Marduk

The Babylonian god Marduk traveled by death chariot, pulled by four horses with poison in their mouths. After seeing the band Marduk, spectators shouldn’t be surprised if they step outside and see acid-snorting steers hitched to the tour bus. Guitarist Morgan Steinmeyer Håkansson set out to create “the most blasphemous band in the world,” a goal significantly aided by the 1991 demo Fuck Me Jesus. Anyone who has seen Marilyn Manson recently knows that even Bible-defacing, shock-value concerts can be disappointingly tame, but Marduk backs up its sacrilegious content with unsettling intensity, generated by the fastest drumbeats inhumanly possible and a ghoulish frontman whose stares melt through bone. Marduk delivers an authentic black-metal experience, not only because the band is from Sweden and wears corpse paint but also, more importantly, because it radiates pure hate and bleak, unrelenting anger.