Marduk - Dark Endless

Regain Records is re-releasing Marduk's first four albums. They've been remastered and there is also added bonus material. Dark Endless was the band's first full-length CD, and in addition to the original album there are five live tracks at the end, and a previously unreleased song at the beginning.

The lineup for this CD included vocalist Andreas Axelsson, guitarists Magnus "Devo" Andersson and Morgan "Evil" Häkansson, bassist Richard Kalm and drummer Joakim "Grave" Göthberg.

Dark Endless wasn't one of Marduk's best, but it shows signs of a band with plenty of room for growth. The music is pretty standard blackened death metal, but there are some catchy riffs and interesting doomy sections. The band's sound would certainly evolve over the years, and it's interesting to hear where they started from.

The audio quality of the live bonus songs is horrible. They sound like they were recorded on a cassette that was inside someone's pocket. But underground black metal is supposed to be raw and low-fi, so I guess it's appropriate they were recorded that way.