Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
Key Facts
Country: 🇳🇴
Genre: Black Metal
Release Date: 24th May 1994
Record Label(s): Deathlike Silence
Highest Chart Position: N/A
Band Members:
Attila Csihar – vocals
Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth – guitar
Varg "Count Grishnackh" Vikernes – bass guitar
Jan Axel "Hellhammer" Blomberg – drums
Per "Dead" Ohlin – lyrics
Snorre "Blackthorn" Ruch – guest songwriter for lyrics/guitar
Review
Rating (out of 5💀): 💀💀💀💀💀
Favourite Track(s): Freezing Moon, Funeral Fog, Pagan Fears, Buried By Time And Dust
One of the most influential and era defining Norwegian black metal albums of the 1990s and all time. With the blood of suicide and murder coursing through its icy core, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is instantly recognisable as Mayhem's magnum opus and a significant piece of metal history.
First, a summary of the chronology of the events behind the album...
The debut album from Mayhem, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, was originally due to be released earlier than 1994 as the songwriting for the album had begun in late 1987 or early 1988. Dead had begun writing lyrics as soon as he joined the band in 1988. However, finished versions of the songs were debut on the Live In Leipzig album (recorded in November 1990, released in July 1993). Unfortunately, as many of us know, Dead committed suicide in 1991 which delayed the start of the album recording process. The album was recorded between late 1992 and early 1993. There are multiple claims about who wrote what riff but the album itself contained no information on lineup and credits. It was around this time that Euronymous recruited Attila Csihar for vocal duties (his son, Arion Csihar, would play him in Jonas Åkerlund's Lords Of Chaos film). This lineup would infamously feature murderer and victim on the same record as Euronymous was murdered by Varg on the 10th August 1993, delaying the release of the album further. After Euronymous's funeral, his parents asked the band to remover Vikernes's bass tracks to which Hellhammer is quoted "I thought it was appropriate that the murderer and victim were on the same record. I put word out that I was re-recording the bass parts, but I never did" (Campion, C., 2005). The album was eventually released in 1994.
From its album cover to its title track, every part of De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, for me and many people captures the very essence of black metal. It continues to inspire and provoke in equal measure. For me when I first started listening to black metal I was told to listen to Mayhem's De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, Darkthrone's "Unholy Trinity" (A Blaze In The Northern Sky, Under A Funeral Moon, Transilvanian Hunger), Burzum's Det Som Engang Var and Bathory's self-titled if I really wanted to get a taste for black metal I had to see where it came from. This album was an assault to my unaccustomed ear drums, as I've mentioned before I came to black metal bored of overly clean production and semi-stale songwriting as I had hit a roadblock in my own songwriting and needed a fresh perspective.
I never really knew Mayhem's history until after I had listened to the album, I was surprised but not shocked and it gave De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, a whole new and darker meaning. The songwriting is fast and brutal and as soon as my ears were used to the constant bombardment I grew from liking it to falling head over heels with it. Researching how the record was produced as well as hearing it also peaked my interest. I'd started to love the sound of analogue over digital whilst studying at university but this had an extra depth and I feel really pushed tape recording and distortion to it's limits. I think this album formed my expectations of black metal, for a few months I was comparing everything to Mayhem, Darkthrone, Immortal, Emperor or Burzum. As this was as groundbreaking for me in the 2010s as it was in the 1990s for the people who were there.
Funeral Fog, Freezing Moon and Pagan Fears made the most impact on me songwriting wise. The way the chords and notes were played to create that dissonance which creates the atmosphere. Being a metalhead I'm obviously used to dissonance in Hardcore, Death Metal, etc. but this was implemented in a different way. Using augmented and diminished chords along with less usual harmonies of the second and seventh interval with tremolo picking helped me revolutionise my guitar playing and how I approach songwriting. Which in turn laid some of the groundwork for my own musical project Vanaheimr.
The reverb on the drums is also what drew me in. The drums are given a huge amount of space as well as being EQ'd excellently so the click of the kick drum cuts through the guitars just as much as the bass frequencies do. Tonally, I had always messed around with overly overdriven and distorted guitar sounds but these were balanced perfectly, which as any guitarist will tell you, its an art form in it's own right. Vocally, the operatic style Attila has took some getting used to, but ultimately they do suit the darkness of the riffs. The way they're mixed was interesting to me and to my ears they don't quite sit in front of the guitars, bass and drums, they're kind of weaving in between, especially with the reverb added, which is something which I've found quite a lot listening to black metal. The lyrical contribution of Dead was immense on this album and I'd have loved to have heard him do vocals on this album, as much as I love Live in Leipzig it would have been intense to hear him deliver his lyrics in the studio.
Overall, there is a reason why this is considered as one of, if not THE, most influential black metal album of all time, everyone else is essentially rearranging the furniture in Mayhem's attic, including myself. It features heavily in my rotation, because every time I go back to it I always hear something iI previously missed. Even though it came into being under dubious and disturbing circumstances, that is part of what makes this album what it is. Like I was told, this is the album you need to listen to if you want to know what traditional black metal is about.
