Mayhem / Zyklon-B - Split 7"EP 1999

Mayhem / Zyklon-B - Necrolust / Total Warfare Split 7"EP 1999
Mayhem:
1) Necrolust (Unreleased Studio Version)
Zyklon-B:
2) Total Warfare (Sea Serpent Remix)

Yandex / Depositfiles

I decided to upload yet another of these 7" splits, this one pretty pointless since several rips have been floating around for the longest time. But since I came across a tape where I had dubbed my copy of this vinyl back in the old days and ripped it I thought I might just as well post it too. So here we have a pair of well-known Norwegian names doing what Norwegians do very well, cashing in. Scans of both sides included, there was no cover or sheet with this.

Ripped from a dub of an original EP it sounds good and both are studio efforts so no worries in that department. The I used tape seemed to have been pretty new too, no wear and tear that I'd notice. Mayhem gives us a re-recording of Necrolust from "Deathcrush" - says here unreleased studio version but wasn't this already on the (well, very limited) 1997 EP "Ancient Skin"? Or am I supposed to believe they re-recorded the same track again at a later session? Well, I know the return era Mayhem had an unhealthy obsession with the old stuff (was tempted to use another word there), skipping DMDS but that would be ridiculous. The track? If you like Maniac and "Wolf's Lair Abyss" you'll like this version. Zyklon-B's track is just a remix of the track from mini, adding some samples and effects mostly from what I hear. This doesn't make it radically different nor really better or worse. Worth a listen but I wouldn't cough up cash for this unless you're a really, really fanatic vinyl collector.

Mayhem - Book Made of Human Flesh bootleg 1996

Mayhem (nor) - Book Made of Human Flesh bootleg tape 1996
1) The Freezing Moon 
2) Chainsaw Gutsfuck 
3) Deathcrush 
4) Funeral Fog
5) Necrolust
6) Life Eternal 
7) Pagan Fears
8) Buried by Time and Dust

Reuploaded

Disclaimer: This post is pretty much waste of everyone's time. Now that it has been said, let's move to the item at hand, "Book Made of Human Flesh" is an obscure Mayhem bootleg I got from one of my traders back in 1996 or early 1997 and I have very little knowledge of it. I assume it was a tape released by someone and possibly had a cover of some sort, which my contact did not have. So I made a cover of my own, the book is a photo of a prop Necronomicon I stole somewhere. To my dissappointment back then, the material here is a compilation of Mayhem tracks from various sources ranging from the 1990 studio session (The Freezing Moon) to "Live in Leipzig" and so on. I can't readily identify the source for all the tracks but am sure they've all been released before. So why post it? Well, aside wanting to share the old dissappointment with you, I thought it'd be prudent to post it before someone pays ridiculous bucks for a copy on eBay without knowing what he gets. And I guess if you haven't heard Mayhem at all, this wouldn't be a bad compilation to start with, even though I can hardly imagine such a scenario. That's pretty much all I have to say about this.

Mayhem - Rehearsal 1995

Mayhem - Rehearsal 1995
1) Cursed in Eternity
2) Carnage
3) Deathcrush
4) Chainsaw Gutsfuck
5) The Freezing Moon

Narod

To celebrate the date here's another well-known Norwegian name and a rehearsal I got from one of my trader comrades back whenever. This is a (probably) early rehearsal after the Mayhem reformation and I don't know who are the personnel involved... well Hellhammer is kind of obvious and Necrobutcher as well (judging from the tracklisting, it's annoying how the reform Mayhem ignored De Mysteriis... in favour of the old stuff and eventually new) but I'm not sure if Blasphemer is here yet, probably he is. These are instrumental tracks so no Maniac screeching this time. Ok not completely, someone screams "Deathcrush" but that hardly counts, does it?

So how is it? Well, the sound is a very good rehearsal sound and good dub too so no problems there. This is very much a rehearsal tape not a rehearsal demo as you can hear some talking in between the songs and they have some issues getting "Carnage" going. Other than that (and it just adds to the experience, doesn't it?) it's a pleasant listen. Recommended for Mayhem fans, collectors and curious ones.

Mayhem - Live LA2, London 8.11.1997

Mayhem - Live at LA2, London, UK 8th November 1997
1) Intro / Deathcrush
2) Ancient Skin
3) Freezing Moon
4) Fall Of Seraphs
5) Chainsaw Gutsfuck
6) Buried By Time And Dust
7) Carnage
8) The Vortex Void Of Inhumanity
9) I Am Thy Labyrinth
10) Symbols Of Bloodswords

Reuploaded

Not again you ask? Yes, again, it's another live from "new" Mayhem, with Maniac on the vocals duty. This one is from quite early stage of the reappearence so the setlist is mainly "Wolf's Lair Abyss" (well, make it the whole mini-album), old songs and as usual with Maniac-fronted Mayhem, way too little "De Mysteriis..." material. However, I'm quite pleased with this set and the quality is decent too.

Sound is clear and every instrument can be heard, even if the drums dominate. I'd say it's easily the best in quality from the Mayhem lives I've posted. Curiously someone Finnish seems to have found his way to this gig as you can tell by his happy swearing during the intro. Recommended to Mayhem fans, black metal live enthusiasts and so on.

Mayhem - Live Baroeg, Rotterdam 17.04.1999

Mayhem (Norway) - Live at the Baroeg, Rotterdam Netherlands 17th April 1999
1) Intro Tape
2) I Am Thy Labyrinth
3) Freezing Moon
4) Intro to Carnage
5) Carnage
6) From the Dark Past
7) Symbols of Bloodswords
8) Drum solo / View from Nihil
9) Fall of Seraphs
10) Pure Fucking Armageddon
11) Silvester Anfang
12) Deathcrush

Reuploaded

Another Mayhem live bootleg from Maniac-era, but this one is a notable curio as it does not feature the man himself. I don't know who is filling in for him but as you can (barely) make out from the short speech titled here as "Intro to Carnage", he couldn't make it and well that's about what I could gather from that rant.

UPDATE: I've been informed that it is Necrobutcher talking in the aforementioned piece and Blasphemer is filling in for Maniac! Thanks for the info! Blasphemer does ok in my opinion, on some songs actually better than M, like on "Freezing Moon." He's not very talky overall which is not a big miss. As usual, "Pure Fucking Armageddon" is a fucking torso and this time "I Am Thy Labyrinth" gets the shortening treatment too.

After the introductions I'll move into the catch: the sound is pretty much shit. I remember that several of the old bootlegs I had from the Baroeg gigs of various bands suffered from poor sound so I believe the venue is "challenging" to put it nicely. The guitar is buried under the drums, often very overbearing bass and the vocals. Naturally the sound quality also changes a few times, probably due the person moving a bit. It's not the worst I've heard but takes certainly a hardened listener to bear and enjoy, your mileage will probably vary here. So consider yourself warned. For Mayhem-maniacs, black metal live collectors, historians and masochists.

Mayhem - Live CN Saloon, SF USA 28.07.1998

Mayhem (Norway) - Live at CN Saloon, San Francisco USA 28th July 1998
1) Intro (Silvester Anfang)
2) Deathcrush
3) Fall of Seraphs
4) Carnage
5) