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Marduk vs Dark Funeral


Requiem

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Labelled as norsecore by some, I think both of these bands have followed a fairly similar trajectory in many ways, and they both represent the more popular end of black metal. Both have the look figured out, with tonnes of merchandising and the paraphernalia of the 'career band'. 

So who do you like better and why? I think I can guess the outcome of this by the way. 

I'm going with Marduk. I think they have a broader range of top quality albums that I really like, such as 'Frontschwein', 'Panzer Division Marduk' and my personal favourite 'World Funeral'. I find some of their albums a little hard to get excited about, such as 'Rom 5:12', 'Serpent Sermon' and 'Wormwood'. They're also great live. They also seem to have a bit more authenticity. I think Morgan and Mortuus are the real deal. 

Dark Funeral have some classic albums 'Diabolis Interium' and 'Where Shadows Forever Reign' and I think they're a very good band. When I've seen them live their sound was one big blasting mess of nothingness and I think they work better on disk. They also strike me as a little bit cartoonish as well, but only a little. 

Marduk for me. 

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On 2017-5-28 at 5:21 AM, fjm said:

Both are amazing. However I would have to go with Dark Funeral, due to Dominator's drumming. It is truly amazing and sets the band apart from any other. 

Hazzah, a response! 

Yeah good call on the drummer. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm going with Marduk here. Their music just appeals more to me, although I can't exactly say why. It may be completely subjective, but especially on their later albums I found them to be more diverse while keeping the typical Marduk feeling.

Dark Funeral belongs to the pile of bands that I generally like, but they never really interested me enough to actually spend much time with their records.

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On 2017-6-12 at 2:43 AM, Skull_Kollektor said:

I'm not entitled to an opinion because I don't really know their discographies... but anyone with a release named "**** Me Jesus" gets my vote.

Marduk.

Yes, but don't forget, Dark Funeral have an EP out called 'Teach Children to Worship Satan' which is also pretty cool! 

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  • 2 weeks later...
When I've seen them live their sound was one big blasting mess of nothingness and I think they work better on disk. They also strike me as a little bit cartoonish as well, but only a little. 

 

This description is how Dark Funeral sounds on album and live IMO, and they are absolutely a cartoon/self-parody black metal band in the worst way possible. Their debut was okay, I can listen to it from time to time, but after that, it just becomes painfully comical for me. Terrible vocals, dull blasting ad nauseum, ridiculous image, and a pretty horrible live performance when I saw them open for Morbid Angel.

 

Marduk certainly embodied a lot of this during the Legion fronted era, but even those albums were more listenable than Dark Funeral's for me. The Af Grav fronted albums are Swedish black metal classics, and everything I've heard of the new stuff with Mortuus was pretty good as well, and they are far and away the better live band. The choice is easy for me: Marduk.

 

 

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I would definitely say that Marduk is the better of the two (though I like Dark Funeral a lot).  I think that Marduk has been able to put out a relatively diverse range of song sounds while Dark Funeral seems to generally sound the same throughout their albums.

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Without a doubt Marduk. Their first 4 albums are excellent and they only had a small dip during the late 90´s and early 2000´s when they kind of got stuck in Panzer Division mode for 2 or 3 albums. But luckily they have been back on track ever since "Rom 5:12" with "Frontschwein" being their crowning achievement so far. I'm also suprised i never get tired of their WW 2 topics. You'd reckon it would getting boring by some point but no. For some reason i have never seen them live though, so can't comment on their live performanc. They played about 5 times in my vicinity but each time i couldn't go due to circumstances. They are still on my band bucket list. 

Dark Funeral on the other hand have a debut album which was merely okay and the superb "Where Shadows Forever Reign" but otherwise i'm absolutely bored with their ouput. It's just non stop blasting and endless tremolo's without any realy melody. I've seen 'em live twice and their live performance is just a mess. I couldn't make out one song from the other, it just sounded like one big blur of noise both times. On top of that they have a pretty goofy image that caters to all black metal stereo types. They look like how a record company A&R imagines a black metal band, totally over the top and more hilarious then scary.

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  • 7 months later...

Dark Funeral - Diabolis Interium

Interesting comparison. Neither of these bands get a whole lotta airtime around here, but I will say Dark Funeral's Diabolis Interium (2001) was a very important gateway album for me earlier in this century when I was first exploring 2nd wave black metal. Still probably play it once a year or something (like I am right now) hard to believe it's 20 years old already. Can't say I'm really a fan of anything they've done since then or even their earlier stuff. 

I've never really been able to connect with Marduk either. Not the early stuff, not the middle or later stuff, none of it. I have liked maybe a song here and a song there (dig that slow Bleached Bones tune) but I haven't even attempted to get through an entire Marduk album in probably 10 years or more. I should probably revisit them sometime, it's been so long I'm having trouble remembering what any of the albums sound like. The "norsecore" label never bothered me, I like plenty of stuff that could be described as such. I couldn't possibly give a shit what's considered kvlt or not I just go by what gets the blood pumping and which songs/albums stick in my head. That was always my biggest problem with Marduk, I found the songwriting pretty monotonous and boring. That statement will probably make people that know me chuckle, what with me being the champion of meat & potatoes death metal and all.

 

Alright then Marduk fans, which album should I try that might grab me and make me see the light? I have World Funeral blasting into the earholes atm. I'm not saying it's bad, it's alright, but just past halfway through I'm getting bored. I know most people who like this band tend to reco the earlier albums as their best so which one do I want: Those of the Unlight, Opus Nocturne, Heaven Shall Burn or Panzer Division? Should I even bother with any of the later albums? I've heard Rom 5:12 and Wormwood some years back when they were new releases but I wasn't real keen on either of them. Haven't heard anything of theirs since then, is any of the newer stuff worth a listen?

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I started listening to Marduk in the early aughts and I'm a pretty big fan of the first three Mortuus albums-Plague Angel, Rom:512 and Wormwood. He seemed to usher a period of creativity. After that, the albums were just OK to me and got somewhat stale and repetitive.....thrilling initially with the Marduk through Mortuus viciousness but they lacked the element of surprise for me-a lot of bite without much variety. I did enjoy Viktoria more than Serpent Sermon.   

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Well it's actually a hard question for me: I prefer Marduk (and am listening to the double live LP Warschau right now as I type this out) but one of the first black metal bands I ever got into was Dark Funeral when I saw The Secrets of the Black Arts in a Sam Goody and it looked like everything I was into (Necrolord cover in dark blues/purples, guys with corpsepaint in each corner of the back cover).

I get a lot of heat from my buddy and fellow metaller for defending Dark Funeral, but unfortunately I have never seen any of their live performances that were going on down here back in the day. The Secrets of the Black Arts will always have a special place in my heart though, even if I lost a lot of interest in Dark Funeral after discovering Marduk in my senior year of high school

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