Chunks of metal: black metal
Artist: Mayhem
Album: Deathcrush (EP)
Year: 1987
Genre: 1st wave black metal
Hello, journal. Long time, no see. I thought it was about time I wrote something here, and I thought this was a decent choice for an entry. I'm also posting it right after the end of Metal Month. Heh, irony.
You all know Mayhem. Everyone's heard the "member committed suicide, scene was photographed by guitarist, guitarist was murdered by bassist, bassist burned churches and then went to jail" story. Their debut full-length, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, gained a bit of attention because of the disturbed bastards involved. The music on it is alright, but gets monotonous after a while. Attila is a ridiculous vocalist. But then there is Deathcrush, the band's second EP, which is a goddamn brutal black/thrash attack from start to finish. Alright, second track to finish. The opener, "Silvester Anfang" is a percussion-only track written by Conrad Schnitzler, who has worked with Tangerine Dream, so I guess he's a big deal? But it's effective. It gets you in the mood, man. It's like the soundtrack to marching out to war, and then the war actually starts with “Deathcrush”, which features a sick buzzsaw-riff and a dude screaming as if he's getting his manly pride chopped off. Much better than Attila. Silly Attila. The next track bears the charming title of... eh... “Chainsaw Gutsfuck”, and has equally charming lyrics about... no, go find out yourself. I'm glad the vocalist is screaming incomprehensibly. The riff is awesome, though. The next song is a Venom cover, but slightly more kvlt than the original. We get another piece of distorted riffage, “Necrolust”, and then suddenly a change in style: “(weird) Manheim” is a brooding synth track, which makes me think of Burzum's ambient music. Then it's back to evil and distortion, with “Pure fucking Armageddon”, an album closer worthy of its title.
This is a really short release, but I'm kind of glad that it's not longer. All the tracks are similar, and I feel that an increased length would take away a lot of its impact.
4.5/5