Mayhem – De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994)

January 21, 2022

There’s a lot I could say about this album but honestly where on earth do you begin? Considered probably one of the most legendary black metal releases of all time, and steeped in mystery, murder and mayhem (pun absolutely intended), De Mysteriis was the culmination of an insane moment in musical history.

But how does it sound? The riffs are ice cold. The drums? Overpowering as shit. I hope you like blastbeats, because you’re gonna be fucked out of luck otherwise. The most interesting thing for me about this album however is Atilla’s vocals. Now well known across the world for his bizarre and unique, twisted vocals and throat singing, here that eery weirdness either sounds like a gibbering demon clawing away inside the vocal booth, or in the case of the throat singing, propels the epic factor of the songs to even loftier heights.

Do the drums basically drown everything else out? Yes. But if you can get past that, this is a magical experience. And also a piece of history, to boot.