Two nights past I had the pleasure of witness the originators of Norwegian Black Metal darkness for the second time in my unpleasant history. I arrived later at the venue in Toronto to avoid watching through the sub par acts of the rest of the bill, and stayed for the gem. It is obvious that Mayhem has grown exponentially in popularity over the years. To some this would be a powerful, and often relevant, deterrent. But if you examine Mayhem closely, they have always remained true to themselves, and have methodically chosen their path not for the corporate ‘advancement’ but for personal reasons which were prevalent during the hostile times of the early scene. They remain focused on the attitude, and professionalism, untainted directly from exposure. As all the fans, promoters, etc are crying out for new material/interviews/hype, they just take their fucking time and remove the parasitic “interest” that the bloodsuckers have. This being known, my expectations were set high for their set, and there was no disappointment on any level.
Read the rest, and check out photos of the night hereIn contrast to the other bands of the night, there was extremely limited interaction with the audience. Mayhem is black metal and in my opinion, this sacred art should be intimidating, microcosmic and introverted to some degree. When I see chanting or a banal focus on solos and clean singing, as well as provocation in between songs, and mindless communication it loses momentum, atmosphere and lasting effect. I can’t stand it when bands repeatedly ask “how are you fucking doing, come on!” or introducing songs and waste valuable minutes when they can be performing what I paid to see. But this aside, I was immensely pleased with the aesthetics taken by Mayhem. Some large satanic looking banners were draped on the stage, while Hellhammer was nested in between them. Attila continues to impress me, and I was extremely looking forward to seeing if he would be using the human skull(s) from the Hellfest performance, of which he had, clothed in a robe and broken noose to add. I will refrain from posting the setlist as I don’t really see the purpose here, but would say it was a worthwhile alchemy of their entire discography. I have noticed over the years that the stagnation that usually comes with playing the same material in a live setting does not really exist with Mayhem. They always seem to morph the song structure, speed, vocals etc. into something unique and different. There was no exceptions, with early DMDS classics and a trashier side of ‘Carnage’. I was slightly taken back at some disrespect on certain persons in attendance though, like one girl who was continually getting on stage and trying to touch Attila. This happened the last time I witnessed them, and a fan who knocked into Necrobutcher and detuned his bass, stalling the show. He was pretty pissed off, and I think this can ruin it if taken too far. They left their mark on me long ago, and served as a reminder that it is still imprinted and has not faded away.
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