Mayhem – Daemon

As other comments, I just opened a still sealed copy today, Yellow hype sticker, but black inside. Bummer

Only gripe with this is that the bonus tracks should have been on a 7" even if it were just a regular black one

Best version of this record for sure no question about it.

This may be the standard version but the packaging is rather luxurious. Excellent sounding LP, no pops or crackles whatsoever. And what a great album it is, too.

Mine came in black instead of yellow, had the hype sticker and everything of the yellow press. Bamboozled. Deceived, and betrayed by Century media.

Mine came in black instead of yellow, had the hype sticker and everything of the yellow press. Bamboozled. Deceived, and betrayed by Century media.

Ok, I know I´m very late with this, but I can´t stop wondering, how people can crazily overrate this album that probably close to no one would have noticed in the black metal-scene, were it not for the legendary Mayhem-logo being printed on the cover. If some unknown band would have released this, most people praising this album would be going „oh come on, wake me up when they release their next one, maybe by then they might have learned how to compose interesting songs on a regular basis“, but since there is the Mayhem-logo on it they go apeshit like „this is the best Mayhem-album since...“ which really annoys (but also to a certain degree amuses) me, since it is not even their best since their last (Esoteric Warfare, which was like every Mayhem-release so far, courageous). With this album there are almost no memorable riffs, no interesting rhythmic ideas (what a waste of Hellhammers talent) and believe me, I have nothing against straight-forward black metal, but it has to have something unique and interesting to it in some way (here I recommend MGŁA for those who want to explore interestingly structured straight forward BM with a drummers talent not being wasted). There are no interesting build-ups and the overall atmosphere of the album is flat. The only way I can explain to myself, why this album is so welcomed by lots of people is nostalgia for the big names of old. Before this, the Mayhem-Discography was always beyond the BM-standards of the time and it was always original and creative (I have to admit that I never managed to really dive into Grand Declaration, it really doesn´t touch me at all, but at least it´s not boring standard-BM without the courage of losing the love of the fans – a criteria that seems to have lead most of the compositional work of Daemon, which definitely doesn´t ask too much of the listener). And here is my problem: It asks too few of the listener. This album is never demanding and gives everything it has to offer on a silver plate. Is that, what BM should be about? Complacent background music for those familiar with the general sound of the genre? Too be brutally honest, no matter how hard I think, I can´t find a Mayhem-album as weak and cowardly composed as this one and that so much people seem to applaud it, makes me crazy, cause it rewards BM-bands for never leaving the save path of genre-conventions. I know there exists a certain tension between the very often conservative views of the artists in this scene when it comes to political or aesthetic views (whereby one could state, that for a lot in the scene, the term conservative is way too harmless) and on the other hand the sometimes quite avantgardistic kind of expression they utter in their own aesthetic praxis, but this tension here is nearly eliminated. It´s BM-conservatism at its worst. It almost seems to me like a record where you can feel the amount of boredom it must have caused in the musicians themselves, cause everyone familiar with the discography of Mayhem should know and recognize that they can do so much better. They´re like a football (or for you americans soccer)-team going for the safe tie instead of risking something to get the win
And then the worst of it all: Ok, it´s my fault, trusting a band that so far only delivered at least interesting interpretations of the genre (and in some cases – DMDS, Chimera, Ordo ad Chao – real masterpieces) so much, that I buy a totally overpriced box-set without even going to listen to some of the material beforehand. But to force the vinyl-afficionado to buy this box-set to own the whole album in the physical format of his or her preference by releasing a standard vinyl-version with the last two tracks missing (of which one, „Everlasting Dying Flame“, is the only one of the wohle album that still gives me pleasure listening to) really feels like an old genre-legend (and despite this album I would still call them that deservedly) ripping people off, arguing with their bands reputation more than with their actual writing or performance.
If anyone can do this in detail, please tell me how this album is better than anything they released before (including their musically not so strong Debut-EP Deathcrush which, at least, was a courageous effort at its time). And don´t tell me it is more earfriendly, cause that I made clear myself, but since when is this a relevant criteria in this genre I love so much because of its challenges.
And by the way, excuse my punctuation which might be wrong in some cases, since I´m from Germany and I never seem to get the commas right and always seem to be more stuck in the german grammar with them.

Any appearance of the Mayhem in the media is fraught with such an onslaught of desperate music lovers and guardians of the genre that sometimes you can't believe and wonder: at the beginning of the third decade of the twenty-first century, we can still discuss things like "true" or "not true", "DMDS" or "not DMDS". Gentlemen, are you serious? So I think it's just such a specific "Mayhem" humor like in the evil old days.

Today Mayhem is in demand, in principle, as well as, the old bands of that wave. You know, this is like nostalgia for those times and places in which no one lived and was not. Once extreme music and avant-garde became a national treasure, and tour groups with headphones lead to the Euronymous house and the Helvete store. I think it's worth accepting this fact and stop to getting nerves on. Especially understanding the condition that the critics audience can afford to download mp3 at most, not to mention buying a real CD or Vinyl , and even more so, not to mention going to a concert or even in the wildest dreams of going to Oslo and taking pictures near the wall with the inscription "Black Metal" and posting a photo to mom's Facebook.

The record came out on its own wave. In my opinion, it does not look like DMDS in any way. Historically, this band has existed for periods. There was early creativity and original composition manner, there was a delightful decade of the middle period, where Mr. Blasphemer immortalized himself as a composer and gave everything to the maximum everywhere. The current Mayhem, where the composer's tandem has changed again and is going its own way.Teloch proved himself to be an excellent author, because in such a leisurely rhythm he was able to implement strong material on Esoteric Warfare, and on Daemon, which does not repeat the musical decisions made during the recording of the previous album anywhere. The atmosphere and spirit are present. I would call this aura "mystical", "spiritualistic", some kind of "superstitious" or something. Of course, there is no murderous plunge into the abyss of hell, Mayhem is not about that, they are more about "mystery", "secrecy", "esotericism" in their own musical expression.

The vinyl from Century Media is made perfectly: a colorful gatefold, a huge full-length booklet, heavy vinyl with impeccable sound quality. The release is seriously prepared in all respects, the nature of the recording itself makes a certain impression, at the same time returning the band to its roots, but at the same time demonstrating the potential for progress. In fact, the band cannot be blamed for standing still. All the few releases differ significantly from each other and each of them was initially received odiously, and later received cult status. I think if the band had released a new album every time for 35 years of existence, and there were 666 times replayed riffs from "DMDS", there would have been less interest in them, while there would have been more reasons for reproaches.

Sound is amazing. Vinyl is high quality material, very thick heavy plastic.

Can somebody post the runout etching please..I bought the yellow version but when I unsealed it the vinyl was black.The runout numbers don`t match the black vinyl copies..