National Music Reviews
What am I doing with my finger in my ear, you ask? Oh, just pulling out some scalding shrapnel lodged in my skull, courtesy of the fellows in the legendary Marduk. The songs on this album are ravenous dogs held on choker leashes, at times allowed to fully engorge on a frenzy of balls-out speed, at times held back snarling at a slower tempo à la “The Blond Beast.” Vocalist Mortuus shows even more range since he joined the group for Plague Angel: His signature tormented rasps, pukes, gurgles and screams seem to come straight from the mouth of a Lemegeton demon. It’s uncanny how fast he can fire off all those syllables on “Thousand-Fold Death.” Frontschwein is a declaration of war against the music world and sets the quality bar for 2015 extremely high for any band, metal or otherwise. If this album were to somehow cause weight gain, my New Year’s resolution is to listen to this until I need an intervention. –Alex Coulombe