MAYHEM — Live in Leipzig (review)

MAYHEM — Live in Leipzig album cover Live album · 1993 · Black Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
Warthur
This is an intriguing live album which is one of the few sources to document the Mayhem sound as it existed at the time when the legendary Dead was performing with them. The progress over the Deathcrush demo is impressive and much more reminiscent of the classic Norwegian black metal sound; the production values are basic, but a very great step above the rather shoddy Dawn of the Black Hearts bootleg which is one of the only other widely-available recordings of a show from this era.

In its stronger moments, the production values help rather than hindering matters; the main issue with the production is that the bass and guitars all tend to blend together, but this ultimately becomes a great reproduction of the wall of noise this band was legendary for producing in a live setting. Dead's vocals are absolutely bestial, the band show a mastery of both fast playing and slower, doomier numbers (there's even a weird Sabbath vibe which creeps in during Chainsaw Gutsfuck), and Dead's performance is deeply impressive - whilst many black metal frontmen have cultivated a similarly morbid image, Dead is one of the only ones who show absolutely no signs of faking it.

And, alas, this is the only really substantial material we have from the Dead era of Mayhem, with the result that this has rather been overhyped as a result. It's good, and you can see a glimpse of why Dead was so compelling, but it's not one I can say I feel anxious to spin that often.
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