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Avg: 3.0 (34 ratings)
- Date Released: April 6, 2004
- Genre: Rock/Pop
- Style: Metal
- Label: Season of Mist / The Orchard
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We Say...
In the beginning, there were Mayhem and Burzum, the two core bands of the nefarious Norwegian Inner Circle. The black metal groups co-existed for a while in the early '90s, then, after a couple church burnings, a suicide and an act of cannibalism, the frontman for Burzum killed the leader of Mayhem.
To begin with, Mayhem needed to find a new guitarist and songwriter, but its greatest challenge was to rise above the tidal wave of notoriety and become recognized not for the crime, but for their musical grime. The band's eclectic 2000 concept album, A Grand Declaration of War, accomplished just that, but in the process the band lost some of their heaviness. So, with their third disc, 2004's Chimera, Mayhem scrapped some of the extraneous prog-isms and returned to the primal brutality that marked their early work like a jagged scar.
Most of the songs are rooted either in piledriver blast beats and blurring buzzsaw guitars, or slower, more insidious rhythms reminiscent of Seasons in the Abyss-era Slayer. There are plenty of thrilling frills, too — Blasphemer's atmospheric guitar runs, Hellhammer's plundering drum rolls and Maniac's mid-lyric shrieks — and unlike many black metallists, Mayhem never have to resort to campy horror-film keyboards to be sinister. If this is the sound of true evil, the Dark Lord has trained his musicians well. -
They Say...
Frankly, there's a reason why Norwegian death metal pioneers Mayhem are better known for their often shocking offstage history than for their music. It's hard to compete with tales of murder, cannibalism, and other sordid diversions. And people thought the Sex Pistols were shocking! That said, Chimera is a far better than average slab of Scandinavian death metal that harks back to the band's classic lineup, who are now mostly either dead or in jail. Singer Maniac varies the attack of his death growl vocals, varying the pitch from the monotonous low-register moan that many lesser bands in the style stick to; unexpected attacks like the falsetto shriek in the verses of the piledriving hardcore opener "Whore" and the almost pagan chanting that overlays the extended coda of "My Death." As always, the band plays faster, harder, and louder -- and with a greater attention to sonic detail -- than just about anyone in the style, but the expanded scope and variation of Chimera shows that in the right hands, there's more to this often-maligned music than its detractors give it credit for.
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| 01. |  |
Whore |
2:58 |
|
| 02. | |
Dark Night Of The Soul |
6:08 |
|
| 03. | |
Rape Humanity With Pride |
5:41 |
|
| 04. | |
My Death |
5:54 |
|
| 05. | |
You Must Fall |
4:13 |
|
| 06. | |
Slaughter Of Dreams |
6:59 |
|
| 07. | |
Impious Devious Leper Lord |
5:38 |
|
| 08. | |
Chimera |
7:00 |
|
08 Total Tracks, 44:31 Total Length
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Credits
- Mayhem - Main Performer // Sebastian Ludvigsen - Photography // Necrobutcher - Group Member // Blasphemer - Producer // Blasphemer - Mixing // Blasphemer - Group Member // Hellhammer - Group Member // Berge Finstad - Engineer // Berge Finstad - Mixing
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