MAYHEM

w/ Astriaal & Anno Domini

The Factory, Sydney – 24th September, 2010

Sometimes, amidst such prominent occurrences as church burnings, murders, and imprisonments, it is easy to focus on the activities surrounding a band rather than the music they produce. That is, until you see the band in the flesh and they put on a show that not only makes you forget any incidents attached to their title, but makes you realise that the band in question are amazing musicians who put on one hell of a show worthy of forgetting any past events.

The band I’m referring to is infamous black metal band Mayhem from Norway who have finally made their return to Australia after 8 long years. Mayhem released their last studio album, ‘Ordo Ad Chao’ all the way back in 2007 and were originally meant to tour in support of the release in 2008, but due to visa issues, it was delayed indefinitely. Well, their time finally came and Mayhem have now made a triumphant return to Australia.

The Sydney leg of the tour, which was held at Marrickville’s The Factory Theatre, had two support bands before Mayhem hit the stage. First up was local death metal band, Anno Domini, who were finally releasing their debut album, ‘Atrocities’, to the public at the show. I arrived just as they kicked into their second track of the set and was immediately set back. I hadn’t seen these guys live in quite some time, at least a year or so, and I was instantly impressed in how much they had improved as a band both in performance and stage presence. All clad in black with red ‘AD’ initials printed on their shirt pockets, the band both looked and sounded impressive as they blasted through a set of what will undoubtedly be future crowd favourites from what I’m sure is going to be an extremely well received album.

The second support came from long time running Brisbane black metallers Astriaal, who scored the slot as main support for all Mayhem east coast shows. Astriaal recently released their second full length album entitled ‘Anatomy of the Infinite’ in which they played a few tracks of. While I thoroughly enjoyed their set, I found their sound to be a tad muddy, especially compared to the first band who hit the stage. Sound issues aside, I found Astriaal to put on an immaculate set that was extremely tight and engaging. The crowd absolutely loved them and it was great to see the crowd embrace them as if they were a headliner. It’ll be great to see them on their return to Sydney in a couple of months as part of the massive Black Mass show.

And after two amazing supports, it was time to witness the legendary Mayhem. Entering through a thick layer of smoke, the band took to the stage and with a fiery passion, kicked straight into Pagan Fears from their classic ‘De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas album’. This set the perfect foundation for what the rest of the night had to offer. There were so many highlights of the night, I don’t know where to start. First of all, what I and many others found to be the most impressive component of the band was vocalist Attila Csihar. The man had a godlike presence about him as stood in what seemed like a trance, rarely straying from his position on stage. Both his harsh, outstanding vocals and his onstage theatrics involving his costume as well as a mask and noose, pretty much defined and carried the band to a whole new level. As heavy and tight as the band was playing, it was hard to keep your eyes off Attila as he pierced the eardrums of all in attendance through the set.

Another highlight was that of drummer Hellhammer. As many know, Hellhammer has been involved in more projects I’d wish to try and count, and there’s a reason so. The man’s a machine. He never misses a beat and he is always able to implement different patterns and beats that one wouldn’t usually expect from the different genres he plays in, especially in the case of black metal. As he went into the march-like snare rolls of the intro to View from Nihil, I actually felt shivers go down my spine as I knew what was to come.

Between long serving members such as bassist Necrobutcher to newcomers like guitarists Morfeus and Silmaeth, the collective group known as Mayhem put on a show that was truly spellbinding and mesmeric. They are truly a force to be reckoned with as they slayed through each track, playing a set composed of tracks from each of their studio releases. After the response they received, I’m sure we won’t be waiting another 8 years until we see Mayhem visit our shores once again.