- While Mayhem haven’t proffered any new music, outside of some live albums, since 2014’s brilliant Esoteric Warfare, they remain a band that's central in extreme music conversations. The chatter only increased in volume and intensity when the gormless mess of a so-called bio-pic Lords of Chaos was released to unanimous ire. That was before the sole remaining original member of Mayhem, Necrobutcher, added still more fuel to the fire with his unflattering assessment of the movie, additional confessions of murderous intent toward former band members and the sale of other deceased band member's body parts. Marketing ploys? Maybe, but it certainly created an increased interest in this new album. Daemon packages the unrelenting fury of its predecessor with an impeccable crafting of mood and atmosphere. Allied with modern production to really let you hear its unholy power, this record has all the hallmarks of great black metal.
A cavalcade of swarming instruments break upon the listener in The Dying False King. The tremolo guitars rips away space for haggard vocals to creak through before they soar to a position of eminence. Tucked snugly underneath the omnipresent buzzsaw guitars is something I had missed the first time around: a clean bass line backs up the song’s main melodic point. Much the same follows on Agenda Ignis. There are some deviations, the bass plays a foil to what it did previously and there's a breakdown grimily stomping forward as the song progresses. Malum conjures a sense of menace as it builds thanks in part to low, powerfully bellowed vocals. The vocals maintain that enrapturing quality as the song moves along and a series of bell toll over the mix as it marches on into a final flash of energy. All of that is devoured by Falsified & Sharpened in a swirl of gurgles before bursting back again at a blistering pace. Around a minute in, there is a great passage featuring stabbing drills of guitar that steadily chip away at the song. An electronic tune glides through in several sections, brandishing its three note pattern in defiant strains. Amidst all the chaos, the simple touch is as catchy as I have heard from Mayhem and a welcome counterpoint. Things do begin to disintegrate toward the end as it all gives way under the torrents of power unleashed by the full band.
The production sheen did take a minute to get used to here on Daemon. Once that teething process was over, it's possible to really enjoy what is a well rounded black metal album. Harsh, ruthless whips combine with passages that build and release tension masterfully. This record should achieve for the band what so many seminal genre legends cannot: Mayhem are, as they always have been, lords of their domain.
- Matt Lynch.