This black metal band I feel doesn't really need an introduction since they've been dishing out metal for this genre as far back as their founding in 1984. The album is a true classic among the black metal community. Anyone who doubts this synopsis can pretty much stuff it because this release was so well put together that it deserves an honorary mention. I'm not a huge black metal fan, but this album has me hooked. It's one of those albums that you can listen to repeatedly and never get sick of because it's so original, fast, furious, evil, eerie and Satanic. That sums up Mayhem on here.

The music is composed of guitar frenzies featuring fast tremolo picking chords, slower eerie pieces, bass guitar parts that are dark and dreary and drums that keep up with the music. Pretty much all of the songs are very memorable and unique. Attila's vocals are so evil and possessed. Both guitarists Euronymous (RIP 1993) and Blackthorn dish out some great riffs that stick to the mind eternally. The guitar sound is so unique and creative. It's fast like I said before, but very well played out. The chords are mostly picked with fury and anger. No letup on that front.

Even Count Grishnackh's bass guitar was audible here. The guitars aren't continuously playing fast, but they do have plenty of furious guitar work during most of the lengthy songs. Amazing what they put together I mean 8 tracks that clocks in around 46 minutes in length. They're really focus was I think on making the guitar the primary focal point of the album. It sets the tone for the dark vocals and Hellhammer's drum outputs. Really good tracks to download would be 'Freezing Moon', 'Pagan Fears' and 'From the Dark Past'.

The mixing and production are entirely solid on every aspect. You can hear the guitar melodies, bass guitar working, vocals well mixed in to augment the music, and the drums were very audible. There's nothing that went wrong here, everything was mixed in unison. There are no negative aspects to this release. It's one of the best black metal albums of all time. I say this because it's based on fact, not opinion. If you're a black metal fan and don't own this release, YouTube the songs that I mentioned and you'll want to pick it up right away.

In summary, here's a Mayhem album that stands out from all of the rest of them. It's their best album no doubt. Intensity was a huge factor here. But not every track like I said is extremely fast or extremely slow. There was one segment of the bass that was slow and played by itself without the guitars or drums, but it didn't last very long. Hellhammer blasts away here with great drum outputs that fit the music entirely. Attila's vocals were amazingly unique and dreary. It was perfect to have him on here to well fit the music. Own this album now!

Rating: 10 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Death8699
02/05/2012 11:45