MARDUK - IN LEAGUE WITH SATAN? (BACKSTAGE #18/1993)

Backstage was a Swedish fanzine announcing themselves as ”Supporting Swedish Rock”. It was written in Swedish, but here’s a translate article for you. The color photo and the video of Marduk down below was not in the original article.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION:

Lately, the media has shown great interest in death/black metal and its possibly satanic orientation. In Norway, there is an association within the black metal genre called Den Svarta Cirkeln (which is also the case in Sweden, albeit to a lesser extent), where bands such as Mayhem, Darkthrone and Burzum are leading. The latter includes Count Grieshnack, or The Count as he is better known, who has created big headlines for, among other things, allegedly burning down eight Norwegian churches. In my opinion, the whole thing is absurd and has little to do with music, but since it is a “hot” topic, I decided, at the risk of receiving a lot of crap, to find out a little more.

The phone was not quite steady in my hand when I called Morgan “Mogge” Håkansson, guitarist in the Norrköping band Marduk and an outspoken Satanist. I didn’t really know what to expect, but my fears were unfounded. Mogge turned out to be a talkative guy who is not afraid to stick his chin out with his controversial opinions, which he has to stand up for himself.

When we spoke, the band was about to fire singer Andreas Axelsson, who also plays guitar in Edge Of Sanity, because he has too much to do elsewhere, which makes it difficult for Marduk to rehearse. Instead, guitarist Devo Andersson will take over the vocals. Devo was previously in Gravity, who, among other things, participated in a compilation EP and released the demo “Magic Doom”. Alongside him, he has the one-man band Overflash, which, among other things, participates in the “Extreme Close-Up” album. Other members are Joakim Grave (drums) and Bogge Svensson (bass).

— We formed in September -90 after my previous band Abhor broke up, says Mogge, who also plays in Abruptum. We looked for members until I got everyone together. Then we rehearsed all spring 91 before we went in and recorded our first demo, “Fuck Me Jesus”, that summer. In the fall we played a lot of shows, including with Stillborn, Seance and the American band Suffocation.

MARDUK - In league with Satan? 

“DARK ENDLESS”

In 1992 Marduk got in touch with the newly started Swedish label No Fashion Records who turned out to be interested in signing them. The debut album “Dark Endless” was recorded over five days in the Hellspawn studio, owned by Danne Swanö (Edge Of Sanity + any number of others), in Finspång but was not released until early 1993. Mogge says that the delay was due to problems with the cover.

— We got Dani Vala, who was in Sweden’s first black metal band, Obscurity (which has since been re-formed), to paint the cover. He has had exhibitions in New York, among other places.

When we speak, the album has only been released in Sweden so far, but a lot is in the works.

— The album has sold 2-3000 copies in Sweden alone. Then No Fashion got a distribution contract with SPV, who has ordered 4000 CDs to start with. In addition, Tomas Nyquist, who is behind No Fashion, has set up an office in the USA so the album should be released there at any time, says Mogge who simply calls their music black metal, and mentions influences such as Venom, Possessed, Kreator and Norwegian Mayhem.

At their gigs as well as in all the photos the band takes, they use face painting, so-called corpse paint. Mogge says that it stands for hate.

— It belongs to Black Metal in a way and is a part of total empathy.

Something that is surprising, however, is that Marduk, unlike most other black metal bands, does not use artist names.

— This is largely because there are so many people who abuse it, explains Mogge. Venom had their names, Quorthon and Euronymous (Mayhem) are also okay, but then there are those who have such fucking stupid names that it becomes a big joke or mockery of it. There was someone called Ace Gestapo Necrosleaver Of The Chalice Of Blood or something like that, and then there is someone called Nuclear Holocausto Of Blood Invengeance. There is nothing serious behind such names and then you might as well skip it.

PRONOUNCED SATANIST

Then we steer the conversation towards Den Svarta Cirkeln and Satanism. Mogge tells us that in Sweden there are currently three bands that are part of Den Svarta Cirkeln, namely Abruptum, Marduk and Dissection. Without hesitation he also admits that he is a Satanist while explaining that he is the only one in the band who is.

— The others have the same opinions to some extent and stand for that philosophy, but they are not Satanists.

So you claim to be a serious Satanist. What does Satanism stand for, to you?

— I consider Anton LaVey and his “The Satanic Bible” to be frivolous. Those books are a big joke, although many people classify it as Satanism. He wrote “The Satanic Bible” in the late 60s and tried to influence people’s perceptions. It is a book of peace and a big joke. I stand more for the ancient path and have the Bible as a starting point because that is where it comes from. So he came in 1969 and wrote a book about how man’s freedom thinking is Satanism, but they don’t really believe in anything. They believe in the power of man while I believe in a power that is not human, a force that has existed throughout time. It is not some kind of human inner force but a force that just exists. Compared to it, you are just a little piece of shit. They try to make it appear as if you should be your own god. I would never encourage anyone to do that for people to be slaves and follow a leader. It has always been that way.

What does The Black Circle stand for? And what are your goals?

— The absolute war against Christianity. We will spare no means, we will kill if we have to.

Don't you think it is starting to cross the line of what is distasteful and defensible?

— No, there are no limits, says Mogge, who is starting to get excited. If you have enemies, there are absolutely no limits. Who is to set those limits in that case? We do not follow any laws or limits.

SVAR DIREKT, OUTDOORS AND BICYCLES

When we spoke to the TV show Svar Direkt, these things were just brought up in one of their programs. Something Mogge laughs at:

— They think they've mapped something out but they don't know a damn thing. I was offered to be on the show but I ignored it because I knew there would be idiots there. I'm damn glad I wasn't there because it was just old drug addict punks. They didn't know what they were talking about and just sat there and raved.

Actually, this kind of negative publicity can't be good in the long run for this type of band. You're not exactly making it easier for you to be accepted.

— We don't give a damn if we're accepted. It doesn't actually matter to us because more and more people will follow us.

Since Mogge knows Greven, I can't help but ask what happened to Christofer in Therion. He doesn't say much more than that there is more to it than what has come out in the media, but he adds:

— Therion has been in the studio and recorded Venom's "Witching Hour" in some kind of blues rock version just to tease them in Mayhem. If something happens now, it wouldn't be so strange...

To get back to the purely musical side, Marduk has signed with the French Osmose, who have a more or less worldwide distribution. By the time you read this, their new single should be out. On the back you'll find a cover of Venom's "Hellchild".

— Originally it was supposed to be on a compilation album, but we didn't want to be on it when we found out that there were a lot of bands that were going to interpret Venom in funny versions. Originally, the intention was for bands that were really inspired by them to be on it, but now there are a lot of rock and punk bands that are going to be on it. It was meant to be a real tribute album, but it won't be when they make fun of Venom.

The band's second full-length album, "Those Of The Unlight" will be released this fall and Marduk may make a European tour with Norwegian Immortal in conjunction with the album's release.

— The new album will slaughter "Dark Endless". It will probably be a more varied album where what is fast will be faster and what is heavy will be heavier. We also have an eight-minute atmospheric instrumental song.

Some of the topics that have been addressed are difficult to handle, while there are always different opinions about everything. Here, at least Marduk has been given a chance to speak.