Early last week, in anticipation of a gig at Reggie’s by the legendary Swedish black-metal band Marduk, I spent an afternoon watching live Marduk clips on YouTube. My favorite was from a recent show in San Francisco, where front man Mortuus flipped a guy who’d gotten onstage and apparently tried to give him a hug. As far as I’m concerned, it was pretty close to a perfect translation of black-metal attitude into real-world action.
Even though you haven’t toured much in the States, you’ve spent a lot of time in North America. They love you in Mexico, right?
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Yeah. We’ve actually toured around Mexico and South America quite a bit. We’ve been to Venezuela, Guatemala, El Salvador—even working on going to Honduras next time. It’s crazy. They’re a fanatic crowd, so it’s always a pleasure to play down there.
I’ve read a lot of black-metal lyrics, Marduk’s especially. Why is anti-Christian sentiment such a constant in the music?
Yes. That’s why we release albums and that’s why we include the lyrics. I think we have something to say and I like to spread that message. How people will look upon the message, I will not say. I think it’s up to everyone to read the lyrics and look at their message on their own. Especially with the later albums, talking to people on tour, I like to see how the lyrics speak to the people listening to them. Everyone seems to look upon them differently, and that I find very fascinating.
I think I read somewhere that you were experts.
Yes. Some things are so fascinating that when you see documentaries or you read history, it just happens to light a spark.
