more greatly emphasized the following year, while still possessing enough of the band's original qualities to make it worth listening to. It also seems to be the final album to have more of a campy atmosphere, rather than the darker themes that would be explored later on.
The music is not the best that they had ever written, yet the production actually makes it seem worse than it is. The slick and modern Abyss sound is one of the worst things to happen to black metal in the mid-to-late '90s. Bands like Marduk, Dark Funeral and Immortal flocked to this rotten studio and got a sterile production job for their efforts. While the truly worthwhile compositions managed to rise above this, in some regard, even the best songs were partially crippled by the terrible sound. It would appear that Marduk had always suffered from lousy producers and sub-par mixing. Evil's songwriting deserved much better, certainly. On Nightwing, the pummeling drums take over and the guitar melodies are much harder to distinguish. It is almost as if Tägtgren tried to smother the very best riffs, rendering the finished product almost lifeless.
Whether mostly due to the production or just lazy songwriting, Marduk's fifth full-length suffers from a real lack of memorable riffs and songs, in general. The first few songs, "Bloodtide", "Of Hell's Fire" and "Slay the Nazarene" seem to run together, with a lot of the pointless blast beats and meaningless guitar riffs that would define the band's middle period (though the first track offers more variety and more thoughtful arrangement, about halfway in). The most memorable song on the album is probably the title track, yet this is largely due to the fact that they ripped off the Subspecies theme and built the song around that. While it was very awesome to hear this being used by a black metal band, it still says a lot for the lack of creativity in that the best melody on the whole record was borrowed from something else. Furthermore, the subsequent riffs do nothing to build on the atmosphere created by this main theme. In fact, they almost seem to contradict the dark feeling that the song begins with. Songs like "Dreams of Blood and Iron", once again, demonstrate what a terrible vocalist Legion was, as he could never shut up long enough for the riffs to take full effect. This is a problem with a lot of bands; trying to fit in more lyrics than are necessary and drawing too much attention to the vocalist, rather than doing what is best for the song and the atmosphere that it is trying to convey.
Nightwing is a rather boring and uninspired album, especially when compared to Marduk's earlier output. It has its moments, with decent riffs and ideas scattered throughout the record, but can be considered only lackluster at best. It says a lot that the best song on the album is a re-recorded version of a track from Opus Nocturne and that the most memorable riff was taken from a low-budget horror film. While this isn't horrible, you are better off sticking with the first few albums.
Written for http://ritesoftheblackmoon.tripod.com