Mayhem: The Dead Years, 1988-1991

And now for the most famous black metal band during its most famous period.  In 1988, vocalist Dead (Per Ygnve Ohlin) joined, having previously been in the Swedish black/death band Morbid.  In the same time frame, drummer Hellhammer joined.  With this, Mayhem's 'classic' line-up was born: Euronymous on guitar, Necrobutcher on bass, Helhammer on drums, and Dead on vocals.  They were coming off of the new-found underground notoriety that 1987's Deathcrush album had brought them.

A 1988 rehearsal of "Necrolust" with Dead...

In the years 1988-1990, Mayhem was truly an underground phenomenon.  They released no albums, no officially sanctioned demos, no live albums.  Nevertheless, the bootlegs that circulated in the underground during this time period cemented their reputation as one of black metal's elite.  Live shows all over Europe also helped create the Mayhem mythos.

In 1990, two new studio tracks surfaced: 'Carnage" (one of their older classics, but with Dead on vocals) and "Freezing Moon".  These tracks have seen the light of day as not only a demo cassette entitled Studio Tracks, but also as a seven-inch entitled Freezing Moon.

The legendary "Freezing Moon", from the 1990 rehearsal

Much as Mayhem's early years peaked with the Deathcrush EP in 1987, the Dead years peaked with the Live in Leipzig album.  This was recorded in late 1990 at a performance in Leipzig, but was not released on CD until 1993.  The material released both officially and unofficially in these years can be considered some of the best that old-school Norwegian black metal has to offer.

From the Live in Leipzig album, this is my favorite track from this era, "Funeral Fog"

In my opinion, Dead was the best vocalist Mayhem ever had: more talented than Messiah, more consistent than Attila, less annoying than Maniac.  He, as is well known, killed himself in 1991.  With his suicide, Mayhem's second (and some would argue, best) phase came to an end.  The next phase will be explored at a later date....

Select Discography:

Ha-Elm Zalag (bootleg rehearsal) (1988)
War and Sodomy (Live in Zeitz) (live bootleg) (1990)
Studio Tracks (demo) (1990)
Out From the Dark (bootleg demo) (1991)
Last Breath (Last Recordings with Dead) (bootleg rehearsal) (1991)
Live in Leipzig (live album) (recorded 1990, released 1993)
Dawn of the Black Hearts (Live in Sarpsborg, 1990) (released 1995)

Next time: PROFANATICA

Mayhem: The Early Years, 1985-1987

The story of MAYHEM is pretty well-documented at this point.  They formed in 1984 in Oslo, Norway, taking their name from the instrumental Venom song, "Mayhem With Mercy".  The founders were guitarist/vocalist Euronymous, bassist Necrobutcher, and drummer Manheim.  Drawing their influence from bands like Venom and Bathory, a lot of their early material was covers.  They produced a very rough, raw demo in 1985 entitled Voice of a Tortured Skull.  It never got an official release and is still considered a bootleg down to this day.

The classic song "Carnage", without vocals, from 1985's Voice of a Tortured Skull

In these early years, Mayhem became known more for their demos than anything else.  Euronymous tended to vocal duties until they landed Maniac on vocals sometime in 1986.  In 1986, they put out the official demo Pure Fucking Armageddon and recorded live tracks that later were put out on the bootleg album The Dawn of the Black Hearts.

"Ghoul", from Pure Fucking Armageddon

In 1986, Maniac (or was it Messiah?) joined on vocals.  In 1987, they put out the Deathrehearsal demo and the very famous EP Deathcrush.  I would say along with Sarcofago's INRI and Bathory's Under the Sign..., Deathcrush was one of the black metal highlights of 1987.  One can really hear a modern black metal sound taking shape on Deathcrush.  The genres were really beginning to differentiate themselves from each other by this time, with thrash and death and black metal all carving out specific niches.

I love this song.  "Deathcrush" is such a classic.

With vile, tortured vocals and the kind of distortion which is still with modern black metal to this day, Mayhem achieved something fairly unique on Deathcrush.  There weren't really a lot of black metal bands that sounded uniquely black metal.  They were, for the most part, black/thrash or black/death or some other blurring of genres.  Mayhem really marked a shift.


After 1987, Mayhem changed quite a bit.  Hellhammer took over on drums, and the infamous Dead took over on vocals.  I will focus on Mayhem during the Dead years at a later date.....

Select Discography:

Voice of a Tortured Skull (demo) (1985)
Pure Fucking Armageddon (demo) (1986)
Deathrehearsal (demo) (1987)
Deathcrush EP (1987)

Next time:  SARCOFAGO