Customer Reviews

Deathcrush

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

"Deathcrush" is one of those items which hold a godly status among the underground Metal adepts. Most times this blindly worshipping feedback appears to be determined by totally non-musical factors, yet Mayhem's first "proper" release stands high on the top of its unquestionable historical significance.

The year was 1987, and when anyone mentioned "extreme Metal", everybody would think "Reign In Blood", of course. At the same time, however, the forefathers of Black Metal were busy pushing the insane aggression of Thrash to new extremes, a courageous attitude which would ultimately give birth to two genres: Death Metal and Black Metal. "Deathcrush" is one of the most significative documents of this evolution. It's a short, hit-and-run, less than twently minutes slab of pure aggression, where classic elements of Thrash are defiled by what could be described as the seeds of Black/Death by today's standards, but out by a bunch of not excessively skilled musicians who definitely knew what they wanted. At the time, this sounded like pure insanity, and today, the effect still refuses to wear off.

Oddly enough, the album opens with a kind of "melodic" drum machine track named "Silvester Anfang", composed for the band by Conrad Schnitzer. Mayhem have always been weirdos, no doubt about it. But then the title track kicks in, and it's compromiseless Metal insanity. The first riff is actualy pretty interesting (and, most importantly, just plain cool) with its odd tempo; Euronymous basic guitar buzz is well backed by Necrobutcher's distorted bass sound, the result being a harsh bu rather thick sound. The drums, despite Manheim's rather sloppy playing (well, nobody in the band really shines at this stage), have a clear and strong sound, which has just one drawback: it tends to drown out the guitars and bass... Maniac's vocals, finally, are full of reverb in true eraly Black Metal tradition, sound (thankfully) nothing like the gibberish puking he's been spewing out since the band's reunion; he uses a very high pitched and insane shrieking (think of Varg Vikernes on heavy drugs), which fits the mood of the songs pretty well. Anyway, the song soon turns into a very fast blasting fest, with none in the band strictly following a precise tempo, but the effect is dang shattering anyway... I wonder how people did react to this at the time.

"Chainsaw Gut----" opens with a slow distorted bass riff, soon joined by drums and guitars; this song is the slowest of the lot, and is built on an interestingly tempoed riff similar to the one used on the opening riff in "Deathcrush". Original and effective - who needs technical perfection when we have these qualities?

"Witching Hour" is a Venom cover which best exemplifies how Mayhem crafted their unique sound by enhancing the madness found in their sources of inspiration... more in depth, the rendition of this song is FAST (just compare it with the original and see for yourself... and keep in mind that the year was 1987). Original session vocalist Messiah appears as a guest on this one, and unlike on the "Pure F------- Armageddon" demo, we can hear his vocals, which aren't that special (a kind of low and rather breathy spoken voice) but make a nice contrast with Maniac's banshee-like screams (don't miss that chilling "Witching hoooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrr!!!!" at the end!).

"Necrolust"... this song alone pioneered a whole new style of playing. It opens with a little neat mid-paced, palm muted riff (Celtic Frost was the band's main inspiration along with Venom), but soon turns into a relentless assault of insanely fast riff. Ceaseless beats and razor sharp picking, and unearthly screams to top the whole thing - isn't it a bit the formula of modern raw Black Metal?

"(Weird) Manheim" is a short and indeed weird "distorted piano" (at least it sounds like that) interlude which leads into the epitome of aggression... "Pure F------- Armageddon". This song is just what the title says: after a short and great thrashy beginning, noise begins (of course not the terrible kind of noise). Definitely one of the (if not the) 100% compromise free slabs of Metal ever put together. Vocalist Messiah handles this one by himself, as he already did on the demo of the same title... it's ok, vocals wouldn't really change the result here. And the year was 1987. Can you say "unbelievable"?

This, ladies and gentlemen, is "Deathcrush", and if you want to dig deep to the roots of extreme music, this is more than mandatory.

As far as I recall, this was the first Mayhem album I had listened to when I first became curious as to what Mayhem was actually like. I remember from the first listen I was put off by everything about the album and quickly deemed that Mayhem sucked, simply because the poor production style was new to me. How wrong I was. After learning more about black metal in general, I decided to check it out again. At this point, I'm saddened that not many black metal artists are as good as early Mayhem was.

The only thing about the album that kind of put me off was the first track, "Silvester Anfang." It's much better to listen to when played live to get the loud and audible properties, but on this album it sounds kind of sloppy. Everything else about this album is no joke - the guitars and riffs are raw, heavy, and crushing. Manheim pounding away on the kit makes it all more enjoyable; because he doesn't just rely on speed...he actually drums very well and offers variety. There are times where the classic chaotic blast beats are implemented into the mix; adding another splatter of Mayhem's element of wickedness.