R.I.P Per "Dead" Ohlin (16th January 1969 - 8th April 1991)
One of the most influential and era defining Norwegian black metal albums of the 1990s and all time. With the blood of suicide and murder coursing through its icy core, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is instantly recognisable as Mayhem's magnum opus and a significant piece of metal history.
First, a summary of the chronology of the events behind the album...
The debut album from Mayhem, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, was originally due to be released earlier than 1994 as the songwriting for the album had begun in late 1987 or early 1988. Dead had begun writing lyrics as soon as he joined the band in 1988. However, finished versions of the songs were debut on the Live In Leipzig album (recorded in November 1990, released in July 1993). Unfortunately, as many of us know, Dead committed suicide in 1991 which delayed the start of the album recording process. The album was recorded between late 1992 and early 1993. There are multiple claims about who wrote what riff but the album itself contained no information on lineup and credits. It was around this time that Euronymous recruited Attila Csihar for vocal duties (his son, Arion Csihar, would play him in Jonas Åkerlund's Lords Of Chaos film). This lineup would infamously feature murderer and victim on the same record as Euronymous was murdered by Varg on the 10th August 1993, delaying the release of the album further. After Euronymous's funeral, his parents asked the band to remover Vikernes's bass tracks to which Hellhammer is quoted "I thought it was appropriate that the murderer and victim were on the same record. I put word out that I was re-recording the bass parts, but I never did" (Campion, C., 2005). The album was eventually released in 1994.
From its album cover to its title track, every part of De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, for me and many people captures the very essence of black metal. It continues to inspire and provoke in equal measure. For me when I first started listening to black metal I was told to listen to Mayhem's De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, Darkthrone's "Unholy Trinity" (A Blaze In The Northern Sky, Under A Funeral Moon, Transilvanian Hunger), Burzum's Det Som Engang Var and Bathory's self-titled if I really wanted to get a taste for black metal I had to see where it came from. This album was an assault to my unaccustomed ear drums, as I've mentioned before I came to black metal bored of overly clean production and semi-stale songwriting as I had hit a roadblock in my own songwriting and needed a fresh perspective.
I never really knew Mayhem's history until after I had listened to the album, I was surprised but not shocked and it gave De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, a whole new and darker meaning. The songwriting is fast and brutal and as soon as my ears were used to the constant bombardment I grew from liking it to falling head over heels with it. Researching how the record was produced as well as hearing it also peaked my interest. I'd started to love the sound of analogue over digital whilst studying at university but this had an extra depth and I feel really pushed tape recording and distortion to it's limits. I think this album formed my expectations of black metal, for a few months I was comparing everything to Mayhem, Darkthrone, Immortal, Emperor or Burzum. As this was as groundbreaking for me in the 2010s as it was in the 1990s for the people who were there.
Funeral Fog, Freezing Moon and Pagan Fears made the most impact on me songwriting wise. The way the chords and notes were played to create that dissonance which creates the atmosphere. Being a metalhead I'm obviously used to dissonance in Hardcore, Death Metal, etc. but this was implemented in a different way. Using augmented and diminished chords along with less usual harmonies of the second and seventh interval with tremolo picking helped me revolutionise my guitar playing and how I approach songwriting. Which in turn laid some of the groundwork for my own musical project Vanaheimr.
The reverb on the drums is also what drew me in. The drums are given a huge amount of space as well as being EQ'd excellently so the click of the kick drum cuts through the guitars just as much as the bass frequencies do. Tonally, I had always messed around with overly overdriven and distorted guitar sounds but these were balanced perfectly, which as any guitarist will tell you, its an art form in it's own right. Vocally, the operatic style Attila has took some getting used to, but ultimately they do suit the darkness of the riffs. The way they're mixed was interesting to me and to my ears they don't quite sit in front of the guitars, bass and drums, they're kind of weaving in between, especially with the reverb added, which is something which I've found quite a lot listening to black metal. The lyrical contribution of Dead was immense on this album and I'd have loved to have heard him do vocals on this album, as much as I love Live in Leipzig it would have been intense to hear him deliver his lyrics in the studio.
Overall, there is a reason why this is considered as one of, if not THE, most influential black metal album of all time, everyone else is essentially rearranging the furniture in Mayhem's attic, including myself. It features heavily in my rotation, because every time I go back to it I always hear something iI previously missed. Even though it came into being under dubious and disturbing circumstances, that is part of what makes this album what it is. Like I was told, this is the album you need to listen to if you want to know what traditional black metal is about.
R.I.P Per "Dead" Ohlin (16th January 1969 - 8th April 1991)
"Dead used to burry his clothes under ground 3 days before the show so they will smell like dirt, on stage he used to keep a bag with a dead crow, and once in a while he used to smell it, just to smell death" - Hellhammer describes the preparations to their show in Leipzig
References
Campion, C., (20 February 2005), "In the Face of Death", The Observer, Guardian News and Media
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