Mayhem - Deathcrush

Simplistic plodding music evidencing the lack of ability of its players, their compositional limitations being entirely finite and physical in that moment, rather than conceptual as with post-DMDS releases, this early black metal release Deathcrush builds upon the foundation of Bathory and Hellhammer with similarly toneless, rhythmic, violent songs to which Mayhem add abstraction and the begins of a more literate conceptual basis.

Widely remembered as the starting point for the establishment of the second wave black metal, Mayhem's debut reshaped the black metal concept that Bathory created only a few years earlier with their sophomore effort. Unlikely what the 'first-wave' of Bathory, Slayer and Hellhammer offered, Mayhem provided an insanely fast and raw performance, emphasized by the tense atmosphere surrounding each song. Although failing somewhat on the technical aspects and in terms of songwriting, the band achieves its goals of creating extreme music by raising the bar to higher standards of franticness and insanity.

All instruments, including vocals, have clear influences that can be traced back to either Bathory, Hellhammer or Slayer, but each also has a distinct feeling, as if Mayhem wanted to shed away the remainders of the 'first-wave' and move fully onto making true Norwegian black metal, which they would later achieve with De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas.

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