MAYHEM — Deathcrush (review)

MAYHEM — Deathcrush album cover EP · 1987 · Black Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
siLLy puPPy
Here it is – the unpolished sloppy muddy first EP from the legendary MAYHEM but it still sounds like a major improvement from the horrendous production of the demo that emerged the year before. This came out in 1987, several years before the second wave of Norwegian black metal had taken off and a good few years before contemporaries like Darkthrone, Immortal or Emperor would release their first black metal. They basically took the most aggressive music of the 80s by Venom, Bathory, Motorhead and Celtic Frost as their inspiration and ramped it up significantly.

I am not sure who exactly is considered the first second wavers to kick off the revolution but I can't think of any other band who sounded like this at this time however some of this sounds like it is borderline death metal or grindcore. They also wouldn't adopt the Satanic imagery and lyrics until Dead joined the crew the next year but they sure have a good head start on the sound that would really take off in the 90s.

This album is kind of funny in a way. It starts off with some strange electronic drumming thing that doesn't sound the least bit evil or black but once the next track begins it is clear that the aggression and brutality of early second wavers has already taken hold. At times Maniac sounds like he's being strangled while he's screaming out his unintelligible lyrics. Overall not a bad first release for one of the greats of the scene but we all know that better things would come.
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