MAYHEM - Daemon CD

True Norwegian Black Metal legends MAYHEM will release their sixth studio album, entitled “Daemon” on October 25th . By the power of darkness and with the might of black-hearted will no two Mayhem albums have been or will ever be the same. Over the course of Mayhem’s storied and groundbreaking 35-year career - from “Deathcrush” (1987) through “Esoteric Warfare” (2014) - the Norwegians have continuously challenged the orthodoxy of the genre they helped create. Originally informed by greats Hellhammer, Venom, Bathory, and Sodom, Mayhem eventually imbued their damnable attack with influences from all over the music extreme spectrum, indicated first on the harsh and angular “Wolf’s Lair Abyss” (1997) EP and foremost on the enterprisingly brutal and revolutionary “Grand Declaration of War” (2000). In 2019, Mayhem will yet again leave holy earth scorched on new album, “Daemon”.

“Daemon” isn’t a direct follow-up to “Esoteric Warfare”. Like all Mayhem albums of their time, “Daemon” is unto itself. The wolf solitary and singular. Indeed, “Daemon” also isn’t a new chapter in Mayhem’s storied career. Rather, it’s a new tome, authoritative yet wild in character. Composed and decomposed with the same lineup - Necrobutcher (bass), Hellhammer (drums), Attila (vocals), Teloch (guitars), and Ghul (guitars) - that handled “Esoteric Warfare” and performed “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas” in its entirety over the last few years, “Daemon” isn’t a retrofit of classic songs like “Freezing Moon,” “Pagan Fears,” or “Buried by Time and Dust” either. That’s what the live album, “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas Alive” (2016), was for. “Daemon” is change, an opportunity for the maw of hell to open wider.

“Mayhem will always be Mayhem,” says guitarist/songwriter Teloch (aka Morten Bergeton Iversen). “If we put the genre game aside a bit, no one else sounds like Mayhem. Even when ‘De Mysteriis’ came out, it was not at first considered to be a black metal album, if my memory serves me right. Tricky to label this band. Metal would be the most fitting; it’s not pure black metal, in my opinion. Not sure it has ever been actually, despite what the general opinion is. People can call it whatever they want. If it’s black metal to them, then fine. We don’t really care. To me, it’s important to keep some sort of black metal vibe at least.”

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