siLLy puPPy This is my kind of black metal. Fury and fire all the way through. Although track one is somewhat of an atmospheric antecedent to what follows, the rest is an incredible step up from MAYHEM’s debut album “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas” which was interesting in its making around the circumstances that went into its creation, but this next release WOLF’S LAIR ABYSS is a much more satisfying listen on a musical level combining the fury and bleakness of the debut full length with a new direction taking on a progressive touch.

Although this is the technically the first part of “Grand Declaration Of War” this EP blows that one away and actually is more akin to the technical fury found on “Chimera” and beyond. The music is absolutely erupting on fire with buzz saw guitars hammering away at your soul while myriad vocalizations pull you back and forth between semi-spoken declarative speeches and raspy screaming frenzies with Ulver inspired Gregorian chants subtlety appearing in the subdued the mix. The intensity is extreme and the brevity of 24:42 is a welcome relief.

Personally this album delivers everything i love about black metal. Intensity, speed, depressive motifs and furious intense tempos and the deranged vocals of Maniac who was famous for cutting himself on stage to the point where the paramedics would have to rescue him. This is intense stuff with troubled souls afoot and although i can’t relate to this personally i find this music intriguing as it lets me vicariously experience some of the most messed up music to ever exist. This is music to appeal to the innermost apocalyptic visions of our dying planet. It truly embraces the vision of Earth in a hell state. It is scary and electrifying. The true sonic equivalent of a horror film recorded and gracing my cochlea.

Warthur The Mark II, post-Euronymous Mayhem launched themselves onto the scene the same way the Mark I Mayhem did - with a short and sweet EP with Maniac on vocals. But whereas Deathcrush was raw, lo-fi and stripped down, Wolf's Lair Abyss showcases an intriguing new direction for Mayhem, hinting at a form of technical black metal which backs up Maniac's incredibly angry vocals with some of the most complex songwriting the band had brought to bear. Ultimately, it's a taster of the style the band would commit themselves to fully on Grand Declaration of War, but whereas that album was highly divisive (at least in terms of its original mix) here there's just enough of the old Mayhem's spirit present to inject a little anger into it. The end result is an intriguing EP which, like its predecessor, attempts to open a new chapter in black metal, but it feels a little artificial, clean and calculating next to the filth-encrusted murk of Deathcrush.