March 25, 2025
Mayhem bring a cold front to Montreal
An unexpected cold front has swept over the city of Montreal, brushing aside the welcome ides of spring – and with it, comes Mayhem; once the most feared band in all music. Although the reasons for this are well documented and known to everyone now, be they fans of the band or genre or otherwise, and despite those tales taking place so long ago as to have passed into the sand of times – still, the stigmata of their past follows them.
Mayhem are, whether they like it not, forklore. A band that will last forever in infamy. And each and every time they come to town, I feel as if I am living a small fragment of that infamy, again, despite the amount of time that passed since those days.
See Also: Delain at Fairmount, Montreal
With them on this trek, are Mortiis who was once the bassist and primary lyricist for Emperor, Imperial Triumphant and New Skeletal Faces. A strange and eclectic mixture that I oddly thoroughly enjoyed.
New Skeletal Faces
Until the announcement of this tour, I can honestly say that I had never heard of this band. Everyone starts somewhere though, I suppose. Opening on a tour like this is one way to get your brand out and into a lot of ears. Some will dig it, some won’t. Such is the nature of the beast.
Technical issues early into their first track meant that the guitar couldn’t be heard, while the bass was too loud and had reverb issues. Their look bemused at first, trying to decide if his amp was on and if there was any sound coming out of it. It was, but just barely. Anything he played was overpowered by the throbbing bass lines. That was soon put right though, and New Skeletal Faces soldiered on.
Somewhere between a mixture of The Cure and Mayhem themselves. An interesting mixture of New Wave, Goth rock, early punk rock and extreme metal. Some people seemed to dig it, others not so much. Isn’t that the benchmark for true art though? I don’t know. I’m asking, is it!?
Some moments felt very much influenced by Joy Division, especially on the bass lines, while the guitarist and singer was perhaps doing a more Unto Others or Poison Ruin type thing.
Call it what you want, I personally enjoyed it and applaud the band for trying to do something a little more different. Then again, I am a music nerd that can get into just about any style, so finding bands that walk that fine line inbetween styles is maybe tailored a tad more towards my ears.
With so much gear on stage, four bands worth, the two stringed instrument players found it a challenge finding spots to place their feet At. Wearing heeled boots probably didn’t make that any easier. The woes of being the first band on stage are real.
It’s unique, no denying that.
Imperial Triumphant
Call it what you will, maybe it’s a fetish, but I really like bands that play in masks. Costumes in general but masks especially. When the artist in question is a black metal band, it just adds to the esthetic of the whole package. Ambience. Atmosphere. Things that are generally lost on modern art forms. That’s what made the 80s so great – not the aerosol hair-do’s or the terrible fashion; the ambience. But that’s a yarn for another day.
I suppose Imperial Triumphant represent the newer generation of black metal aficionado to counter the old school appeal of Mayhem, thus meshing generations together and introducing one another. In a way, helping the genre stay relevant and alive, perhaps inspiring the next generation of church burning megalomaniacs. In theory anyway. If there’s truth to that, it would show the gap in musicianship as the genre has grown. From power chords more akin to early punk songs, to the sheer technicality on display with bands like Imperial Triumphant. In the broad view of things, it is quite a disconcerting gap.
Imperial Triumphant bring new meaning to the word avantgarde, at least in the way it has used in years prior to describe black metal musicianship. While there have been a number of talented bands in the genre over the years, I struggle to pinpoint a group as technically gifted as Imperial Triumphant. There’s just so much going on here – from odd time signatures to the technical skills at play. Jazz fusion meets black metal, takes it to dinner, wines and dines it before sodomizing it all night into the early morning. Glorious.
And live – seeing them live is a trip. A total mindfuck. Do you watch their fingers running amok on the fretboards or pay attention to the intricate costumes and theatrics used to disguise themselves. Utmost totality of the arts. Visually challenging, sonically destructive.
