Inciting compulsory physical supplication through erratic recitations in service to death’s worship Oslo, Norway-based black metal quintet MAYHEM generate offerings of obscene truth, a liberating ritual of communal desacralization per this characteristic seventh full-length album. Any band that’d been as germinal, initially controversial, and long-standing as these fellowes will inevitably be seen as caricature decades on but ‘Liturgy of Death‘ instead suggests the benefits of a stability of authorship are real as they continue to develop their own modern iteration. The end result is familiar in the best sense, approachable work easily recognizable as the band’s current evolutionary voice, though fans of their middle-era’s challenging/caustic muse may not find any grand leap beyond more recent work(s).

Mayhem are one of the most infamous names in extreme metal per their first ten years of activity (1984-1994) where acts of tumult and treachery not only terrorized Norwegian Christendom but the greater black and death metal circles of the late 80’s/early 90’s as well with their cold-handed influence and inspiration. From hilariously balking at the corporatization of United States death metal to being accused of revisionism of the black metal that’d occurred in tandem with their own development that early legacy is one which speaks to elitism, nihil and admirably possessed teenage souls. There are a couple of questionable films/documentaries made of it, you know (versions of) it well enough from many perspectives if you’re a fan of black metal’s deteriorated zeitgeist… so I’ll cull deeper examination of their discography with praise for ‘De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas‘ (1994) as the fruits of their paranoid, subversive, and opportunistic growth from children to men. If you haven’t committed that debut to memory (and experienced those songs performed live) you’ve missed a key fundament.

Folks who’ve spent considerable time with Mayhem‘s discography are easy to route in the sense that many never saw past the vision of that first album while many others worship the Maniac/Blasphemer era that followed via increasingly dense and challenging works, culminating in the bizarre ‘Ordo Ad Chao‘ (2007) and an extended break beyond that point. This is what I’d seen as the Mark II version of the band in the broadest sense a different artist before the Mark III version was then lead by Teloch (Nidingr) and Ghul (ex-Cradle of Filth) beyond 2012, a line-up which as been by most accounts entirely stable to this day. The avant-garde, challenging features of the band’s sound, even the weirding genius of vocalist Attila Csihar, seemed to be somewhat diluted on their switch to a major label with 2019’s ‘Daemon‘ but this newly polished-up version of the band couldn’t have been accused as resting in place so much as presenting work which seemed to intentionally invoke characteristics of their darker past. There wasn’t anything surprising or dangerous about that sixth album but it definitely sounded something like Mayhem.

You should then, all things considered, not be surprised that Mayhem still sound quite a lot like they have since the transitional ‘Esoteric Warfare‘ (2014) and perhaps that is exactly what any modern fandom would want, a band that sound like themselves in iterative persistence. As a longtime fan of black metal the sort of quasi-standardization of this band in particular almost speaks directly against the teenaged/young adult idealism that’d been such a thrill in the 90’s as the “Mayhem sound” is necessarily a product. Mind you I am not whining about accessibility, their work is yet exacting in a standard they’d set for Norwegian black metal 30+ years ago, only that consistency doesn’t ask anything of the listener or the musician beyond variations on a theme. If I described ‘Liturgy of Death‘ as a very “cozy” Mayhem record you’ll probably understand the thought well enough. They’ve given the average fan exactly what they want, one of the most recognizable faces in death worship.

And the platter served is a ghastly, morbid thing from the first hymnal lines hummed (via Garm?) on opener “Ephemeral Eternity” a piece which mills about its introduction, stalling in stages of trepidation and growling dementia to the point that I’d gotten the impression they were referencing the post-1997 decade of the band’s work while punching through its circuitous development ’til the bat wings begin to flap and Csihar‘s presence creates a chasmic centrifuge for all to encircle. Again, without a doubt the magick of Mayhem is approximated much along the lines of ‘Daemon‘ via easier flowing, ominous waves. From there two key singles dictate the breadth of Side A with the hissing, blood-coughing “Despair” producing palpable sinister guile with its wavering opening salvo, eventually turning to a familiar verve and Hellhammer‘s throttled pace to generate its black hum. It is difficult to deny the impact of the band’s presence, by virtue of high-rate production values and a more aggressive approach to start though I’m not sure the mid-paced trod of “Weep For Nothing” is much more than treading water on the way through, a collage of tropes bound by familiar guitar techniques and vocal expression.

‘Liturgy of Death‘ began to lose me early on per its transition from Side A (via “Aeon’s End”) toward the second half with “Funeral Existence” as the atmospheric mélange of ideas that’d opened the album traded for shorter songs meant to invoke their signature. The latter piece is a clean study of typified second wave Norwegian black metal guitar work but also the sort of thing you’ll hear a few times a week if following black metal new releases in general, it isn’t generica under these terms but it also isn’t the most thrilling act considering what Mayhem are capable of with this talented, well tested line-up. The remainder of the album is generally more inventive, the racing and chunking grooves of “Propitious Death” being the peak of the late album for my own taste and the galloping trample of closer “The Sentience of Absolution” taking a curious ‘tribal’ rhythm on the way out. — The full listen starts incredibly strong, runs a bit low on fresh ideas, then caps things off with a number of novel enough additions to Mayhem‘s ouevre.

Four decades on no doubt reinforcing their own signature, asserting authorship which has been well-plundered by the public since advent, is a net gain for Mayhem as they become increasingly sophisticated (read: targeted) in this longest standing era of stability. In this sense ‘Liturgy of Death‘ should be immediately familiar and ingratiating to those seeking a cohesive product which contains and codifies the typically amorphous sound of the band. This album offers the highest potential quality one could associate with their branding without losing the perceived “edge” of black metal and their contributions to its attack, voicing and aesthetic. The sound design and curation of visual art (cover art + more via the brilliant Daniele Valeriani) are no doubt of obscene quality and this goes a long way toward making this album an event and not just a salad of re-iteration. Otherwise their work remains extremely approachable, repeatable and believably representative at any rate. A moderately high recommendation.

---