Patches “Panzer Division Marduk”, 1999

Marduk is a Swedish black metal band that formed in 1990. They are considered one of the most commercially successful in the scene and a classic of the genre. The album cover of their sixth studio album from 1999 entitled “Panzer Division Marduk” and the merchandise for it, such as this patch, show a mirrored image of a Swedish Stridsvagn 102 battle tank. The band originally wanted a Wehrmacht tank on the cover, but the record company Osmose Records refused. The re-release of the album in 2008 on the band’s own label then showed a contemporary photograph of a German Tiger tank.

A central theme of black metal is the breaking of social taboos and the bands often have a rejection of Christianity in common, which can be expressed not only in various forms of “Satanism”, but also in a return to an idealized “pre-Christian” culture. The thematization of war, for example, serves as a war against Christianity or as an expression of a misanthropic world view. Musically, black metal can often be described as fast, crudely mixed and not very melodic. It is also frequently described as “cold” – a sound aesthetic to which mechanized war fits particularly well. In the case of the Second World War, fascist and National Socialist views or affinities can also find expression in the adoption of its aesthetics. More often than in other music genres, black metal also features tanks as a symbol of war on albums and merchandise.

Marduk repeatedly uses Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS tanks for artwork and thematizes the Second World War in their songs. On the album “Panzer Division Marduk”, for example, the song “502” refers to the “schwere Panzer-Abteilung 502”, whose lyrics contain passages from the Wehrmacht’s “Panzerlied”. In interviews, band leader Morgan Håkansson emphasizes his fascination with these themes, but describes himself as apolitical. However, there is no clear political demarcation and Marduk also performs together with bands that belong to the neo-Nazi movement “NSBM” (National Socialist Black Metal). Marduk was able to free itself from this image at the end of the 1990s and has since been invited to major music festivals and featured in high-circulation metal magazines.

Marduk has a wide range of merchandise. In the metal scene, such patches are worn on jackets, bags or especially on vests made of jeans or leather, which are called “cowls”. These are individually designed by the wearer and therefore reflect their personal taste in music, but also their political views and worldview. For many wearers, political conformity with the respective band is therefore important, because by wearing merchandise, they not only serve as advertising space for the band, but also support them financially with their purchase.

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