De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
Mayhem studio album
Publication (s)	1994
admission	1992-1993
Label (s)	Deathlike Silence Productions
Format (s)	CD, LP, Picture Disc
Genre (s)	Black metal
Title (number)	8th
running time	46 min 27 s
occupation	Singing : Attila Csihar Guitar: Euronymous ( Øystein Aarseth ) Bass : Varg Vikernes Drums : Hellhammer ( Jan Axel Blomberg )
production	Eirik "Pytten" Hundvin
Studio (s)	The Grieg Memorial Hall
Location (s)	Mountains
chronology Live in Leipzig (1993) De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas Wolf's Lair Abyss ( EP , 1996)

De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is the first studio album by the Norwegian black metal group Mayhem . It was released in 1994 after the death of guitarist Øystein Aarseth and is considered a milestone in the second wave of black metal.

History of origin

Band logo

Mayhem began in 1988 with the line-up of Dead (Per Yngve Ohlin), Necrobutcher (Jørn Stubberud), Hellhammer ( Jan Axel Blomberg ) and Euronymous (Øystein Aarseth), writing for the band's actual debut album , for which Ohlin was already writing 1989 named March of the following year as the recording date in an interview. The songs already written at the time included the theme song, Carnage , Buried by Time and Dust and Funeral Fog . The Dark of the Freezing Moon and When the Vultures Left were working titles. Another song still had no title. Dead announced in an interview ten tracks that should land on the album.

In 1991, the work came to a standstill on the album, as Per Yngve "Dead" Ohlin suicide committed. In 1993 the live album Live in Leipzig was published as a tribute to the late singer Ohlin . The search for a replacement turned out to be difficult at first, also because of the subsequent activities.

From the beginning of 1993 the media interest in Black Metal from Norway increased through various church arson foundations and rumors about an " Inner Circle ", from which these supposedly originated. The well-known musicians of the scene at that time who were also involved in the arson included Mayhem and others, the members of the band Emperor and Varg Vikernes , who runs the one-man project Burzum . Øystein Aarseth and Varg Vikernes have been described as leaders of the circle. Due to the police investigation at the time and the great media attention, bassist Necrobutcher dropped out of Mayhem. Aarseth's chronic financial shortage and the loss of two other band members delayed recording the album until the end of 1992. With the new line-up Aarseth (guitar), Vikernes (bass) and Blomberg (drums), the band finally recorded the album. Some riffs are also said to have been recorded by Blackthorn (Snorre Ruch) von Thorns , who was guitarist for Mayhem at the time.

The plan that Occultus (Stian Johannsen) would take over the vocals on De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas was no longer possible shortly after joining Mayhem due to the change to the Perdition Hearse group. It was not until the summer of 1993 that the Hungarian band Tormentor, Attila Csihar, won a new singer. He came to Norway from Hungary for a month to work on the album. The choice of Csihar as a singer was supposed to be a kind of tribute to the late singer Dead.

“Tormentor were one of the very few bands that Dead really liked. Besides, he had already had a long correspondence with him. Actually, the choice of Attila was a kind of tribute to Dead. "

- Hellhammer

The Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim  provided the template for the album cover.

After the album was completed, guitarist Øystein Aarseth was murdered by 23 stab wounds on the morning of August 10, 1993 by bassist Varg Vikernes. An accomplice was Mayhem's guitarist at the time, Snorre Ruch, who accompanied Vikernes on the way from Bergen to Oslo. The motive for the act remains unclear to this day, as the murderer made various statements about the motive. Vikernes was given the maximum sentence, Ruch received eight years for accessory to murder.

Since Vikernes' bass tracks were to be removed at the request of Aarseth's mother, Blomberg spread the rumor that he had re-recorded the bass tracks. Vikernes can still be heard on the final version. Blomberg merely mixed the bass tracks down and in return mixed the drums louder. The remaining members of Mayhem released the album in 1994. Already at Aarseth's grave, Blomberg and Stubberud decided to continue Mayhem.

Regarding Aarseth's death, Stubberud commented:

"We couldn't really buy better publicity. But every time we lost a member we had to find somebody else to replace them and start the whole rehearsing process again. We suffered in that way as a band. "

“We cannot imagine better advertising. But whenever we lose a member, we have to find someone else and rehearse. In this sense we suffered as a band. "

- Jørn Stubberud

The album shows Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim , one of the most important churches in Norway , on the cover . The booklet includes a dedication to Øystein “Euronymous” Aarseth.

