If Spirit of Eden Hazard Kicking Ball-Boy was a brief, ecstatic sprint into police custody, then Task-Force Diane is the parole—Marcel return, wiser but no less wild, to its lair of melodic post-punk revelry. Feet up, head high, still brimming with storms and burlesque nightmares.
A riot of flamenco-infused noise-rock, somewhere between Manitas de Plata and Sonic Youth, this track digs deep beneath the skin of our collective psyche. It scratches at the primal urges of fire and destruction, themes that blaze at the core of Marcel’s upcoming album, ‘Ô Fornaiz,’ out March 21 via Luik and Géographie/Modulor Music.
To match the intensity, Brussels’ own Simon & Vincent Lynen—of Frankie and the L.I.A.R.Ensemble (Exag Records)—crafted a surreal animated video inspired by the ecstatic visions of the first Beguines in medieval Belgium. Their mystical self-inflicted suffering, their floods of tears, their transcendence—all reimagined in a modern nightmare of corporate absurdity.
Enter Diane. No longer the fierce huntress of myth, she is now a headhunter in a soulless conglomerate, ruled by a tyrannical Pope-CEO. The prize for peak productivity? A dream trip to Disneyland. Diane, a bureaucratic reincarnation of Marie d’Oignies’ zealous devotion, throws herself into the contest with sacred fervor, driven by the promise of meeting Mickey and the gang. She cries, she labors, she collapses—an office martyr canonized in the name of Holy Profit. Her coworkers, spellbound, elevate her to saintly status. Burned from within, she becomes the Joan of Arc of the Open Plan.
Marcel – Task-Force Diane (Official Video)
More about Marcel
Since 2021, Belgian band Marcel has mastered the art of making music that is both effortless and extravagant. Imagine a chaotic lovechild of Dead Kennedys and Talk Talk, with the unhinged spirit of Nina Hagen and Jacques Dutronc. Their sound is an intoxicating mix of poetic horror and anarchic humor, resonating with your rebellious grandmother as much as with your precocious five-year-old nephew who insists he’s right-wing.
Live, they are an electric shock—76% of their audience has reported experiencing a “tingling, stinging joy,” according to the ever-reliable Eurobarometer. Their next trick? Perhaps an album of free jazz or bossa nova in Walloon. But for now, Marcel thrives in its own breed of experimental, unorthodox punk—feral, untranquil, and as proud as a peacock that has screamed itself featherless.
Produced and mixed by Ben Hampson (DITZ, Lambrini Girls,…) their upcoming album, ‘Ô Fornaiz,’ will set fire to the airwaves on March 21, 2025, via Luik Music and Géographie.
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