Mayhem – Daemon (Century Media Recordings)

Mayhem – Daemon (Century Media Recordings)

Black Metal uber lords Mayhem is in the fuckin house!  Hide your bibles, guns, knives, false metal iconography and without question any Stryper albums.  Now on a more serious note the name Mayhem is probably more famous than any of their music that’s for sure and with the recent interest in the band following the movie ‘The Lords Of Chaos’ its fair to say Mayhem has been many things over the last thirty-five plus years and not all of it good but some of it great.  I’ll admit right here that I was always intrigued as an impressionable schoolboy in the whole Venom, Hellhammer first wave of Black Metal and then when I heard ‘DeathCrush’ I was blown away and for me (remember this is pre-internet) there wasn’t a great deal of information about Norway and what was going on over there it was hard to keep up and by the time I had a better idea two of them were dead they’d been through several singers (if singers is the correct term) and by the time the mid 90s had passed I was done occasionally dipping back in from time to time and usually when there was a book out covering the church burnings or a documentary  then I’d dip back in to find out what the hell happened to the likes of Bathory, Hellhammer, Venom and Mayhem.  Id’ say in the last few years I rediscovered ‘Deathcrush’ and latterly ‘De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas’ I’m afraid to say it was a gradual decline downhill for me as a lot of Black Metal had turned into some classical technical jizzfest and it had lost its spark for me.

With the exception of a few albums here and there the scene was done and then I heard a Darkthrone album and watched a few Mayhem clips on youtube and I was back in and when I read that Mayhem was recording a new album and the band had been listening to live tapes of them playing that ‘Mysteriis’ album and using the sounds to write the new album I was intrigued. Then when I heard some of the new tracks and they were a little slower and more experimental and more akin to old school Mayhem I was pleased, there is an energy about this record that hasn’t been there for a while.

It’s easy to say it’s just a rehash of that first album would be unfair It’s fair to say its more in keeping with it and maybe that’s why I’m excited to hear it. sure Attila’s vocals are an acquired taste at times terrifying and other times so guttural and indistinguishable it would be fair to say scratch some nails down a pane of glass would be more preferable.  This is the extreme end of extreme music no question about it and from the exceptional artwork you know you are in the company of the darkest shade of darkness Mayhem dance only to their own tune they do what they want when they want to do it and this album as a complete piece of work is going to make fellow black metallers sit up and pay attention ‘Daemon’ begins with ‘The Dying False King’ with no spooky intro or long winding lead up – Bosch! they’re off like a salivating three-headed dog barking like fuck until the breakdown halfway through and already this pisses over anything they’ve done for over a decade and a half – make no mistake Mayhem are on fire! ‘Agenda Ignis’ is like shit off a stick as it meanders its way out of Hell poor old Hellhammer he’s drumming like his backside is on fire but again there is a twist after about a minute but worry not you mega paradiddlers its momentary and the thunderous noise continues.

The production is suitably hellish as you’d expect and with headphones, it’s another experience altogether.  In an hour-long bombardment I think I need a lie-down but leave the lights on please I don’t want any more darkness but I do know I’m going back in for some more. ‘Malum’ twists and turns and goes from breakneck to a slower more evil tempo and back and forth we fight.

‘Falsified And Hated’ is almost six minutes of pure darkness its as bleak as the album gets oh no it isn’t ‘Aeon Daemonium’ builds up like a waking Beelzebub before the double bass sparks up I must admit that I’ll have to listen to the middle songs a lot more because currently, they’re blending into one great big dark ball of Metallic noise as Attila growls and belches out his lyrics and the songs meander back and fore in epic fashion but flow over my head a little but I feel they’re dragging me in slooooowly.

I know they’re never going to write a love song or play a soft ballad nor would I want them to but at times the intensity is too much right up to the kettle drums on ‘Invoke the Oath’ along with the military snare beats it’s like a call to satanic arms and the dead are rising to the call.  Cramming so much into five minutes is like ‘At War With Satan’ on double speed but I don’t know what the fucks going on here.

 

There are bonus tracks but they’re long and repetitive and complex-sounding but saying that the final one ‘Black Glass Communion’ sounds fuckin’ thunderous on the headphones a real sonic kick to the temple. ‘Daemon’ is the blackest shade of Black and if anyone tells you that Black Metal is long done then throw this on the stereo and tell them to fuck off.  Mayhem is black metal and ‘Daemon’ is Mayhem job done!