Music genre

In contrast to the mini album Deathcrush published in 1987, the songs on De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas are longer and have several solo passages. Former singer Dead explained the change in 1989 with the words:

“There are certainly differences between the new songs and Deathcrush, but for me they are in the same way as the old ones. They're just a little longer with a few solo parts. We have all, in the technological realm, learned since then but it is still the same "Death" [meaning Death Metal -. Note] be like at that time. "

- Dead (Per Yngve Ohlin) : in the fanzine Decibel Storm

The album contains mostly fast-playing Black Metal, which is occasionally interrupted by slow passages. The singing of Csihar and the fast, jazz-influenced drumming of Blomberg are usually described as special. The mixture of screeching singing and whispering gives the album a hitherto unknown atmosphere, which is often described as "malicious" and "nasty". In fact, Csihar tried to base his singing on Dead, but could not imitate it. Instead he used a somber and croaking song. An older opera singer taught him some breathing techniques that he first used on this album. Varg Vikernes claimed in a later interview that Csihar was more concerned about his artistic integrity and therefore did not sing in the same style as Dead. The other band members liked the vocals, but especially in the first few years after the release, some fans were irritated and couldn't do anything with the new style. The British daily The Guardian described the singing style as a mixture of “operetta-like singing”, the screams of a man possessed and “puking”.

Although it's the band's first studio album, the songs weren't new. Only Cursed in Eternity , From the Dark Past and the title song had not already been published on Live in Leipzig . There are also various bootlegs of recordings with the late singer Per Yngve Ohlin. Csihar released the original mix, i.e. with the original bass and drum recordings from the album, in 2008 as an EP limited to 3,000 copies in a DIN A5 digipak under the name Life Eternal . The EP contains the five tracks Cursed in Eternity , Pagan Fears , Freezing Moon , Funeral Fog and Life Eternal . The recordings were sent to Csihar shortly before the murder.

Versions

Initial release

There are two first releases of the album, both of which were released on the former label of Aarseth Deathlike Silence Productions . One of the two versions contains a colored text section in the style of medieval scripts, which was illustrated by Jørgen "Sjulak" Lid Widing. The other version is only four pages and contains several photos and the imprint of the CD. The label Voices of Wonder took over the distribution of the album .

Re-releases

Chart placements (preliminary) Explanation of the data

Albums

De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas   DE 60 06/12/2020 (...  where.)

In addition, several vinyl versions of the album were released, as well as several strictly limited picture LPs , as well as a gatefold LP, which was released in 2006.

On May 29, 2020, a vinyl box set limited to 3300 copies, consisting of five LPs and a 96-page book, was released for the 25th anniversary. The LP box was only available as a pre-order and contained several bonus tracks. The box set reached number 60 on the German album charts.

Rehearsal Skippergata, February 10th 1992 (LP 2)

1. Buried by Time and Dust
2. Cursed in Eternity
3. Materialized in stone
4. Life Eternal

Studio Rehearsal Møllergata, May 16th 1992 (LP 3)

1. Funeral Fog
2. Freezing moon
3. Pagan Fears
4. Buried in time
5. Life Eternal
6. Buried by Time and Dust
7. Cursed in Eternity
8. De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

Instrumental Rough Mix Grieghallen, June 22nd-29th 1992 (LP 4)

1. Buried by Time and Dust
2. Pagan Fears
3. Freezing moon
4. Funeral Fog
5. Life Eternal
6. From the dark past
7. Cursed in Eternity
8. De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

Vocal Session Grieghallen, April 30th- May 2nd 1993 (LP 5)

1. Cursed in Eternity
2. Pagan Fears
3. Freezing moon
4. Funeral Fog
5. Life Eternal

meaning

The album is widely regarded as a milestone in second wave Black Metal. In contrast to the first wave, which basically consisted of various Thrash Metal bands from the 1980s, Mayhem managed to establish a rather idiosyncratic style that was based on the old models, but brought enough ideas of its own. Fueled by the death of two band members and the scandals surrounding the arson at churches, black metal from Norway and Sweden developed into the dominant underground scene in heavy metal in the 1990s with this album . In addition to the bands from the Mayhem area, new black metal bands shot up, especially from Scandinavia and Finland, and scene activities increased in Germany as well. In particular, the French label Osmose Productions , which has been active since 1991 , achieved a high status in the scene with black metal releases at the beginning of the second black metal wave, but German labels such as Last Episode also benefited from the newly created music market. The black metal sub-scene was soon to spawn the first mainstream artists like Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth .

Ironically, Euronymous's death increased not only Mayhem's popularity, but Varg Vikernes's as well.

Song info

As usual for Black Metal, the lyrics deal with dark and occult themes. A direct reference to Satanism is only made in the title song, but there are mentions of demons and diabolical figures in other texts. The authorship of the songs is disputed; the review on metal1.info ascribes the first four tracks to Aarseth and the other four to Blomberg, according to Herr's Black Metal Bible , the guitar tracks were written by Aarseth, while the lyrics were still from Ohlin and Blomberg took care of the drum tracks. Dead had already stated in 1989 to have written the lyrics to Funeral Fog , Freezing Moon , Buried by Time and Dust and Pagan Fears . Vikernes gives Aarseth as the originator of most of the riffs, whereby he, Blomberg and Stubberud also contributed riffs. Necrobutcher, on the other hand, who is not on the album, told Slayer Magazine that he wrote 50% of the songs. He claimed, for example, that Freezing Moon was written by him and Ohlin, and that Aarseth merely contributed a riff to the song.

