Marduk
Infernal Eternal
[Century Media]
What, another one? Only four short years after Marduk's first live album,
"Live in Germania", they unleash "Infernal Eternal", yet another live
chronicle. However, this one is fairly worthwhile even for the casual Marduk
fan. Even people who hated the 'norsecore' turn their music took on
"Nightwing" and "Panzer Division Marduk" admit that they put on a killer live
show, and this album chronicles this just as well as Germania did. "Infernal
Eternal" was intended to be a ten-year anniversary special, so they pulled out
all the stops - it's a two-disc set (supposed to be priced as a single disc, so
give the finger to those unscrupulous distros jacking up the prices!) that
features 18 songs spanning their entire career - and they didn't ignore their
brilliant early work either. Three songs from each of their first two discs
appear, as well as generous amounts of songs from all of their other albums,
PLUS a cover of Celtic Frost's "Into the Crypt of Rays". The second disc also
contains PC-CDROM videos of three of the songs on this album.
And now the inevitable comparison - even if you have Germania you should get this, because it does outshine that earlier album. Only four of these 18 songs are shared between releases, so there's PLENTY of live insanity you haven't heard before (unless you were there, of course...). The sound on "Infernal Eternal" is much cleaner and thicker than the earlier live album, even despite only having one guitar - only twice does the sound suffer a 'dropout' because of having no rhythm under the solo. The performances are unbelievably tight and sound even more powerful with the great production and mix job. The only gripe I could level is that, like "Germania", they pasted together different tracks from different dates so it loses that cohesiveness that make great live albums awesome. The layout is well-done as always, with lots of great live pics (including a collage spread...) and even lyrics. It sounds great, it looks good, and has enough songs from each era of the band to make it worthwhile for almost all of their fans.
© 2001 lord vic
And now the inevitable comparison - even if you have Germania you should get this, because it does outshine that earlier album. Only four of these 18 songs are shared between releases, so there's PLENTY of live insanity you haven't heard before (unless you were there, of course...). The sound on "Infernal Eternal" is much cleaner and thicker than the earlier live album, even despite only having one guitar - only twice does the sound suffer a 'dropout' because of having no rhythm under the solo. The performances are unbelievably tight and sound even more powerful with the great production and mix job. The only gripe I could level is that, like "Germania", they pasted together different tracks from different dates so it loses that cohesiveness that make great live albums awesome. The layout is well-done as always, with lots of great live pics (including a collage spread...) and even lyrics. It sounds great, it looks good, and has enough songs from each era of the band to make it worthwhile for almost all of their fans.
© 2001 lord vic