Description
By the power of darkness and the might of black-hearted will no two Mayhem albums have been or will be the same. Over the course of Mayhem's storied and groundbreaking 35-year career-from De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994) through Esoteric Warfare (2014)-the Norwegians have continuously challenged the orthodoxy of the genre they helped create. Originally informed by greats Hellhammer, Venom, Bathory, and Sodom, the Norwegians eventually imbued their damnable attack with influences from all over the music extreme spectrum, indicated first on the harsh and angular Wolf's Lair Abyss (1997) EP and foremost on the enterprisingly brutal and revolutionary Grand Declaration of War (2000). In 2019, Mayhem yet again reinvent on new album, Daemon.
"Mayhem will always be Mayhem," says guitarist/songwriter Teloch (aka Morten Bergeton Iversen) says. "If we put the genre game aside a bit, no one else sounds like Mayhem. Even when De Mysteriis came out, it was not at first considered to be a black metal album, if my memory serves me right. Tricky to label this band, metal would be the most fitting; it's not pure black metal in my opinion. Not sure it has ever been actually, despite what the general opinion is. People can call it whatever they want. If it's black metal to them, then fine. We don't really care. But to me it's important to keep some sort of black metal vibe at least."
Founded in 1984 in the quaint village of Langhus, Norway by the late (and visionary) frontman Euronymous (aka ?ystein Aarseth), Necrobutcher (aka J?rn Stubberud), and Manheim (aka Kjetil Haraldsson), Mayhem's small-town start was nonetheless auspicious; the name Mayhem itself was inspired by the Venom song, "Mayhem with Mercy." By 1986, the Norwegians had ventured headlong into the proverbial abyss with the release of their first demo, Pure Fucking Armageddon, a cacophonous mob of metal so extreme it didn't have a name. Certainly, sides "Fuck" and "Off" were indicators of Mayhem's fractious aesthetic, but it was their debut EP, Deathcrush (1987), that set off alarm bells that all was not well in Norway. From lineup shifts, record stores, and suicide-vocalist Per Yngve Ohlin (aka Per Yngve Ohlin) shot himself in 1991-to record labels, The Inner Circle, and death-Euronymous was killed by Varg Vikernes in 1993-Mayhem's eternal spirit and flesh have not only endured but also evolved into a monster as dangerous to mind as it is body. Daemon is that transformation. Mayhem's new album is malice manifested and wicked personified.
"Esoteric Warfare was a strict concept-themed album," Teloch says. "Lyrically, visually and musically. With Daemon, we tried a different approach and said, 'Fuck the themes!,' but it kinda turned into a themed album anyway. There will always be some sort of red line between albums, even if it can be really thin. Easy to link almost everything up to a theme if you are creative enough."
Daemon, however
