Marduk "Panzer Division Marduk"

Panzer Division Marduk is the sixth studio album by Swedish black metal band Marduk. It was recorded and mixed at The Abyss in January 1999 and released in June 1999 by Osmose Productions. The theme of the album is fire, as Nightwing was blood, and La Grande Danse Macabre (the band's next studio album) would be death, forming a trilogy of "Blood, Fire, and Death", Marduk's vision of what black metal is, unending grimness (as well as a tribute to the Bathory album Blood Fire Death). Panzer Division Marduk was the last Marduk release by Osmose Productions.

The original album cover features a photo of the Swedish version (Stridsvagn 104) of the British Centurion Mk5 tank. The 2008 reissue of the album featured a Panzer VI E "Tiger" on its cover, reinforcing the Germanic World War II theme of the album. The internal sleeve pictures a tank column triumphant across a city in ruin: this is the Red Army across a destroyed Berlin in 1945.

Track listing

1. "Panzer Division Marduk" 2:39
2. "Baptism by Fire" 3:51
3. "Christraping Black Metal" 3:46
4. "Scorched Earth" 3:37
5. "Beast of Prey" 4:07
6. "Blooddawn" 4:20
7. "502" 3:14
8. "Fistfucking God's Planet" 4:28

The original cover shows a Swedish Stridsvagn 104 main battle tank; the re-release cover shows a German Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger heavy tank used in the Battle of Kursk, July 1943.

The track "502" refers to the 502nd Heavy Tank Battalion, which was involved in the Siege of Leningrad. Part of the lyrics of this songs comes from "Panzerlied", one of the most famous Wehrmacht songs.

This marks the second part of a conceptual trilogy for what Marduk claims is the basis of black metal: "Blood, War and Death." This album symbolizes "War."

Warning - Osmose CD presses dating from February 2001 up to around 2005 may contain a copy-protection method which renders the CD completely unreadable in PCs and certain modern Hi-Fi systems. This isn't indicated anywhere on the packaging.

Recording information:

Recorded and mixed at Abyss Studios in January 1999.