Review Summary: A poor black metal effort that should have never been released at all.
Everyone knows the story: young Oystein "Euronymous" Aarseth was stabbed to death by his friend and peer Varg Vickernes after a dispute that to this day is unclear. Euronymous? band at the time, the ultra-cult Mayhem, dissolved and the name became synonymous with Black Metal.
Sadly Maniac, Hellhammer, Necrobutcher and newcomer Blasphemer were not content to leave this legacy as it was. Instead they reformed Mayhem in an attempt to recapture the glory of the past - and the money of the fans?
The new Mayhem project is laughable. Maniac may have been in the band once, but he was not in the band for a reason. Rumours suggest that Necrobutcher was going to be kicked out of the band by Euronymous only days after Euronymous was killed. And, well, Blasphemer seems to be exactly the kind of goth metal fan that Euronymous would have hated when he was alive. And yet all of these forces came together to somehow reform Mayhem? Please. The least they could have done is thought up a new name. I'm not even sure that I can call this a black metal album, truthfully.
Sonically the production on this album is superb. I especially like the mixing on the album; plenty of bass without being "bassy", enough treble that I can hear all the cymbal crashes cutting through the guitars, and vocals right up front.
Musically this album is something completely new [at least, new to me]. Songs structures are strange, if they are structured at all. Musically this is perhaps one of the most aggressive "black metal" albums I?ve heard in a long time. Guitars attack the listener with fast and heavy riffs unlike any past Mayhem album. Like many other black metal guitarists Blasphemer likes to layer tremolo-picked lines on top of his power chords, but Blasphemer's lines are unique - he follows patterns and climbs and descends various scales. As far as tremolo-picked lines go, this is perhaps my favourite album for them all.
The vocals on this album are by Maniac who is famous in black metal for not having a conventional vocal style. Rather than use evenly spaced versus and choruses Maniac often rushes his vocals. His vocals lines are not tied to the music and seem to simply float on top. Most songs integrate both harsh and clean vocals, where the clean vocals seem to be spoken rather than sung, and delivered with an authority like that of a general commanding his troops.
While each song on the album is somewhat similar, this contributes to an overall cohesive feel of the album. Listening to it really gives the impression of context; I understand why this is track 5 and that is track 2, because it simply feels like that is where they belong. That is until we reach the techno song. Yes, the Mayhem techno song. I think that's all I need to say about that - I fear if I go any further the ultra-kult black metallers reading this will have an aneurysm.
For a unique perspective on black metal or to hear what the old Mayhem guys think the band would sound like today, pick up this album. It's not perfect but it is at the very least an interesting and unique release. I do have to take points off for the abuse of the name and the techno though.
