Sentrum Scene, Oslo, Norway
May 10 2024
Mayhem is celebrating 40 years of madness this year with two grand anniversary shows at Sentrum Scene, featuring a retrospective of the band’s long career.
First up is Mortiis, the alter ego of Håvard Ellefsen. Mortiis is well-known in the metal community, having played bass in the early days of Emperor and appeared on the “Wrath of the Tyrant” demo in 1992. After his short stint in Emperor, he ventured on his own and started playing what is called dungeon synth, darkwave, and eventually, synthpop and industrial rock. With Mortiis’ latest album, “Spirit of Rebellion” released in 2020, he returned to his roots, which he calls Era 1, meaning a return to dungeon synth. That is also what we are served tonight: a man and his synth. Mortiis’ troll costume is in place, and behind him, charcoal drawings reminiscent of the fantasy genre roll by—lots of castles and gray landscapes. Mortiis’ synths are heavy, and you can feel them in your gut. The melodies are repetitive, giving a trance-like feeling. For me, it becomes a bit too monotonous in this setting, and eventually, I find myself yawning. There’s something about the contrast to Mayhem being so stark that this feels a bit like a long intro. However, I appreciate Mortiis and how he goes his own way. He is good at creating atmosphere, and his mask is cool. It was much better when I saw Mortiis this summer at Midgardsblot, where he had more people on stage. Variation really helps in this genre when putting on a good concert.
Forty years of Mayhem—who would have thought? But here we are, and the concert begins with a video on the big screen showing images from the band’s early days. Behind the screen, a smaller drum set and a red banner are set up. When the screen drops, the band comes out, bringing Manheim on drums and Messiah on vocals. Mayhem fans know that these two were part of the band’s 1987 classic “Deathcrush.” Appropriately, the concert opens with the title track. A fantastic opening that sets the tone for the rest of the evening. After “Deathcrush,” we go even further back in time with “Ghoul” from the 1986 “Pure Fucking Armageddon” demo. According to uncertain sources, this is the first time the song has been played live. The band concludes the first part of the set with “Necrolust,” then leaves the stage for more film footage.
This time, the video showcases more of the band’s early history, including footage of Dead during his time with the band. As this video sequence ends, it displays “1984” and counts up to “2024.” Now we are in the era of present-day Mayhem with “Daemon” from 2019. From this album, “Malum” and “Bad Blood” are played while specially made video sequences roll in the background. Then we move back in history with “Milab” and “Psywar” from 2014’s “Esoteric Warfare.” Naturally, “Ordo Ad Chao” from 2007 follows. Only one song from this album is played, the nearly ten-minute-long “Illuminate, Eliminate.” Next up is “Chimera” from 2004, with both the title track and “My Death” being performed. This concludes the second part of the set, and the band exits for more historical footage while they prepare backstage.
The third part of the set is dedicated to the period when Maniac was the vocalist after Euronymous’ death. This includes “Crystalized Pain in Deconstruction” and “View From Nihil” from the 2000 album “Grand Declaration of War.” Unfortunately, neither Maniac nor Blasphemer are present as guests for unknown reasons. It would have been extremely cool if they had participated in the anniversary show. However, Attila Csihar does a good job with these songs, even though it’s usually cooler to hear the original vocalist. This part of the set includes two songs from “Wolf’s Lair Abyss” from 1997. Unfortunately, there are serious issues with the video sequences meant to play in the background. It looks strange with a gray and green screen mostly displaying black. Thus, both “Ancient Skin” and “Symbols of Bloodswords” are performed without video backdrops. This ends the third part of the concert, but this time there is no video—the technology has failed.
Only the sound remains of what should have been more history as we move to “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas” from 1994. One of the most important albums in black metal, it has been allotted extra playtime with five songs from the album. Unfortunately, we witness video sequences going haywire. Sometimes we see parts of what should be shown, other times we see half of the Mayhem logo on one side of the screen and the same half on the other side. Mostly, it’s just a black screen or something odd. After the fourth song, there’s supposed to be more video, but it’s just ambient noise. It seems the band doesn’t want to wait while we look at a black screen, so Hellhammer starts “Funeral Fog,” but unfortunately without sound. This is quickly fixed, but the noise from the video remains, making it difficult to hear the song. Additionally, Attila’s vocals are almost entirely missing. I’m actually glad when “Funeral Fog” is over because this was painful to watch and listen to—a disappointing end to the fourth part of the set.
The fifth part is better when the band returns to their early days and “Deathcrush.” They give up on trying to play more videos, leaving just the band and the music. It’s a relief, as it’s painful to watch when the technology fails so completely. “Chainsaw Gutfuck” and “Carnage” work very well, setting a good tone towards the end of the concert. It gets even better during the final song, “Pure Fucking Armageddon,” as Messiah and Manheim join Attila on stage to sing together.
Thus, Mayhem’s forty-year history is summed up in nearly two and a half hours. A long concert that holds up very well. It’s a shame about all the technical problems with the videos, and I would really like to see the rest of the video sequences. But it didn’t work out this time. Hopefully, they’ll be in place when Mayhem celebrates their fiftieth anniversary.
Hell on Earth Metal Zine 