World Funeral

Infobox Album | Name = World Funeral
Type = studio
Artist = Marduk


Released = March 25, 2003
Recorded = September – November 2002
Genre = Black metal
Length = 48:14
Label = Regain Records
Producer = Marduk
Reviews =
* Allmusic Rating|3|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:uduw6j4371u0 link]
Last album = "Blackcrowned" (2002)
This album = "World Funeral" (2003)
Next album = "Plague Angel" (2004)
Misc = Extra album cover
Upper caption = Alternate Cover
Background = lightsteelblue


Lower caption = Reissue cover

"World Funeral" is the eighth studio album by Swedish black metal band Marduk. It was recorded and mixed at The Abyss between September and November and was released on March 25, 2003 by Regain Records. The track listing of the album is organized as to create a dynamic change of paces and atmospheres, the tracks generally alternating between a fast, slow, fast, etc. pattern. Balancing fast tracks with mid-paced tracks, it was a disappointment for fans expecting another head-to-toe fast album a la "Panzer Division Marduk". Many fans suggested the band was going for a more commercial "mainstream" approach while others complimented their attempt to broaden their sound. "World Funeral" is the first Marduk album to feature Emil Draguntinovic on drums, the last to feature Legion on vocals and B. War on bass, and the last to feature mixing by Peter Tägtgren.

Track listing

# "With Satan and Victorious Weapons" – 3:51
# "Bleached Bones" – 5:20
# "Cloven Hoof" – 3:26
# "World Funeral" – 3:31
# "To the Death's Head True" – 3:58
# "Castrum Doloris" – 3:34
# "Hearse" – 4:54
# "Night of the Long Knives" – 5:31
# "Bloodletting" – 5:49
# "Blessed Unholy" – 5:02
# "Blackcrowned" – 2:18

Bonus tracks

#

"Phantasm" (Possessed cover; Japan bonus track)
#

"The Black..." (Live; Japan bonus track)

Trivia

* "Blackcrowned" is a heavy version of "Title Music from "A Clockwork Orange" by the English synthesizer composer Wendy Carlos, which itself was a reworking of "Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary" by English Baroque composer Henry Purcell. Some claim that the band used a pre-recorded track of the music and just overdubbed the guitars.
* Drummer Emil Dragutinovic revealed through interviews that "World Funeral" was the most fun album he ever worked on with any band. Dragutinovic would later show distaste for Marduk after vocalist Legion left the band, due to an inability to get along with the replacing vocalist, Mortuus.
* In an interview for the Brazilian rock-oriented magazine "Roadie Crew", guitarist Morgan Steinmeyer Håkansson said that the outro concludes the idea of the album, as being a funeral song for the world itself.
* Several old cult horror movies were allegedly used as the basis for the song "Hearse" in which Marduk's most famous video was made for.
* The intro of "With Satan and Victorious Weapons" is taken from the movie 1986 mystery film "The Name of the Rose".
* The last lines of lyrics in "Blessed Unholy" are taken from a part in the 1990 horror film "The Exorcist III".
* The mid-paced track "Castrum Doloris" is a heavy version of "Til Grälmakar Löfberg i Sterbhuset vid Danto bommen" by the Swedish poet and composer Carl Michael Bellman. Apparently, the lyrics of "Castrum Doloris" is an English version of the original poem by Bellman.

Personnel

* Legion – vocals
* Morgan Steinmeyer Håkansson – guitar
* B. War – bass
* Emil Dragutinovic – drums
* Peter Tägtgren – mixing