Entry 1088 - Mayhem - Deamon

Style: Black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: A return to where it all started, a tribute to the past

Thoughts: Mayhem is one of those bands that has repeatedly done whatever the hell they want. They show little to no regard for what modern trends are and/or what their fans think. This is one of their most endearing traits, and one of the reasons why every new Mayhem album is an event.

The past couple of albums from the band have seen them double down on the obscurity of their art. The riffs, the vocals, the drums, everything is hidden behind a wall of water so to speak. The albums are exceptionally obscure, and it is one of the things that defined their sound in the past ten years or so. Deamon changes all of that.

The production here is crystal clear. The riffs are in your face right from the start of the album, nothing is hidden, nothing obscured. The intensity of the music is also ratcheted up... not just in the production, but in the intensity of the riffs, the speed of the drums and the manic nature of Atilla's vocals. 

The glaring change here is the choice of production. Both Ordo ad Chao and Esoteric Warfare were intentionally obtuse with their production choices. Deamon is as clear as it can possibly be. The dual guitars, even the bass... every note is as clear as day. This may be the best production job the band has ever had in terms of clarity.

The music itself is a bit more intricate than the past two offerings. The production lends itself to having more details available in the mix and the band takes full advantage. The riffs are entirely dependent on two guitars to achieve their goal: a modern take on second wave black metal.

Many of these riffs sound like they could have been written in the middle of the ninety's, just with a few minor alterations. Instead of a pure minor scale the band will often work in a few dissonant chords in between the melodies. This by no means makes Mayhem a dissonant black metal band, but these small moments do help with the transitions and do make the songs a bit more dynamic. 

Mayhem has always been a band that does whatever they want. Deamon is no different. They obviously wanted to make standard black metal and that is exactly what they achieved. Only time will tell what the band does in the future.