Mayhem - Ordo Ad Chao

\r\nAlthough at some age I used to be a huge fan of Mayhem I admit that I didn’t have any particular anticipation for their latest release. Greatly disappointed from their previous releases, the boring "Grand Declaration of War" and the uninspired "Chimera" the only thing that triggered my interest for Mayhem’s new release was nothing more than Attila Csihar’s return to the band. He has always been my favorite Mayhem vocalist so his return to the band I suppose was an extra motive and not only for me but for a lot of people out there to listen to the new release of those infamous black metal pioneers. \r\n

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\r\nAt first my whole attention was captured by the man behind the mic who made me so impatient to hear this album and my joy was tremendous hearing again his mad operatic growling/chanting that I didn’t pay that much attention to the music. I guess somewhere in the back of my head I was dreaming that Mayhem was finally returning to the "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas"-era. Of course I didn’t expect a copy cut of that album as much as the feeling and the aura of that glorious release. I will deal with the vocals section later but for now I think it is time to say something about the new album "Ordo Ad Chao" (Translation: Order from Chaos)and the music. Well, if there are any of you out there who were expecting something similar to "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas", you will be greatly disappointed. My first impression was that, yes "Ordo Ad Chao" is better than "Chimera", but after a while I came to realize that it is also a very nonobjective and unreal album even touching the avant-garde fields of bands like Deathspell Omega and Sigh. And the truth is that as much as I like the forementioned bands this kind of music performed by Mayhem come to be less digestible and even more unconventional. This may sounds contradictory and unfair in some way but my overall feelings ended up really mixed up and confused about this one. The songs generally are really slow, with some random scattered fast parts but the general mode is very doomy and with a strongly evil and deep dark atmosphere so thick that you could cut it with a knife. But they surely lack the catchiness and although they are not bad at all, they have a certain difficulty sticking to the mind maybe because most of the times they sound like random notes played in a really bizarre order, or as the title implies the order of chaos. So of course this is not the first time that I come to the conclusion that the great "evil" guitar riffs of earlier Mayhem were lost gone along with Euronymous. \r\n

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\r\nWhat are truly astonishing with this album are of course Hellhammer’s drumming and Attila’s vocals. Although the performance of the first is really buried under the production and it gets kind of disappointing because a large amount of his powerful sound is lost yet I think we all know what this man can do behind the drum kit. Even though he seems to deny outmost on the blast beats and his trademark trigger technique delivering a more restrained and less compact rythmical sequence. From the other hand Mrs Production took a good care of Attila’s demonic assault and one thing is for sure, his return has really improved the band’s sound. His signature voice combined with some of Maniac’s high pitched shrieks is just unloading an impressive blend of screams, cries, low rasps, deep growls and hellish spoken words. His performance is nothing more than insanely flawless!\r\n

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\r\nAnd now let’s say some things about the production. Most of the reviews agree on one thing. That in terms of the production this album really sucks. Well, that’s true and as I said before what really suffers from this low-fi and weak approach is surely Hellhammer’s drumming but from the other hand all this seems so intentionally shity I think for one purpose alone. Mayhem decided to return to their older sound and to recapture "De Mysteriis..."’s atmosphere – which they do manage to achiece but to a very small level - and to be honest at the end this wasn’t so much of a spoiler at all. \r\n

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\r\nConcluding I will always have a special adoration for the Euronymous-era and I know that Mayhem of the second era even with Attila back in the form will never be able to outdo that early material. And "Ordo Ad Chao" it’s not bad, even with this crappy production, or maybe it is just a small hint that Mayhem is back on the track again. Who knows!!\r\n

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\r\nVaso Prassa \r\n

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