Mayhem
23rd January 2018
The Kings Arms, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Kate Taylor. Photography by Matt Henry Mendonca.
1994. Grunge, Pulp Fiction, the launch of PlayStation; and the release of one of the iconic, most influential black metal albums in history – De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. On a sweltering night in the dying days of Auckland’s favourite metal venue, The Kings Arms; Mayhem canonized the audience into a night of dark revels as they played for us their formative masterpiece. Missing Anno Domini Mortus I quizzed some of the punters and they had only solid things to say about New Plymouth’s unholy black metal trinity as they whipped up the crowd with their well crafted set and wild-man vocalist brandishing a cross at the collected witnesses.
Vassafor absolutely devoured the audience commanding their attention convincingly as they stood imposing on the KA stage, shrouded in hoods and robes, adorned with the bones of perhaps their latest victims to their dark rites of passage. On the oppressively steamy, but still comfortably packed Kings Arms floor; Vassafor was rapturously received by the collected punters as they swirled in the thick, swampy environment at the front of stage. Leaning and swaying on an elaborate mic stand bedecked with the spines and horns of unnamed beasts, our vocalist instructs the collected in a lusty round of Hail Satan’s which are reciprocated with vigour. As Vassafor slowed their riffs down to a delicious inky black metal dirge; and the punters swayed like corpses animated by the notes. Making short work of their enjoyable set; Auckland’s Vassafor made use of The KA acting as Satan’s home court for the evening; and used this advantage to whip the crowd into a spreading circle mosh that was as joyous as it was a roiling pit of frantic limbs. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing Vassafor again, who perfectly mix a theatrical black metal performance with crowd interaction.
Then we knew, the prophets of death and potentially our audial demise would be with us soon; as the collected swarmed outside for gulps of equally humid air from outside in the KA beer garden. As the time drew nearer for Mayhem’s performance on this, their third tour to our shores; the crowd – a warm, inclusive bunch of rad black metal dudes and dudettes filed back inside to find their spots and it’s times like then that I feel so embraced and protected by Auckland and New Zealand’s serious metal community. We love what we love and we look after each; and I couldn’t be more proud of this group of outcasts and miscreants that are usually misunderstood by the world that live outside of the sweet, stygian riffs of death.
Plunged into darkness and as the stage smoke rolled over the heads of the crowd, a recorded message; slightly jarring due to the sound of the straight-laced sounding MC on tape, instructing us at the request of and in respect for Mayhem; to please refrain from using mobile phones during the performance and if you absolutely have to, to not use any flash photography so as to not take away from the experience itself. Like Mayhem, this message was received with acquiescence and about a third of the crowd dutifully stowed their devices in their pockets so they could fully give over to their black metal commanders. As intermittent, expectant forked limbs rose into the air, we watched as the recognizable, hooded figures of Hellhammer, Necrobutcher and Attila Csihar massed onto the stage under a purple strobing light and plumes of smoke.
Delivering De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas with absolute precision and note perfect cuts; it really is hard to isolate which parts of Mayhem’s performance stood out most; as the relentless beat, expert scale climbs and dives and the omnipresent throat singing of Attila weaves together to enmesh you in the genius of this 24 year old album, that is still as vital and exciting today. If you were after chit-chat and insights from Attila and co. then this was the wrong night for you and you should have been at their 2015 Westfest performance where they were a bit more convivial; as tonight it was all about taking a piece of their work and polishing it brightly into an incredible showing of black metal perfection as they played through De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas with no breaks and no banter. Whether it was Mayhem crowded around a little light, smoke and sound effect to create an occultists fire scene on stage; or Attila swinging around an iconographic incense holder, each small movement from the band onstage registered like a blast of power from the front to the back of the venue. As Attila rolled his head like a possessed man in an exorcism thrash, the supplicant hands outstretched before him, he caressed and aided this human skull companion to birth the words of De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas into the mic and for one breathless moment; I connected eyes with Necrobutcher as he flayed his bass and I was shook to my core.
As the album and performance drew to a close, Mayhem came and stood front of stage and regarded us, their minions before throwing out picks and drumsticks and then, was that a smile? Smiling and nodding their appreciation, Mayhem receded back into the darkness of the crypt, leaving us once more to wait for their next New Zealand assault.
Were you there at the Kings Arms for this Black Metal Ritual? Or have you seen The True Mayhem perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Setlist:
- Funeral Fog
- Freezing Moon
- Cursed in Eternity
- Pagan Fears
- Life Eternal
- From the Dark Past
- Buried by Time and Dust
- De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
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