MAYHEM - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas CD
label: Deathlike Silence Records
released: 1994
track listing:
1. Funeral Fog
2. Freezing Moon
3. Cursed In Eternity
4. Pagan Fears
5. Life Eternal
6. From The Dark Past
7. Buried By Time And Dust
8. De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
COMMENTS:
One of the most amazing things about De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (Lord Satan's Secret Rites) other than the music is the history behind it. After years of writing the songs, re-tweaking the riffs and watching all of his fellow Norwegian Black Metal brethren (DARKTHRONE, EMPEROR, IMMORTAL, etc.) release full length LPs. All of whom by the way came after MAYHEM. Oystein Aarseth aka: Euronymous gathered together this horde of evil and entered the studio in 1993. Technically it wasn't really MAYHEM that recorded this masterpiece. Singer Dead had committed suicide and bassist Necrobutcher quit the band. So with Hellhammer as the last remaining band member on drums, Euronymous brought in BURZUM mastermind and future murderer of Euronymous, Varg Vikernes, as session bassist, Attila Csihar from the band TORMENTOR to take care of vocals and Blackthorn to add additional guitar. You would think that with a room full of these egos the work on the music would take a back seat. Surprisingly the end product would turn the Black Metal music scene on it's head. Think about it, there are many early 90s Black Metal bands that have influenced the current crop of corpse painted heathens. Sometimes these newer bands are out right copycats. But can you name any who've been copying this? There are plenty who ripoff the Deathcrush era MAYHEM. As of this writing I can't but I'm sure someone can name drop a band name better than I.
The greatness of this essential Black Metal release lies with two distinct contributions. The first is simply Attila's vocals. The man's voice box is located in his bowels. When the words spring forth from his lips they've traveled through a series of horrific twists and turns. He growls with a true demonic presence. His operatic tones are like wails from the long suffering dead. Previous vocalist, Dead, could not have pulled off such tones which contain melodic and harsh varieties. Dead was a great screamer while Attila is a vocalist who added so much atmosphere and vocal variety to the release. If you take the songs from the Live In Leipzig LP that were redone on here for example, you can hear similarities. But in an interview I once read, Attila admits to not trying to copy Dead's vocal style on purpose. Personally I think that was a wise choice. Also I just can't hear Dead doing many of the other songs on this release. What I think is the major problem with the Dead versus Attila idea is that some people refuse to recognize one important variable. Dead was of the old era which musically contained alot of Thrash elements. It was fucking raw and exciting. Dead was the perfect vocalist for that but he died. Euronymous had moved on from it to explore new territory for his Black Metal vision.
Months ago I came across an article which complained about Attila's vocals on this release. The writer also stated that it was a huge mistake to have him on this album and that the band should've waited for someone else to fill Dead's shoes. Preferably one who sounded more like Dead. I could not disagree more and the writer of that article is clueless. Euronymous picked Attila to do the vocals. He obviously had time to listen to the tapes after each recording session. If he had a problem then the project would of been put on the back burner again. This was his baby to live or kill. Euronymous wanted these recordings to be his vision of Black Metal. To complain or second guess his decisions fifteen years later is ignorant.
Which brings us to the second important part of this release is obviously Euronymous. His guitar work on here is definitely riff-centric but surpassing what had become generic within the Black Metal music scene at the time. At times it's almost thunderous which matches perfectly with Attila's vocals. Also they're more complex than what your average Black Metal band of today is doing. His subtle changes to the older songs, "Funeral Fog", "Freezing Moon", "Pagan Fears" and "Buried By Time and Dust", are evident. His guitar playing is slowed down to a Death/Doom crawl at times letting the songs gather energy until the final conquest.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
I'd like to point out that MAYHEM is just one of a few unique bands in Metal who have had the opportunity to survive tragedy and move on with multiple line-ups. There are three important and distinct eras of MAYHEM all containing different lead singers. By claiming that De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is an essential Extreme Metal release does not take away from the early recorded output by the line-up with Dead on vocals. Nor does it take away from the time when Maniac returned to take back vocal duties. (Please note that I don't consider the Ordo Ad Chao line-up to be really new, but it is good.) To continually argue over who's better, who's best does a disservice to the band and the memories of their long dead band members. And frankly I really think the people doing the loudest complaining are pathetic since they were all still in diapers when this was released. But don't worry since Live in Leipzig will find it's way onto the SCUMFEAST METAL ESSENTIALS sooner or later.
WEBSITES:
http://www.thetruemayhem.com/
http://www.mayhem.ontheweb.nl/
http://www.season-of-mist.com/
http://www.myspace.com/officialmayhem
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