Mayhem Album: “Deathcrush [LP]”

As far as I recall, this was the first Mayhem album I had listened to when I first became curious as to what Mayhem was actually like. I remember from the first listen I was put off by everything about the album and quickly deemed that Mayhem sucked, simply because the poor production style was new to me. How wrong I was. After learning more about black metal in general, I decided to check it out again. At this point, I'm saddened that not many black metal artists are as good as early Mayhem was.

The only thing about the album that kind of put me off was the first track, "Silvester Anfang." It's much better to listen to when played live to get the loud and audible properties, but on this album it sounds kind of sloppy. Everything else about this album is no joke - the guitars and riffs are raw, heavy, and crushing. Manheim pounding away on the kit makes it all more enjoyable; because he doesn't just rely on speed...he actually drums very well and offers variety. There are times where the classic chaotic blast beats are implemented into the mix; adding another splatter of Mayhem's element of wickedness.

In my opinion, this was Maniac's best vocal work with Mayhem. His screams of despair fit the atmosphere of the music more than on any other Mayhem album. Maniac's gut puking screams suck you in and it's damn near scary how he can make the music very emotional and creepy with his wailing cries. Necrobutcher's bass is extremely fuzzy and heavily distorted, and surprisingly, its presence is shown immensely. It's kind of hard to catch at certain fast points due to the sub-par production, but for the majority the thick pummeling sound stands out very well.

The other thing I didn't like was the short track list. I realize this is an EP, but I wish there had been more on this album. The catchy parts of this album seem more revolved around chunk riffing than fast paced semi-thrash riffs. It's got its pernicious and speed parts, but I find the chunky parts to be much more enjoyable. The influence of Venom shows highly, and not just in the cover of the song "Witching Hour." Songs like "Deathcrush," "Necrolust," and "Pure F***ing Armageddon" show definite signs of thrash influence with fast (yet simple) tremolo picking.

Euronymous makes it all work nicely, actually. For such poor production it still manages to offer a strong, desolate, and enjoyable experience. I'd recommend it to any and all true black metal fans who can appreciate real old school black metal. I kind of wish Maniac would use the same vocal style he used on Deathcrush on all other Mayhem albums he was on, because I think Deathcrush is his best vocal work. This is an important piece of black metal history; obtain this brutal and primitive EP whenever you can.

This was Mayhem's second demo, the first came out a year prior to "Deathcrush", which was a pioneering effort for it's time ('87). There had been great, heavy, black bands before Mayhem (Venom, Hellhammer, Bathory, Celtic Frost), but nothing to prepare anyone for the brutality that Mayhem would unleash with this classic. In fact, this was SO underground that in '87 very few people even knew of their existence outside of the small but burgeoning death metal scene in their native Norway. So...what you have here is 17 minutes and 29 seconds of pure unadulterated raw evil. Every track is as potent today (even after Mayhem's future-and greater- recordings) as it was when it first made the rounds to a disbelieving cult all those years ago. The sound of "Deathcrush" is the early rumblings of the greatest metal band in existence, Mayhem.

Silvester Ansfang is a nice, ominous little intro that prepares us for the Mayhem that is about to follow. With Deathcrush it is business as usual at the black metal office. Euronymous' guitars crunch bone and sinew and Manheim punches away at anything and everything, whereas Maniac screams at passing ghosts and ghouls. The unceremonious CG and Necrolust establish themselves on the listener with a simple, decorous black metal elegance. All tracks seem to have several degrees of freedom within an over-determined arch of musical emotion and seem to have come together in the given form only by sheer chance. Caution: Don't expect to be enthralled,Deathcrush is not intended to entertain. It is meant to involve. Mayhem are masters of the art of music not because they intentionally create chaos, that is too nihilistic, nor because they want to impress you with any virtuoso performances, but because they accept the ground rules of chaos and create from it something resembling beautiful order. But they only go half the way. And this is where you come in...

First of all a word to the music fan from Silver Spring, Maryland. If you owned this cd you would know that it IS Maniac on vokills. Dead came in 1988 along with Hellhammer so get your facts straight and you're not a true Mayhem fan. This cd is where it all started for the legendary Mayhem. Musically speaking it's not their best, but the attitude and intensity behind Deathcrush more than makes up for it. This is heavy stuff and the lyrics are absolutely gruesome. If you want to see for yourself go to www.darklyrics.com and you'll know what I mean. Some of Mayhem's classic songs came from this album; Deathcrush, Necrolust, Chainsaw Guts***k and Pure F***ing Armageddon. The lineup back then was Euronymous, Maniac, Necrobutcher and the miserable Manheim. They also had a session vocalist named Messiah. I don't think any Mayhem fan would dispute Dead being better than Maniac but Dead's dead my friend and Maniac is the next best thing so get over it just like I did. By the way, Blasphemer is more skilled than Euronymous on guitar but it doesn't matter to me. Euronymous was a personality and a face for Mayhem but he wasn't a great guitarist, he was average so I actually enjoy Blasphemer's skills more. Anyway, I recommend this album to any real BM fan and it's still stands the test of time. BM doesn't sound as evil as this anymore, maybe more should listen to see how it's really done. If Dead were still around I'm sure he would've hunted down Count Grishnackh and killed him. He was that kind of guy, he's an example of a man who actually lived his music literally.

Sharp beats and crushingly overdriven guitars puncuate this record in a way that almost defies you to like this record. Its dark and heavy and bleak and harsh and fantastic. It's also very interesting to see what bands followed the early black metal pioneers Bathory and Celktic Frost and what elements of their early sound helped to define the next generation of black metal bands.

There is a lof of negativity that surrounds Mayhem, with one singer committing suicide (Dead) and Varg (Burzum) killing Euronomous, but their output speaks for itself without the drama.