Track list
1. Funeral Fog - 5:51 2. Freezing Moon - 6:27 3. Cursed in Eternity - 5:14 4. Pagan Fears - 6:24 5. Life Eternal - 7:01 am 6. From the Dark Past - 5:30 7. Buried by Time and Dust - 3:38 8. De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas - 6:22

Funeral Fog describes a scene in a cemetery in Transylvania . A presumptuous priest conjures up a gloomy mist that comes from the graves and destroys all life in the area. The song is very fast. The singing of Csihar, which combines whispering and screeching on this track, gives the song a vicious and "nasty" atmosphere.

Freezing Moon describes from a first-person perspective how an unnamed person died trying to follow the moon and now, dead, has to feed on people. The song begins with a melodious intro, which turns into a quick "clap" after a minute and a half. A slightly slower guitar solo by Aarseth forms the middle section.

Cursed in Eternity is about a demon. Again, the song is kept very quickly.

Pagan Fears tells of the persistence of pagan traditions and attitudes of the people. According to Dead, it is supposed to describe a village-like and barbaric society that lives isolated from the outside world and cannot die. The piece is full of atmosphere, despite "uncompromising hardness" emotions are conveyed. Vikernes' bass line was played in contrast to the guitars.

Life Eternal describes the hour of death and a dying person's desire to let go of their soul. The dying describes himself as a barely human character who longs to die because he has never felt joy in life. The piece ends with the cynical final sentence “What you found was eternal death / no one will ever miss you” (German: 'What you found was eternal death. Nobody will ever miss you.'). Musically it is in the medium tempo range.

From the Dark Past describes a stone image of an unknown face. The man who owned this face was petrified in a moment of horror. Since then he has lived on as a portrait and tries to warn others.

Buried by Time and Dust is written from the first person perspective of an old vampire . He waits in his grave until he is released or dies.

The song and album title De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is written in incorrect Latin and translates as 'From the mysteries of the Lord Satan'. The title comes from an occult book that Dead owned and that apparently was a one-off. According to Ohlin, the book is about ghosts who have enormous powers. The text itself is written in English and (incorrectly) Latin and describes an occult ceremony through which humanity is to be destroyed. The participants in the ceremony are wrapped in black robes and are located between a circle of coffins. The ceremony also includes an animal sacrifice in the form of a goat. The spell is written in Latin and ends with the words “Mortem animalium” , which translates as “ death of the creatures”. The Latin passages are sung by Csihar in an operetta-like style, similar to the tenor , while the English passages were sung in the usual screeching. The song also features a drum solo in which Hellhammer alternates between slow drumming and double bass.

Web links

• Article about the Latin verses in De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Mayhem . Originally published in 1989 in Decibel Storm , translation by Fogvision for Blackmetal.at .
2. ↑ Michael Moynihan , Didrik Søderlind: Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise from the Underground . Promedia, Zeltingen ISBN 3-936878-00-5 , p. 154
3. ↑ MAYHEM ( Memento of the original dated February 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .  
4. ↑ Brother Clé: Myths, Murder & Metal . In: Ablaze , No. 6, September / October 1995.
5. ↑ ^{a b} Volkmar Weber: Noise from the base. News. in: Rock Hard . June 2009. p. 58
6. ↑ ^{a b c} Interview in The Guardian , February 20, 2005
7. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Review on Metal1.info ( Memento of the original from February 26, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
8. ↑ http://www.bloodchamber.de/cd/m/1311/
9. ↑ Interview with Vikernes on Metalcrypt.com
10. ↑ Interview with Csihar on Tartareandesire.com
11. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: Germany
12. ↑ ^{a b} Holger Stratmann (Ed.): Rock Hard Enzyklopädie, Dortmund: Rock Hard GmbH 1998, p. 239, ISBN 3-9805171-0-1
13. ^ Matthias Herr: Heavy Metal Lexicon Vol. 4, Berlin: Eigenverlag 1994, p. 117
14. ^ Burzum biography at Allmusic .
15. ^ Matthias Herr: Black Metal Bible, Berlin: Eigenvertrieb, 1998.
16. ↑ ^{a b} Interview in Slayer # 10
17. ↑ Chris Mitchell: Interview with Varg Vikernes. May 10, 2005, accessed January 24, 2010 . 
18. ↑ Mayhem . In: Slayer , No. 14, summer 2000, p. 77.

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on May 28, 2008 .