 

Buy Daemon Here

Author:Dom ‘Daemon’ Daley

Cockroach Clan – Songs About Blunt Knives and Deep Love (Fysisk Format)

Cockroach Clan – Songs About Blunt Knives and Deep Love (Fysisk Format)

One of Norway’s most legendary bands, (that you might be forgiven for never having heard of them, Right? Right) anyway Norway has a good history of knocking out some fantastic bands and a lot of them have been mentioned here on RPM.  Backstreet Girls, Turbonegro, Gluecifer, Good Bad the Zugly, Razorbats, and of course Mayhem.

Well, these punk/hardcore veterans are fronted by Billy Cockroach, one of the first vocalists of Mayhem he performed on the 1987 album “Deathcrush” under the moniker of Messiah and they offer us well-aged vintage punk rock full of cheerful aggression and infectious tunes. throwing in Mayhem is a bit of a red herring because its nothing like Deathcrush this is polished positively glistening in the production stakes compared to that Black Metal demo.

‘Songs about Blunt Knives and Deep Love’, has only taken 22 bloody long years to reach our ears kinda puts Axel to shame with his Chinese Democracy. They’re being heralded as one of Norway’s most legendary bands, it basically consists of new recordings of old hits as well as a handful of new tracks and a cover of Mountain Goat’s “Going to Georgia”. It started out as an idea from producer Hugo Alvarstein (The Good the Bad and the Zugly, Raga Rockers, etc…) Who suggested the band go rehearse their best songs from the 1990s then call him up and he’d take em into his studio and get them recorded and give the songs the justice they deserve. To be fair he’s clearly a man of his word and has recorded one hell of an album..

The band started out as far back as 1994, building a loyal fan base and a reputation of being a riotous live band along the way. Compared to the bands two previous offerings this one is the dog’s bollocks and one that should rightly exalt them to the top table of punk rock.

Having honed the tunes by sharing the stage with acts like The Toy Dolls, Discharge, UK Subs, The Exploited, Cock Sparrer, Anti-Nowhere League, Vice Squad and GBH through the years, now it’s about time they put their hat in the ring with a bunch of songs that justified their boast of being up there with the best of them.

The album begins with a cover, ‘Going To Georgia’ and it drops its music bombs right square in the middle of the speakers with it’s spoken/sung verses holding up rather well over a musical backdrop that just crackles along with a joy and sound of a band just killing it doing something they love for the love. ‘You Have A Bun’ is a breath of fresh air as it has plenty of bounce and whilst the vocals are aggressive (often quite shouty) what did you think he was going to sound like? Ian Gillan? that’s the thing its aggressive as fuck but it sounds content and dare I say it – Happy at the same time, oh and the production is great and really lifts the songs.

‘Fantasyland’ has a little bit of Thin Lizzy in those dueling guitars on the intro.  I did a little momentary gasp on the intro of the piraty ‘Three Wishes’ as I thought we were getting some h ho ho shanty music but worry not me hearties it was only a false intro. Still, it’s quite piraty its the good end of piraty.

‘On An Island’ is just a banger with its head down its one foot in the Motorhead camp and the other, say, Argy Bargy – Imagine that? To be fair the middle part of the album isn’t fucking about and gets stuck in like The Adicts on a good day.  ‘Facts On The Wall’ is Ramones rapid with a dumb yet happy melody and ripping solo this is shaping up to be an excellent record.  ‘Necktie Party’ has a bit of a Crass vibe about it. These boys and these songs would go down a storm at somewhere like Rebellion Festival.

A lot of the pace and tempo of the songs remind me of a Norweigan Sham 69 and none more so that ‘Do It Again’ which is one of the highlights of the record on the breakdown it’s like vintage high jinx Damned who always threw in some cool off the wall melodies in fact there are plenty of influences I am feeling here more than ripping off a band they dance to their own tunes and just let their influences just bleed through..

With twelve songs on offer, I would highly recommend you at least give these cats the benefit of doubt and check em out and once you do that I’m sure you’ll be convinced.  Great album I’m glad has seen the light of day and hope it’s given the band the energy and drive to do it all again except to say next time don’t leave it so fucking long. – Buy it!

