Interviews : Marduk (Morgan Steinmeyer Håkansson) – 30/10/2009

Marduk are considered by many as the world’s foremost blasphemous black metal band. Their predominate lyrical ties with Satanism, anti-Christian beliefs and the history of the Third Reich during World War II has kept them in the limelight for several years, more so from a political and religious aspect, as many of these fundamental groups have condemned the band’s music as being apart of a National Socialist Black Metal movement…in other words, they’ve been labeled as Nazis.

In their defense, Marduk have stated that their music is more of  harsh history lesson and an in depth look at history of man than a means to ridicule or demote organized religion.

Metal Obsession were lucky enough to talk to guitarist and founder of Marduk, Morgan Håkansson about the band’s latest album “Wormwood” and all things “Mar-duck!”.

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Morgan Hkansson: Hello, it’s Morgan from Marduk here.

Metal Obsession: It’s Megan from Metal Obsession, how are you doing?

MH: I’m doing very well here, how about yourself?

MO: I’m good, on this fine Friday evening.

MH: Friday evening? It’s Friday morning over here!

MO: And I’ve got two cold beers in the fridge that I’m going to drink after this interview.

MH: Nice. Here it will be such exciting thing that will be going out, it’s like zero degrees here and I will be going out for a walk with the dog. That’s what’s going to happen later on here.

MO: So you guys have recently done a tour of Europe?

MH: Yeah, we played 15 dates in Poland with Vader, then we came home for five days, then went out and did a 30-day European headlining tour. We’ve been home for two days. We’re home for two weeks, then we go out for a full US tour.

MO: You guys haven’t been in the United States for a while?

MH: Yeah, 2001. We had amazing problems with papers [visas] but now we had everything sorted so we were over there this summer and we played three shows just to show that we could get into the country so now we have a full tour booked.

MO: And the new album Wormwood has been out for about a month, how have the reviews been for it?

MH: The album was released on the same day we begun the European tour, 24 September. So far we have received nothing but enthusiastic praise from media and fans alike. Most of the people, of course you can’t satisfy everybody, somebody will always think that this was better than that one, but overall, there’s been a great impact and it’s doing very well.

We’re excited, but we don’t do music to satisfy journalists, we do music to satisfy ourselves. But I’m proud of the album, I think it represents where we are after 19 years of dedication, loyalty and hard work. That reflects in the spirit of the new album. It just feels great to have it out and we’ve done the European tour, we’ve got a lot more live shows coming up and it feels great marching across the world, spreading our message.

MO: With the Wormwood album, what is the general theme, lyric-wise?

MH: It has a theme, but not like a concept album. The theme is very much reflected in the title of the album “Wormwood”, obviously a star falls from Heaven down to Earth, and poisons one-third of the water making it sour to drink. It deals with the divine punishment, that everything is sour, the morbidness in the world and humanity. That’s the reflection in the album, to drink the sour water, what man had to do.

MO: Like the Book of Revelations?

MH: Yeah. That’s what inspired the title. Also what’s more interesting, if you translate the word ‘wormwood’ to Russian, you get ‘Chernobyl’. And we all know what happened in Chernobyl in 1986, with the nuclear disaster. And that was an interesting thing, because when that happened, a lot of Christians all over the world predicted that as the beginning of the end of the world, so there’s an apocalyptic theme in the album.

MO: Musically, the album shifts from the atmospheric feel of the last album to a more raw,up-tempo blast-beat sound. Was that a conscious shift or did you write whatever you felt at the time?

MH: We never sit down and plan an album, that it has to be heavy or fast or mid-tempo. We work on music and lyrics and it all turns out the way it does. I believe that the music should reflect in the lyrics and vice versa, so that they become one. So we try to get the music and the lyrics to reflect each other. Sometimes it works best with a heavier tune or a faster one, doesn’t really matter, so long as you let your creativity flow and take you wherever it takes you.

MO: Who came up with the idea for the cover artwork?

MH: Me and our vocalist, Mortuus. Mortuus did the complete layout. I also think the layout really reflects the spirit of the album as well with the sourness and the morbidity and the punishment.

MO: Will there be any video clips from the new album?

MH: We worked on a video clip before we went on tour but we never completed it. We worked on a video for “Nowhere, No One, Nothing”, the opening track of the album. I don’t know when it will be ready, because I don’t think we’ll have enough time to complete it before we go on tour again. Maybe  we will complete it before we go on tour again.

MO: In the past, Marduk have been accused of being Nazis due to the lyrical content of the album Panzer Division Marduk, what has happened with that particular sector of the black metal scene?

MH: We have never been a part of any kind of Nazi black metal. We have always been a religiously devoted band, and I have always had a strong historical interest, and whatever historical event inspires me, I will write a song about it and I don’t care if people had a problem with it. I have been writing songs that deal with the Third Reich, but it shouldn’t be any problem because they are written in an objective way, describing something the way it happened. I don’t see a problem with that.

If people have a problem with it, I don’t really care, because it’s an objective story about something that happened and I can’t change history. But some things just create music in your head, and when I read about certain topics, I write a soundtrack to that. Slayer wrote about it before us, so I don’t see what the big thing is. Just take it for what it is.

MO: Where will you be heading after the American tour?

MH: After the American tour, we will probably be home around late December, then we spend a week for rehearsals, then in January 2010 we cover the Balkans, the Eastern part of Europe and the central part of Europe. We will also be doing a full tour of the UK. After that, in March, we might go out to do a Scandinavian tour as well. We’re also working on a South American tour. And, we might also return to Australia later on as well.

MO: That was going to be my next question.

MH: Yeah. We haven’t decided any time yet, it will be some time ahead, so we will be coming back for sure. It was great for us to be there, it was a fantastic experience.

MO: One thing that has to be asked before I wrap up this interview, is the pronunciation of the band’s name. I have heard three different pronunciations: “mar-DUCK”, “mar-DUKE” and “mar-DOOK”. Which is the correct one?

MH: I don’t know exactly myself how to pronounce it, because it’s a very old word, but I wouldn’t pronounce it “mar-DUCK”! I think “mar-DUKE” should be the correct pronunciation.

MO: Any last comments for the Australian fans?

MH: I would just like to say a big regard to our fans down there and we’re anxious and excited to come back. We hope to be back before the end of next year, it might take some time but we’ll be back.

Band: Marduk
Date: 30/10/2009
Origin: Sweden
www.myspace.com/truemarduk

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Check out Marduk’s latest release, “Wormwood” avaliable now!

www.riotact.com.au

www.marduk.nu