"Nightwing" was the fourth album by Marduk that I got to know and besides "World Funeral" it is my favourite up to date. It was the first time that I found an album of a Black Metal band truely epic and hymnic without them using a keyboard or an orchestra. They are using just three instruments and with them they are creating an evil, dark atmosphere that graps you by the throat and holds you there until the end of the last track.
This album accomplishes using the standard black metal topics, such as killing Jesus, blasphemy, sacrifice, etc. and makes it feel fresh and refined. In my personal opinion the lyrics at times seem pretty poetic.The overall sound of the music is dark, fast, aggressive, and evil, the way it should be. With only drums, a bass, and a guitar, the sound is darkened and ambient. The riffs and drumming are a rapid chain of beautiful explosions to the ears. Also, this is one of the few black metal bands that actually makes the bass audible, and I myself being a bass player find that pretty sweet.
The album opens with an intro track that sounds like a dying symphony before launching into blasting fury with three of the best Marduk tracks recorded; Including Slay the Nazarene, a live favourite of the band and audiences alike, with its raging riffing and throat tearing chorus. These songs are only loosely connected with the main concept of the album however, which begins with the title track.
What follows is simply jaw dropping dark brooding black metal of the highest order. Reading through the lyrics is a haunting expierience in itself as Legion grates and growls his way through the historical horrors of the man’s life.
