Mayhem

De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

"Legendary" does not necessarily mean "great"...

Review Score:

(6/10)
A confession: I'm an old guy (I'm 35) who's been into the underground metal scene since the early '80's, and to me "black metal" was Bathory, Celtic Frost, Hellhammer...that kinda thing. It's only in the last couple of years that I've really gotten into the northern European bands (although I've ALWAYS worshipped Bathory), and while I've generally been blown away by almost everything I've experienced so far (Emperor, early Burzum, Enslaved, Immortal, etc.), frankly, I just cannot bring myself to take Mayhem seriously.

Try as I might, I simply can't help but believe that this band's revered status is based solely on their notorious reputation and history, which to me often reads like a really bad movie script. Because when viewed objectively, 'De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas' offers nothing particularly special. While the music is brutally sick, fast, and heavy, it's nothing you haven't heard done much better by other bands to follow in their wake, and the absolutely silly vocals are so bad as to be borderline unlistenable...like a talentless drunk at the bar on karaoke night. Don't get me wrong, this isn't really a bad album per se, I just don't think it's a very good representation of what modern black metal has to offer.

I'm sure many black metal aficionados would argue that this disc demands inclusion in your collection for it's historical value alone...I would simply counter that by saying that I buy albums based on their merits and not their reputation. If you're a relative neophyte to this genre, I really would not recommend you starting off here.

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