In my opinion, this was Maniac's best vocal work with Mayhem. His screams of despair fit the atmosphere of the music more than on any other Mayhem album. Maniac's gut puking screams suck you in and it's damn near scary how he can make the music very emotional and creepy with his wailing cries. Necrobutcher's bass is extremely fuzzy and heavily distorted, and surprisingly, its presence is shown immensely. It's kind of hard to catch at certain fast points due to the sub-par production, but for the majority the thick pummeling sound stands out very well.

The other thing I didn't like was the short track list. I realize this is an EP, but I wish there had been more on this album. The catchy parts of this album seem more revolved around chunk riffing than fast paced semi-thrash riffs. It's got its pernicious and speed parts, but I find the chunky parts to be much more enjoyable. The influence of Venom shows highly, and not just in the cover of the song "Witching Hour." Songs like "Deathcrush," "Necrolust," and "Pure F***ing Armageddon" show definite signs of thrash influence with fast (yet simple) tremolo picking.

Euronymous makes it all work nicely, actually. For such poor production it still manages to offer a strong, desolate, and enjoyable experience. I'd recommend it to any and all true black metal fans who can appreciate real old school black metal. I kind of wish Maniac would use the same vocal style he used on Deathcrush on all other Mayhem albums he was on, because I think Deathcrush is his best vocal work. This is an important piece of black metal history; obtain this brutal and primitive EP whenever you can.

Deathcrush is frozen into the godly status of black metal. Most people think of De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas when they think of Mayhem (not that it is a bad album), but Deathcrush is what started it all. Its a pretty simple album, but simplicity proves to be a virtue here. The opening riff for the title track is simple but it kicks some MAJOR a$$! This album was very contreversal in its time, and still holds up to the title of music made by black metal gods. Read the lyrics too, especally for Chainsaw Gutsf**k. Awesome blazing black metal by the legendary Mayhem.


R.I.P. Euronymous

What on earth do we have here? This is some of the earliest black metal committed to tape. In 1987, there was almost nothing like this. Extreme music at that time was bands like Possessed, Death, Bathory, Sodom, and Kreator. And here we had this Norwegian metal band called Mayhem. I am sure that the ones who were fortunate enough to hear this in '87 probably thought "What the f*ck did I just listen to?" This was far beyond evil and insane, this was something from another world.

Silvester Anfang is a short drum intro. It has a sort of military sound. Kind of creepy. Then comes the song Deathcrush. Starts off with Euronymous playing an evil and distorted riff and then Maniac starts his screaming. And let me tell you that this guy is called Maniac for a reason. The way this guy shrieks is just out of this world. It's tough to believe that this guy is actually saying words, it just sounds like insane screams. Manheim drums pretty fast when the song picks up speed. The cover of Venom's Witching Hour is simply evil, it really is. Imagine the intensity of the original and multiply it by about 100 and you have Mayhem's version. Maniac's shrieks at the end are truly unsettling. Necrolust starts with a slow pace and a truly evil guitar sound. And then the song picks up and the song becomes very frantic and scary. "Neeeecrolust!!!" Ha ha, scary indeed!

Chainsaw Gutsf*ck is a killer black metal tune. That opening riff by Euronymous is very dark and when Maniac opens his mouth, it really is eerie. This guy's voice gives me chills whenever I hear it! Then towards the end, the song picks up speed for a few seconds. Just check out that drum pounding! Sounds like a machine gun. Weird Manheim is down right blood curdling, and all it is is a keyboard playing! (sounds like a keyboard, anyway) Very haunting sound it gives off, and very sad as well. But it soon gives way to psycho drumming by Manheim and the song Pure F*cking Armageddon begins. More killer riffs, as well as one of Manheim's best performances on the album. Pretty fast drumming in some parts! It all comes to an unsettling close with the words "PURE....F*CKING.....ARMAGEDDON...." being growled. Wow.

So what exactly is this album? Well it was way ahead of its time, I can tell you that! These songs are brutal and dark, and not for a casual metal fan. Imagine the evil of Bathory's debut, the relentlessness of Seven Churches, the atmosphere of In the Sign of Evil, the crushing heaviness of Pleasure to Kill and the sheer brutality of Scream Bloody Gore all thrown into some sort of frenetic mess and you have Deathcrush. Oh and the lyrics are quite disturbing I warn you (just look at the song titles!) but then again, you wouldn't expect anything else from these guys. If you are ready for some raw evil, then take a deep breath and delve into this album. But don't say I didn't warn you.....

