Infernal Eternal

by Dean Carlson

Brutally blasphemous they may be, but Marduk's mad, propellant drive for metal excess was something of an uncompromised spectacle. Extreme samples and spastic Joe Satriani riffs convulsed over comically overdriven drums, and the results had given Swedish black metal pre-Slipknot international notoriety with little of the usual mainstream help. However, 2001's Infernal Eternal, their second live album, was a bit of a lost cause. Marduk was never a studio band, even if their barrage-style material didn't suffer for it, but in French live surroundings, quasi-favorites like "Still Fucking Dead" and "Panzer Division Marduk" or even "Sulphur Souls" were altered in virtually indistinguishable degrees apart from tinnier production and occasional venue noise.