helterskelter.ca

MAYHEM
1987 - Deathcrush.
1997 - Wolf's Lair Abyss.
2000 - Grand Declaration Of War.
2004 - Chimera.
more MAYHEM.
way more Helter Skelter.

August 16, 1987 - 2022: 35 years of: Deathcrush.

The bastards of the extremes.

Norway, Ground-Zero for the almighty Christian killers: The True MAYHEM. Influenced by the Gods: VENOM, BATHORY and CELTIC FROST, these bums are in search of a new crude creation. With hate in mind, the fanaticism would go beyond the boundaries of hardcore heavymetal: the birth of modern Black-Metal. The same year Brazil's SARCOFAGO would desecrate everything with the blasphemous I.N.R.I. LP.

The celebration commence highly with the primal percussions of "Silvester Anfang" written by experimental-composer Conrad Schnitzler, right into the apocalypse of the "Deathcrush" title-track. German speedmetal pace with UK punk production, this is the sound of WW3. More pounding metal is found on both "Chainsaw Gutsfuck" and the dark "Necrolust", where singer Maniac yells to the limits of extinction.

The VENOM-reprise of "Witching Hour" is an homage of the terrifying-trio that started it all, while the eerie piano-intro of "(Weird) Manheim" sets the mood just right, before the burst berserk attack of "Pure Fucking Armageddon" ...another world where no life dwells.

Live onstage, the rampage would take a morbid twist, as new frontmen Dead would bury his clothes outside days before to reek the smell of death. Impaled pig head and self-mutilation was also part of the singer's stage presence. Eventually the depressed young man went overboard and blew his head off with a shotgun. On a written-note, his 1991 last words were: "Excuse the blood..."

Creator / guitarist / businessman Euronymous would further the impact of extremes by propagating these new sounds with his record-label Posercorpse Music later re-branded Deathlike Silence Productions. As well as opening the Helvete record-shop in Oslo ...where obscure figures would gather for sacred rites, the very selective club of: the Black Metal Inner Circle. Harvesting the underground scene to it's full potential, this is the birth of the: Second Wave Of Black-Metal.

In lineup torment, tragedy and murder, a new incarnation of The True MAYHEM would eventually be back, releasing their posthumous full-length 1994's trendsetting monumental De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas CD.

RIP Per Yngve Ohlin AKA Dead (1969-1991)
RIP Øystein Aarseth AKA Euronymous (1968-1993)

*
Deathcrush = full EP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiaIyqhgYjU&list=OLAK5uy_ko_ZC0LQL9k7cXUHjk25f_R8WOGFXzGLY
Live in 1986
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjay2Lmj9C8
Rehearshal in 1988
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv0TJupEgyo

October 31, 1997 - 2022: 25 years of: Wolf's Lair Abyss.

The rebirth of an icon.

Following the disintegration of The True MAYHEM, through murder and incarceration, by Autumn 1993 they were no more. Releasing the pre-recorded trend-setting De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas CD to a 1994 evolving scene, drummer Hellhammer then reanimated the sect, with a returning Necrobutcher and Maniac, along new guitarist Blasphemer ...The New MAYHEM.

Sampled electro-intro sets the mood to warfare, as "The Vortex Void Of Inhumanity" opens-up. Pure fucking Armageddon explodes in an instant on "I Am Thy Labyrinth" as it reaches out of this world speed. Cacophonous carnage crushes the opposition with the "Fall Of Seraphs".

More hate bleeds black blood on sliced "Ancient Skin" and the slick "Symbols Of Bloodswords". Through guerilla production, sick vocals and pulse-rifle drumming, MAYHEM easily climbs back on top of the family-tree of darkness.

Welcome to the Third Wave, or some parts of depending on who you ask. The year is 1997 and the world is once again uneased by the presence of MAYHEM. This rebirth / reunion would soon bloom eons ahead with 2000's coup-de-theatre A Grand Declaration Of War CD.

*
Wolf's Lair Abyss = full MCD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec1dC1NXxmE&list=OLAK5uy_ln-NAg0EFYn5lLwpf5pw7Pav6z4-S_DqM
Live in Bischofswerda in 1997
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSWcf-6UFDc
Live in Milan in 1998
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJQ2kxIPA1g

June 6, 2000 - 2020: 20 years of: Grand Declaration Of War.

Blackmetal's most controversial album from blackmetal's most controversial band.

Hard to believe, yet Norway's legendary act went thru the suicide of their lead-singer and then, the actual bassist murdering the guitarist rampage ...and now this: darkwave and industrial-beats !? Creating blasphemous low-fi extreme-metal, commonly known as blackmetal, with 1987's Deathcrush EP and later rewriting the book of traditional blackmetal with 1994's iconic De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas CD …the MAYHEM story-book is a full adventure into the true macabre.

But how did we get from self-mutilation to mesh-shirts and latex-pants, the Grand Declaration Of War era is a full 66.6° turn, from one end of the spectrum to another. To quote one famous British guitarist: "How much more black could this be ? and the answer is ...none, none more black." We all remember CELTIC FROST's cock-rock Cold Lake, METALLICA's huge Load and the recent PARADISE LOST Host dark-pop adventure, well it is now time for the inventors of blackmetal to go into full millennium-fashion.

