Mayhem
De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

Release Date: 1994 | Tracklist

Usually with scenes, there is always one band to start it all off. Black metal has the group Mayhem who are probably only popular for the story of killings within the band. But that’s just typical black metal you know? This is the epitome of black metal and features the full traits of the genre. This album is quite dark featuring a lot of blast beats, evil vocals and simple but dark guitar riffs. For fans outside the genre, this might seem like crap but this is actually a real treat with songs such as Funeral Fog and Freezing Moon. This was a huge influence to the black metal scene and I can honestly say without it, the genre wouldn’t be the same or even alive.

The album’s opener Funeral Fog just blasts it all open with evil guitar licks and pounding blast beats. The vocals does sound like the guy is dying but it all comes down to the music. You can’t help but get a tingle up your spine when he sings, “Funeral….fog!” under the heaviness of it all. One thing is that the tracks don’t vary much so if you don’t have good ears then this will be hard to listen to. The hardcore metallist will notice every song note by note though.

One more thing is that the drums don’t vary much either, listen to Funeral Fog and you will notice it’s the same drumbeat throughout the whole song. He does have a cool snare sound though. The guitars are strummed for the riffs making it awkward. No melody or anything at all. The vocals do get on my nerves, while it is based on the black metal style. His vocals are definitely an acquired taste. The vocals are always slow and evil like. The bass is nice and distorted which is quite cool. As you can see, it’s pretty easy to pick up flaws throughout the album but what makes it so good you can come back to it again and again. For one thing, it has a real wicked and scary atmosphere. It’s bound to make you crap yourself at night, this is overall Sunn O))) bumped up 100bpm. Mayhem are a dark band and taking drugs along to this is surely a very scary time.

It’s bound that influence alone could put the score right up. Yes, it is a trademark album but does that equal good? Compared to new black metal, this can’t stand up on it’s own as the genre has changed a lot in twelve years. Back in the day, this would have been a masterpiece and not like anything else done at that time but I hate to admit that I can hear some thrash and death influences. The guitar tone is very thrash and the drumming is linked to death metal. But maybe there height of success was not to do with their music? Every time I ask someone about this band, they always tell me of the famous story about the band. Yeah, it is interesting that the vocalist committed suicide and half the band is murdered or in jail but what has that got to do with the music? Another thing is probably their stage presence, with the full black ensemble and animal heads in poles and such. Mayhem will probably be remembered for that.

So overall, this is a great album when you’re in the mood but pay attention or it’ll sound all the same. When I’m writing this, it feels like that already but last night when I was just lying listening to this, I could pick out every difference. I’m going to overall give it a four but in general it’s a three. It’s good but it isn’t really that mind-blowing. The reason it’s getting higher than a three is because of the influence in the genre and the fact that it is rated high inside the genre. If you can’t stand slow growled vocals then this could still appeal to you as the vocals don’t really play a major part in the music. The guitars however are never melodic and don’t have any cool licks or anything to learn so be beware. This is a great listen, just not all the time.

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4.1 excellent

Rank: #52 for 1994