Review Summary: Black metal punk heads.
Two years after their last release, the legendary black metal group presented their new creation. The
Atavistic Black Disorder / Kommando EP turned out as a very interesting piece, where they could show their lesser known side. Here, they played their signature style of black metal, but some pure
punk as well.
This EP’s origin was uncovered in the recent interviews with the band. In these, the band cited that they still had some unused material from the
Daemon sessions which didn’t fit into the LP’s main narrative. Moreover, they sometimes play songs by other artists during soundchecks or on some rehearsals, so they felt it’s a great opportunity to finally record and present some of these special cover songs to the public. Personally I believe it was a very welcomed idea, since they could show out their deep love for punk bands who were an inspiration for them in the past and in this way, the fans could see a different (and less grim) side of Mayhem.
The first side,
Atavistic Black Disorder, has a very apt title. These songs felt like the continuation of Mayhem’s previous style from 2019: The very much
De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas-inspired approach was still in action, and in overall, the result was a very classy piece of work. Tore Gunnar Stjerna (in the producers’ chair) partly guaranteed the continued excellence as he has worked with Mayhem since 2016, and all of their releases since then have had wonderful productions. This EP is no exception. The black metal side consists only three longer songs, two “neo-traditional” songs by Teloch (imagine
De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas with hints of
Esoteric Warfare in it) and a traditional, old-school-spirited riff-storm by Ghul. Basically, anyone who liked
Daemon won’t be disappointed here.
Atavistic Black Disorder / Kommando is full of similar riffs, Hellhammer’s super tight drumming and of course Attila Csihar’s unearthly vocals.
Atavistic Black Disorder / Kommando’s second side,
Kommando is a very different thing though, since it consists only of cover versions of certain punk songs from bands like Discharge, Dead Kennedys, Rudimentary Peni and Ramones. The result of which is a mixed bag. First of all, it was a very interesting experience, even though artists within black metal have done similar things in the past (see Darkthrone’s take on “Love in a Void” by Siouxsie and the Banshees for example). However, two of the four songs didn’t really
feel that good. While instrumentally every song was perfectly executed, the vocals were the key factors which decided the success of these songs. From this aspect, the star of the EP was clearly Maniac. The anger, the frustration and the energy was definitely present in his performance, his vocal tone felt fitting, as it is known his talent really shines in the more punky or spoken lines (see in
Grand Declaration Of War). It’s a real shame he was a guest for only one song on this release… which was also the case with Messiah. His deep, grizzly bearish vocals really worked out in “Commando” (perhaps he would be a good stoner vocalist, to be honest.) On the contrary, Attila’s songs were simply... less interesting. Meanwhile his unique, obscure and theatrical vocals are famous in black metal, but in this kind of totally punk-oriented environment they felt a bit out of place, especially in “Only Death”. Even though it significantly dampened the overall experience, it was still a fairly good effort to try something new in this release.
Atavistic Black Disorder / Kommando is a definitely interesting experience, where it was especially great to hear their previous vocalists back in action again. In general, both sides are exciting enough for both fans of black metal and punk music, and perhaps they could reach a wider audience with this release.
