'We Stand Alone'

Marduk are black metal survivors.

Long after the heady days of church burnings and corpse-painted melodrama, the Swedish outfit continues to churn out superb slabs of uncompromising brutality. In fact Morgan Håkansson promises their forthcoming war-obsessed album will be their strongest statement yet.

“The new album is called Frontschwein and it has eleven tracks,” he reveals. “It’s really powerful yet really diverse as well in terms of the songwriting. I think it’s a great representation of where this band is right now.”

Indeed on past tours Marduk have been an absolute revelation, boasting not only a massive sound but also a sonic clarity many of their more glamorous black metal contemporaries would kill for.

“Look, to a certain extent you’re at the mercy of the venue and the local sound people you use but our philosophy playing live has always been simple. We make sure the band is tight as possible and we stick to the basics. It’s drums, guitar, vocals and bass – it shouldn’t be that hard to get a good sound.”

"For us whether the black metal scene is ‘healthy’ is irrelevant. We’re not really concerned about what other people are doing."

Aside from offering up the satanic cream of their punishing new album Marduk have some other surprises in store. “We’ve got a special show set for Melbourne. One night we’ll be doing the regular set and then the next night we’re going to come out and play the entire Panzer Division Marduk and Those Of The Unlight albums. We’ve been doing these albums in Europe but we wanted to give our Australian audiences a chance to see this as well because we’ll never be doing it again.”

Asked whether he ever expected to maintain a viable career in such a niche musical style Håkansson quickly displays his legendary self-confidence. “Look, of course when we started we couldn’t see into the future. But when you work hard and have ambition there are no limits to what you can achieve. We’ve always had the burning desire to create and play this music – others have fallen away, we’ve kept going.”

Håkansson is just as strident on the black metal scene circa 2014.

“Look, with any scene that becomes big there’s always a lot of crap that’s produced. But really for us whether the black metal scene is ‘healthy’ is irrelevant. We’re not really concerned about what other people are doing. For us it’s all about our creations and making sure they are the best they can be. We believe in the power of our music and we believe in bringing it live to people around the world. Marduk will never depend on what other people are doing – we stand alone.”