Foreseeing trendsetters or merely jumping the shark ?

Remember that the 1999-2000 era was the tail-end of the new blackmetal renaissance, as powermetal and symphonicmetal were slowly but surely swallowing the evil ones. The experimentations of MAYHEM 6.0 in 1997's Wolf's Lair Abyss MCD where now fully bloomed to perfection and the masters took this opportunity to lead the way into the sophisticated future.

The title-track intro is a prelude to Armageddon, where the returned Maniac kindly reminds us that "Christendom, religion of pity, God of the sick, we have discovered our way". As soon as "In The Lies Where Upon You Lay" ignites, all Hells breaks loose. The old-feeling is present and atrociously beautiful, until the clean-vocals jumps in, an unprecedented rock-approach ...for a blackmetal-pioneer ! The cyber-black attack of "A Time To Die" will immediately please old fans, as it is an incendiary 1:49sec firebomb that goes into Mach IV. The military-beat of a "View From Nihil (Part I)" hammers away until the explosive blasts at 1:09sec. Another brilliant Hellhammer, Necrobutcher and Blasphemer collective and destructive performance.

Avantgarde-metal is present on the house-mix meets future-metal of "A Bloodsword And A Colder Sun (Part I)". The whispered-intro sends chills and lays the way into EBM-type beats of "A Bloodsword And A Colder Sun (Part II)". With an open mind, this is a one-way walkthrough another spatial-dimension, and just like that, the poison is fed with a spoon. Now the street-style vocal-intro on "Crystalized Pain In Deconstruction" may be too much for some elite to swallow. Totally breaking the chains of extreme-metal, while still being extreme-metal, this aseptisized-track is a one-of-a-kind in the genre. Highly volatile yet lovable !

Released following the successful Wolf's Lair Abyss cycle to an hungry blackmetal audience, swamped in CRADLE OF FILTH, MARDUK, DIMMU BORGIR and EMPEROR, the true MAYHEM didn't disappoint, or did they ? The initial reactions were harsh and extremely critical of the band's new clean sound, ultra compressed production, experimental ways and tame looks. Yet the true answer lies within everyone's own perception of musical growth and it's residual evolution.

The 2001 live-companion Live In Marseille CD / DVD is a brilliant exhibition of brute untamed and unadulterated savagery. a fine selection of old and new material ...featuring their stiff hog-friend.

Grand Declaration Of War's high-point remains Hellhammer's over the top drumming and the pristine digital-production. So pristine that in 2018 a new fully remixed-version of the album was issued under original label Season Of Mist Records. This time more mids and harshness in the overall tone have been added, giving the album a new-found life.

We are at full war, this declaration was a mere warning-shot, as The New MAYHEM would destroy this new millennium with subsequent spews of hate, starting with 2004's darker Chimera CD.

*
Grand Declaration Of War = full CD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QGUu22b4QI&list=OLAK5uy_kyYsDFQBD7pm7UtdDwG3ZjFhCLvEqq4SE
Picnic with the band
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVK8AXG4Wls
Live in Marseille in 2000
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEkVB015cGo
Interview backstage in Marseille in 2000
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wUTI1MguGg
Grand Declaration Of War = full CD 2018 remix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us9hQt7MhqI&list=PLArAJlC1y559b8_2C6QXaw4SN7L4GAVBW
What's in my bag with Necrobutcher in L.A. in 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDXdhLeFV-g
some guy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti-Z0lmNpPM
some guys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWB1ONZgQE0

March 29, 2004 - 2024: 20 years of: Chimera.

Another declaration.

Tweaking the mix back from clean to dirt after 2000's Grand Declaration Of War CD. The truest of blackmetal solidifies their iron-fist dominance on the genre: MAYHEM deathcrushes the scene !

Posers are all "Whore" ...a hateful declaration of the vilest kind. The blasts continues on the hyperactive "You Must Fall" and the not so gentle "Rape Humanity With Pride". Yes they went there. The blackest roots of dark-thrashmetal gets to shine on "Slaughter Of Dreams", while the 7min title-track for "Chimera" progresses deep into the Pandemonium, displaying the many faces of death.

Lurking under their ancient skin, a morbidly mature band exhibits the zenith of the freezing moon. 2004: very late into the Third Wave Of Black-Metal, yet MAYHEM are still influential and are still at the Pole Position.

Another Chapter would bless this twisted millennium, as the band would spear more hate, beginning with 2007's Ordo Ad Chao CD ...the return of Attila Csihar !

*
Chimera = full CD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1uPdiA1eaI&list=OLAK5uy_kTzqb1ch9aPOXC8uvOLh8g9DwoSXlhvu8
Interview in Norwegian TV in 2004
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ5vlOoYkCQ
Live in Barcelona in 2004
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v71F2GTqDFk

more MAYHEM:

Black-Metal 84-90
&

Black-Metal 90-96
&

THE KOVENANT