After hearing "Plague Angel" I was very disapointed with the lineup change. I missed Legion a lot, his abscence harmed Marduk's spirit... After all, he was the 'classic' frontman of the band. But Marduk's change was noticed many years before Legion's departure. After the "Nightwing" album, they started to play 'brutal' black metal, it wasn't bad, but not pure black metal, as the previous releases. For an example, compare "Nightwing" with "Panzer Division Marduk". The old Marduk was popularized with albums like "Opus Nocturne" or "Those of the Unlight", and that kind of sound was used for "Nightwing". But with "Panzer...", Marduk turned into brutal elements, losing some 'grimness', 'grimness' that would only be recovered with this album, "Rom 5:12".
What an album. All the mistakes of "Plague..." were fixed here, so we got a Mortuus much more adapted into the band, with a new intensity, a new feeling. Just with "The Leveling Dust" you realize that this Marduk is much more different and matured than the Marduk of "Plague". Now they seem much more accustomed with each other, so they can play better. But Marduk isn't known for their originality, in fact, all the topics used by Marduk, were previously used thousands of times. But with Marduk, they don't get boring. Is their quality that made them the best BM band of them all.... They stayed true to black metal when all the others bargained with their music, using synths or stuff like that. Marduk always plays brutal and satanic black metal. And "Rom 5:12" is a proof of their outstanding black metal. We've got here kickassing full-speed tracks (like "Cold Mouth Prayer") or long anthems (like "Imago Mortis"). All of them, outstanding. Although there's many "Plague" elements present here, they had been worked better than in that album, with another perspective. And although I don't like very much the lineup changes in any band, I support this one if they still can get albums like this one. If they follow this path, Marduk will always be the band that many black metal fans liked before and like now. They don't sound monotone although they don't have changed anything in their whole career. "Rom 5:12" could be their first album, and it would be the same. But it doesn't matter. If 'change' means that they will get softer, then I hope that the Marduk of "Rom 5:12" and many other kickassing albums, last for ever...
To have bands like Marduk, playing primal and raw metal, is great. This album is a great proof of why Marduk, after 17 years of career, is still the most blasphemous black metal band of the world...
Sample: Marduk - Rom 5:12 - Imago Mortis