 

 

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Gone But Not Forgotten – Øystein Aarseth (Euronymous)

Gone But Not Forgotten – Øystein Aarseth (Euronymous)

Euronymous was a founder of and central figure in the early Norwegian Black Metal scene. He was a co-founder and guitarist of the Norwegian black metal band Mayhem and was the only constant member from the band’s formation in 1984 until his death in 1993. He was also founder and owner of the extreme metal record label ‘Deathlike Silence Productions’ and record shop Helvete in Norway.

Euronymous professed to be a Satanist and was known for making extreme misanthropic statements. He presented himself as leading a militant cult-like group known as the “Black Metal Inner Circle”. How much of this was image, bravado, bullshit or just youthful boasting to create a bigger image? We’ll never truly know.

In August 1993, he was murdered by fellow musician Varg Vikernes. Its a complicated and tangled web of who did what to whom and when and staggeringly why but ultimately several people lost their lives in all of this and today we remember one of the pivotal figures of Norweigan Black Metal Euronymous.

Recently the subject of the shocking and true film ‘Lords Of Chaos’ Øystein was one of the lead roles for all of the above.  He was possibly responsible for taking what the likes of Venom were doing in the UK and taking it across the line and making the sounds of Bathory, Hellhammer more extreme more brutal more antisocial. For the pioneering groundbreaking contribution to extreme metal, we remember Euronymous and hope he rests in peace wherever that may be.

The recent film ‘Lords Of Chaos’ loosely tells the story of Euronymous and his inner circle and depicts his horrific and violent demise at the hands of Varg. We reviewed the film Here It does depict their scene as a band of misfits bonded by dark ideals and metal.  It was Aarseth who discovered his singer after his suicide and it was he who took the picture of his dead bloodied body and took pictures and allegedly took pieces of Deads skull. However, he was also the guy who set up his own label, set up his own record shop and pioneered a network of worldwide black metal fans (remember this is pre-internet) he also set up base in his own record store Hellvete.

Its his raw and brutal songwriting that set the blueprint for many others to follow check out the riff on ‘Deathcrush’

 

PEACEVILLE TO RELEASE THE FIRST NEW STUDIO ALBUM FROM Mortem

PEACEVILLE TO RELEASE THE FIRST NEW STUDIO ALBUM FROM Mortem

PEACEVILLE TO RELEASE THE FIRST NEW STUDIO ALBUM FROM THE NEWLY REFORMED NORWEGIAN BLACK METAL LEGENDS 

FEATURING MEMBERS OF ARCTURUS, THORNS, MAYHEM & 1349

Before Arcturus there was Mortem. Bringing together members of Arcturus, Mayhem, Thorns, & 1349 for a masterwork of eerie black metal, Peaceville proudly presents the long-awaited debut studio album from the newly reformed Norwegian legends

When one looks back at the bloodstained history of black metal, the names are as familiar as those of old friends – Mayhem, Burzum, Darkthrone. But in the shadows lurked another prime purveyor of northern darkness.  Formed by Marius Vold & Steinar Sverd Johnsen in 1989, Mortem was one of the first black metal bands to crawl out of the woodwork in Norway, releasing the highly coveted and brutal Slow Death demo, with Euronymous & Dead of Mayhem acting as producer and cover artist respectively. After the release of Slow Death, the band was laid to rest with members going on to form and feature in acclaimed titans such as Arcturus and Thorns, both of which would become mainstays in the black metal scene and beyond. 

In a moment of nostalgia & a desire for something more brutal beyond the current vessel of Arcturus, the corpse of Mortem was revived, & the unholy duo of Marius & Steinar joined forces once more.  And so the long-awaited album, titled Ravnsvart, possesses the same raw brutality & spirit as the original incarnation, plus fresh elements all uniquely woven into the fabric of the early sounds of Scandinavian black metal, & crafted into a masterpiece of sinister horror.

Joining the duo is Hellhammer from the legendary Mayhem on drums, plus Tor Stavenes of 1349/Svart Lotus on bass.

