World Funeral

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

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 the band used a pre-recorded track of the music and just overdubbed the guitars.
• Drummer Emil Dragutinovic revealed through interviews 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 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 [[Epistles of Fredman#Märk hur vår skugga(Epistle No. 81)|Fredman's Epistle No. 81, Märk hur vår skugga]] by the Swedish 18th century poet and composer Carl Michael Bellman. Apparently, the lyrics of "Castrum Doloris" is an English version of the original poem by Bellman.

Personnel

Marduk

• Legion – vocals, guitar solos
• Morgan Steinmeyer Håkansson – lead guitars
• B. War – bass
• Emil Dragutinovic – drums

Guest

• Peter Tägtgren – mixing