This was Mayhem's second demo, the first came out a year prior to "Deathcrush", which was a pioneering effort for it's time ('87). There had been great, heavy, black bands before Mayhem (Venom, Hellhammer, Bathory, Celtic Frost), but nothing to prepare anyone for the brutality that Mayhem would unleash with this classic. In fact, this was SO underground that in '87 very few people even knew of their existence outside of the small but burgeoning death metal scene in their native Norway. So...what you have here is 17 minutes and 29 seconds of pure unadulterated raw evil. Every track is as potent today (even after Mayhem's future-and greater- recordings) as it was when it first made the rounds to a disbelieving cult all those years ago. The sound of "Deathcrush" is the early rumblings of the greatest metal band in existence, Mayhem.

This album was supposed to be kept underground and not hit mainstream. Members of Mayhem had said that only a select few were even worthy of listening to the album; however, that has changed since. This is the album where it all began. The music on this album is so raw as Black Metal is intended to be; however, if you are looking for a Black Metal sound, you will not get it here. The sound is not the usual high-pitched screaming with organs and whatnot, but it still remains unique. If you are a fan of Black Metal and if you are a fan of Mayhem, this CD should definitely be in your collection.

Silvester Ansfang is a nice, ominous little intro that prepares us for the Mayhem that is about to follow. With Deathcrush it is business as usual at the black metal office. Euronymous' guitars crunch bone and sinew and Manheim punches away at anything and everything, whereas Maniac screams at passing ghosts and ghouls. The unceremonious CG and Necrolust establish themselves on the listener with a simple, decorous black metal elegance. All tracks seem to have several degrees of freedom within an over-determined arch of musical emotion and seem to have come together in the given form only by sheer chance. Caution: Don't expect to be enthralled,Deathcrush is not intended to entertain. It is meant to involve. Mayhem are masters of the art of music not because they intentionally create chaos, that is too nihilistic, nor because they want to impress you with any virtuoso performances, but because they accept the ground rules of chaos and create from it something resembling beautiful order. But they only go half the way. And this is where you come in...

i urge those who have this album to look for its printed lyrics. simple, straight forward and downright sick. probably the sickest ever...soundwise, there's nothing to do with the newer MayheM (the newer albums showed an infinitely better and more experienced mayhem)but it's a must. the riffs are efficient and easy to remember. and back in 1987 this was certainly the heaviest sickest and scariest stuff ever released.

First of all a word to the music fan from Silver Spring, Maryland. If you owned this cd you would know that it IS Maniac on vokills. Dead came in 1988 along with Hellhammer so get your facts straight and you're not a true Mayhem fan. This cd is where it all started for the legendary Mayhem. Musically speaking it's not their best, but the attitude and intensity behind Deathcrush more than makes up for it. This is heavy stuff and the lyrics are absolutely gruesome. If you want to see for yourself go to www.darklyrics.com and you'll know what I mean. Some of Mayhem's classic songs came from this album; Deathcrush, Necrolust, Chainsaw Guts***k and Pure F***ing Armageddon. The lineup back then was Euronymous, Maniac, Necrobutcher and the miserable Manheim. They also had a session vocalist named Messiah. I don't think any Mayhem fan would dispute Dead being better than Maniac but Dead's dead my friend and Maniac is the next best thing so get over it just like I did. By the way, Blasphemer is more skilled than Euronymous on guitar but it doesn't matter to me. Euronymous was a personality and a face for Mayhem but he wasn't a great guitarist, he was average so I actually enjoy Blasphemer's skills more. Anyway, I recommend this album to any real BM fan and it's still stands the test of time. BM doesn't sound as evil as this anymore, maybe more should listen to see how it's really done. If Dead were still around I'm sure he would've hunted down Count Grishnackh and killed him. He was that kind of guy, he's an example of a man who actually lived his music literally.

the first thing that i would like to cover, this cd is NOT black metal, its more on the death metal side. i dont think that the band (at the time) was musically talented, the drums are comoplex and interesting, but especially the guitar lines, they are just very simple, its really easy to play along with the music on your guitar, the riffs are uncreative and just too simple. the production is kida raw, although thats not really a big turnoff to me. the vocals are very different than your usual death metal riffs, i like em, but i cant immaginge that anyone else would like them. it dosent sound like much time and effort was put into the album, but you know what? i absolutly love this album. its just the songs, no matter how much it appears that the band (at the time) has no talent, the songs are amaizing. they are really catchy. however this cd is only a ep, the only thing i dont really like about this albulm is that it is not really worth the price. this cd is also very different from mayhem's later works; however, i only like two cds by mayhem....this one and another one called De Mysteriis Dom Satans. DMDS is the greatest album i have ever heard, by that before you buy this.

if you like this particualare album, then i recomend you try venom, burzum, darktrhone, possesed, and celtic frost.

let me add that eronymous was not a great guitar player, he was average. hail varge\m/