Steinar Sverd Johnsen comments on the reformation “Reviving Mortem was something we had thought about for a long time. Due to increasing creative differences, it was a natural move to drag Mortem out of the ground, and come together with other brilliant additions to the band, to make something evil, fast, and heavy as hell, borrowing elements from Arcturus and Bathory, It’s old school while being totally unique”

Ravnsvart is available to pre-order on CD, LP and digitally (pre-orders receive title track “Ravnsvart” as an instant download)HERE

Mortem have confirmed they will be appearing at Rockstadt Extreme Fest in Transylvania on Friday 2nd August, the first chance for fans to hear the new album. https://rockstadtextremefest.ro/

“We couldn’t have asked for a better location for Mortem’s stage debut than Rockstadt, right in the heart of the Transylvanian forest! We have been rehearsing, preparing and we are 100% ready, it’s a fantastic festival, and we hope that everyone will enjoy it, and yes, there are more shows to come!” Mortem

Mortem are:

Steinar Sverd Johnsen, Guitar (Arcturus, Covenant, Satyricon ..)

Marius Vold, Vocals (Stigma Diabolicum, Thorns, Arcturus)

Hellhammer, Drums (Mayhem, Covenant, Arcturus..)

Tor R. Stavenes, Bass (1349, Svart Lotus, Den Saakaldte …)

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RPM at The Movies Episode 2: Lords Of Chaos (Gunpowder & Sky)

RPM at The Movies Episode 2: Lords Of Chaos (Gunpowder & Sky)

Wow, maybe one of the most contentious movies associated with rock/metal ever. If you only have a passing interest you will be familiar with Norweigan Black Metal that came to prominence in the early ’90s and what went down. well, music fans, ‘Lords of Chaos: Truth And Lies’ is really gonna split the audience (those who know and those who don’t give two shits). It’s dark, It’s goofy, it’s horrific but most shockingly it was real.

Sure from a movie perspective, it’s Hollywood and glossy and slick which is everything that Norweigan Black Metal wasn’t. It’s not the kind of movie you would want to take that girl on a first date. You wouldn’t want to put on your best Waynes world baseball cap and those high tops and go with your mates to watch a Metal movie especially if they’re true Black Metal and to be honest, it doesn’t paint the community in a very good light at all not to the uninitiated it doesn’t – No sir.

There is a certain authenticity with this move in some of the cast are fans of the genre and knew the story and the Director was an original member of first wave pioneers Bathory so they know their shit before the purists jump on it.

Casting Varg as a larger Jewish actor couldn’t have been a coincidence, Whilst in the main, the acting is excellent its not the most PC of communities to begin with (tolerance wasn’t exactly a motivator) and they generally lived by their own rules (or so they thought) It mostly focusses around Øystein Aarseth otherwise known as Euronymous the leader of Mayhem one of the forerunners of the second wave of Black Metal and the people who circled around his orbit.

Right enough of the back story. One thing I struggled to get my head around was the Americanisation and the accents, that was a shame, seeing as they were Norwegians no attempt to even put an accent on was made which might have added to the whole Bill and Ted goofy-ness of parts of the film. I thought the writers made a good fist of making it unglamorous and painting the main baddie (Varg) in a suitably bad light. The guys political beliefs are extreme as are a lot of the people in this genre they don’t come across as welcoming – accepting people and the whole church burning is dangerous criminality.

There is very little that was cool about what happened back in the early 90s especially to four of these people (one suicide, two murders and a firefighter who died trying to clean up their handiwork) The film doesn’t cover him (Varg) in glory at all and he comes across as an unstable loser and help was what he really needed not women feeding his narcism. The scorpions patch made me giggle as did the fact that one of the most Black Metallers real names is Kristian – and not The Count – perfect. Not the nicest of people and that really comes across in the movie. I also think that needed to be the case you couldn’t make what these guys were doing acceptable and paint them as victims I do think a lot of the time it was one-upmanship that got out of hand and they aren’t really full-on criminals just a bunch of sheep being led by a few truly dark characters and it got way out of hand. If it were a made up story from start to end you’d be commending the writer on such a twisted dark story but the fact that it’s based around true stories is staggering.