Mortiis
I was looking forward to seeing Mortiis live, as I have never had the chance to do so until now. For various reasons, I have always been unable to attend when he has been in a town – or even when I had been in a city he was playing but otherwise engaged. Fate sometimes plays with us like that. Tonight, however, I was finally able to witness Mortiis live.
I was curious, on my way to the show – while not having having looked into what he was playing on this tour, as I feel that eliminates the surprise and purpose of seeing a live show, as to what to expect. Was he going to be playing his early dungeon synth type stuff, tracks from Crypt Of The Wizard and such – or his more gothic dance pop style stuff like what can be found on records such as The Smell Of Rain.
To be honest – I was quite hoping to hear Parasite God live. Which is weird because it took me a while to get into it when it came out. I bought the The Smell Of Rain album expecting to get a sequel to The Stargate – and that wasn’t what we got. Not in the least. Yet, in time, it grew on me and I came to like even like that era of Mortiis.
Tonight though, was a return to the early sounds that made Mortiis what he is today – and yeah, I was quite alright with that too. There were some people in the room that clearly had no fucking clue what was going on, and that was probably my favorite part of the whole set. The stunned deer in the headlights looks from people that had obviously never heard of Mortiis prior to tonight.
For me, it was a highlight of the night… but that’s probably due to my age and experience more than anything.
Mayhem
So much has changed since Mayhem began in 1984. True, it’s been more than forty years, but something tells me that not a single member of this current roster buried their clothing over night. They smelt …nice. Not a single severed pig head adorned the stage and nobody sliced themselves open with a knife or broken glass.
For me, Mayhem will always hold a special place because of what they represented to me as a youth. I was in high school when the whole Euronymus tale came to light. When tales of murder and church burnings were first reaching the underground press in this part of the world. Remember, this is before the days were everyone had an internet connection, social media – or even a cell phone in their pockets. These were the days of magazines and fan ‘zines. Tape traders and lore. Fuck it – these were the good days of underground music, there I said it.
There used to be something dangerous about Mayhem and their peers. It was the first time in my life and experience where I learned that music wasn’t just sound, and that in fact, the sound was just the wave on which the artists message was carried on. Mayhem and their peers, then, were the embodiment of something unfathomable – something serious and dark, and the musicians themselves were legend. People that fucking meant what they stood for. That’s all gone now. Black metal has lost its edge to latte sippin’ toque wearing posers in big glasses and high heels.
That being said, I find it both intriguing and strange to see Mayhem live. It takes away some of that long lost mythos, sure, but also because all the things that the original black metal scene were are washed away. Kids today mosh to black metal bands. That was once a faux pas. Hipsters – and if this statement insults you its you this is aimed at, wouldn’t have been welcomed at these shows back in the days were Mayhem were at their pinnacle. Hell, they still to this day sell shirts that say “No Core, No Mosh, No Trends” on the back of them. You hipster twats are included in that trends portion.
Still, this a part of me that secretly loves to see those old school bands playing live – to be able to still experience that era and time all over again. Not so much as nostalgia, but more like a reflection of what was and what has become. The changing of times, for better and for worse.
Tonight, while the music itself was still as true as it has ever been, I felt as if I was at a fancy dress party. As if people come out to see these shows just for an excuse to dress up like it’s Halloween – and I hate that. I’m glad that these bands are still on tour – what the hell else are they going to do with themselves, but it sucks to see what their audience has become.
Read More:
>> Mayhem release visual masterpiece for Black Glass Communion
>> Mayhem “Atavistic Black Disorder / Kommando” Review
>> Necrophobic “In The Twilight Grey” Review
With all my negativity aside (and I really don’t care if people see this text as negative) I’d like to add that getting hearing tracks off of De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas in 2025 is still a treat. That album will forever be the most influential album in the genre’s history, no matter how much longer this style of music exists, that is the benchmark for the rest of eternity.
And while the line-up might not be the one that wrote and recorded their most known tunes, I’d say given the band’s controversial past and legacy, the things we know about them as well as those rumored and potentially true – that it is a wonder our little government still allows us to experience such extremities.
Enjoy that while you still can.
