Mayhem - Chimera
Season of Mist - SOM84 - 2004
By Paddy Walsh
Neatly avoiding blathering about Mayhem's distant past (if you don't know what i'm talking about then you have obviously been living under a rock the last ten years), I will endeavour to briefly tell of their more recent works. For many fans Grand Declaration of War was something of a disappointment. While it promised much, and had its moments of greatness, it can be viewed as something of a flawed work. Attempts by the band to delve into the world of electronica proved somewhat cumbersome, and the spoken word approach taken my vocalist Maniac trod very finely along the chesse line to these ears. Furthermore, although the musical performances were second to none, the production was over clinical, leaving the guitars sounding awfully thin and the drums like plastic.
Clearly the band were aware that Grand Declaration of War wasn't perfect, and that perhaps they had strayed a bit far from what made up the essence of Mayhem, as their new release Chimera represents something of a loose return to basics for the band. Gone (for the most part) are the spoken word sections, replaced by Maniac's throaty and, it must be said, fairly unique sounding rasps. His performance on Chimera is his best yet. The thing that he seems to remember, and what most black metal vocalists seem to forget, is that conviction makes a huge difference to how the vocals will sound. Maniac actually seems to mean what he screams, instead of simply going through the motions. It is for that reason that I commend him.
Upon listening to Chimera, the first thing you're likely to notice is the production, and in particular how good it is. No more plastic drums or tinny guitars, instead we have a full and heavy production, and you can even hear the bass, surely a rarity in the world of black metal. As for the songs themselves, well, initial listens made me inclined to think that this was simply a back to basics excercise, but that isn't entirely the case. Although the songs are perhaps more straightfoward this time round, they are still full of little nuances and subtleties which make them stand out, such as the little acoustic guitar bits in opener 'Whore', or the placing of fantastic little leads throughout the songs. There's even a Gregorian style chant included in one song.
Standouts include the opener 'Whore' and 'You Must Fail', but the album works better as a whole. It is debateable whether this matches Wolf's Lair Abyss or De Mytheriis Dom Sathanas for pure necrotic grimness, but as far as modern 'true' black metal goes, you'll be hard pushed to find a band flying the flag as strongly as Mayhem in 2004
8.0/10
Mayhem's Official Website
Season of Mist Official Site
Season of Mist - SOM84 - 2004
By Paddy Walsh
Neatly avoiding blathering about Mayhem's distant past (if you don't know what i'm talking about then you have obviously been living under a rock the last ten years), I will endeavour to briefly tell of their more recent works. For many fans Grand Declaration of War was something of a disappointment. While it promised much, and had its moments of greatness, it can be viewed as something of a flawed work. Attempts by the band to delve into the world of electronica proved somewhat cumbersome, and the spoken word approach taken my vocalist Maniac trod very finely along the chesse line to these ears. Furthermore, although the musical performances were second to none, the production was over clinical, leaving the guitars sounding awfully thin and the drums like plastic.
Clearly the band were aware that Grand Declaration of War wasn't perfect, and that perhaps they had strayed a bit far from what made up the essence of Mayhem, as their new release Chimera represents something of a loose return to basics for the band. Gone (for the most part) are the spoken word sections, replaced by Maniac's throaty and, it must be said, fairly unique sounding rasps. His performance on Chimera is his best yet. The thing that he seems to remember, and what most black metal vocalists seem to forget, is that conviction makes a huge difference to how the vocals will sound. Maniac actually seems to mean what he screams, instead of simply going through the motions. It is for that reason that I commend him.
Upon listening to Chimera, the first thing you're likely to notice is the production, and in particular how good it is. No more plastic drums or tinny guitars, instead we have a full and heavy production, and you can even hear the bass, surely a rarity in the world of black metal. As for the songs themselves, well, initial listens made me inclined to think that this was simply a back to basics excercise, but that isn't entirely the case. Although the songs are perhaps more straightfoward this time round, they are still full of little nuances and subtleties which make them stand out, such as the little acoustic guitar bits in opener 'Whore', or the placing of fantastic little leads throughout the songs. There's even a Gregorian style chant included in one song.
Standouts include the opener 'Whore' and 'You Must Fail', but the album works better as a whole. It is debateable whether this matches Wolf's Lair Abyss or De Mytheriis Dom Sathanas for pure necrotic grimness, but as far as modern 'true' black metal goes, you'll be hard pushed to find a band flying the flag as strongly as Mayhem in 2004
8.0/10
Mayhem's Official Website
Season of Mist Official Site