The casting is engaging (that’s not to say likable) there is a certain amount of Goofy Bill and Ted about the whole thing (the way its narrated) but that’s the point – its not gone down well within the metal community (was it ever going to?) The thing is there doesn’t seem much inward reflecting going on in extreme metal, quite the narcissists I mean c’mon, to the man on the street kids running round in corpse paint is gonna look a bit goofy and dorkish – its cosplay for extremists isn’t it? Venom took the piss people didn’t really think their misogynist ways were real and they didn’t sleep in coffins and I don’t think they ate sacrificial virgins either.   If you can’t see the humour and piss-taking then you’re maybe a bit of a lost cause. Sometimes its good to take time to have a bit of a laugh at ones self isn’t it?

The church burnings look convincing and the bloody scenes are hard to watch.  It has to be said that the Director has gone the extra mile in the attention to detail especially on things like the record shop ‘Hellvete’ time period t-shirts, patches, the transition from famous pictures from the scene cutting to real-time acting is excellent.  As for the cast,  Rory Culkin is spot on and his portrayal of Euronymous and is really watchable as is Dead and he does make the character engaging and believable.

 

The thing with ‘Lords Of Chaos’ is I can’t say I enjoyed watching it but did find it well done and captivating.  I kept having to remind myself that it’s real and these things did happen. My God (sorry satan or Odin), they barely touched upon the horror of Faust’s murder of an innocent man in Olympic Park and it seemed like it was added as an afterthought and what went down is truly shocking. I find myself questioning whether I should be listening to their music  I know they were kids when all these things happen and you’d like to think that what they did in their teens they’ve learned the lesson that it isn’t acceptable and you hope they are sorry for their crimes and today they are decent humans who aren’t just nice to their mams.

I think since the early ’90s there has been an amount of the rewriting of history and revising of beliefs and the whys and wherefores to justify what happened but at no time does Lords Of Chaos glorify what happened.

The one thing this movie does is it manages to make the main players in the scene look daft as brushes (albeit sinister and unrepentant cold-blooded dangerous people)  They started out a bit childish none of the people come out of it in a good light and there isn’t any back-patting going on in the writing and performing.

Years in the making its a shame that the bands didn’t sign off their music except for the opening bit of ‘Deathcrush’.  Take care kids – treat Black Metal with care and continue dissecting genres into subgenres then subgenres of the subgenres and making the metal more extreme than before but remember, the general public is indeed sniggering behind your backs. and why not look in the mirror laugh at yourself it’s not the be all end all (all the time) so for now party on dudes!

Now let the metalheads bicker over the shape of the actors -the music genre labels and how authentic the metal is. but if you haven’t got a clue about the detail and took the movie for being just a movie as an uninitiated then it makes for a great Horror flick based around a music scene in a beautiful yet dark part of the world – hail Santa! it is Santa isn’t it?  Christmas metal now that’s a genre not investigated.  shockin?  You bet. To unravel what went on is mindblowing for some quite literally – Prepare to be shocked.

Buy the DVD ‘Lords Of Chaos’: Here

Author: Dom Daley

Rock The Coast Festival – stage times finalised

Rock The Coast Festival – stage times finalised
Rock The Coast Festival, which is set to take place in Fuengirola, Málaga, Spain on 14th and 15th June, 2019 at the spectacular site of Mare Nostrum have revealed the stage times for this year’s event.
 
The line-up is a healthy mix of metal, classic rock and prog featuring the likes of Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, Magnum, The Darkness, UFO, Opeth, Carcass, Mayhem, Aborted, Wardruna, Tribulation, Wintersun, Von Hertzen Brothers, Jinjer as well as RPM favourites Michael Monroe.

The final price for 2-days tickets is 130€ (+ expenses) and the single day ticket price is 80€ (+ expenses, each one, same price for Friday and Saturday).
 
A very special opening party takes place the night before the festival on Thursday 13th June which will feature an exclusive show from Norwegian music group Wardruna who will perform inside the stunning Sohail Castle. Capacity is limited for this separately ticketed event.
 
Tickets are on sale now – https://www.rockthecoastfestival.es/19/en/tickets/
 

Fuengirola’s municipal area is one of the smallest in the Málaga province and it is virtually reduced to a coastal strip that the city and the district of Santa Fe de los Boliches take up. It extends along seven kilometres of coastline with plenty of excellent beaches. Fuengirola is also only a 20 minute drive from Malaga airport.

 
https://www.rockthecoastfestival.es