Marduk (band)

Marduk is a Swedish black metal band formed in Norrköping in 1990. The band released their debut full-length album, Dark Endless, in 1992 on No Fashion Records. Their name is derived from the Ancient Babylonian deity, Marduk. Morgan Steinmeyer Håkansson, the band's guitarist, formed Marduk with the intention of being the "most blasphemous band in the world". Concerning the band's two initial releases, the 1991 EP, Fuck Me Jesus, and their debut album, Dark Endless, released the subsequent year, Marduk can be sonically defined as black metal which interwove significant influence from death metal. For both of these releases, the band's lineup consisted of the aforementioned Morgan, Andreas 'Dread' Axelsson as vocalist, Magnus 'Devo' Andersson as guitarist, Rikard Kalm as bassist, and Joakim 'Av Gravf' Göthberg as drummer, while Dan Swanö of Edge of Sanity mixed both albums. Nonetheless, the stability of this line-up was ruptured following the release of Dark Endless when both Dread and Richard Kalm departed from the band. Thence, Av Gravf assumed the additional position of vocalist while Roger 'B. War' Svensson assumed the position of bass player, consequently recording their second full-length album, Those of the Unlight, in April 1993, again being mixed by the aforementioned Swanö. Subsequently, released on 1 October 1993, Those of the Unlight demarcated a noteworthy sonic excursion for the band, as this album manifested a more melodic black metal sound that repudiated the death metal undergirding of Marduk's body of work hitherto. The band elaborated upon this style on Opus Nocturne, released on 12 December 1994, which, concerning personnel, was signified by the addition of Fredrik Andersson on drums, with Av Gravf forsaking this position to concentrate specifically on vocal delivery, and the departure of Devo. Stability had not yet been attained by the band, however, as Av Gravf opted to depart from Marduk in 1995, citing boredom as the primary instigator for this decision.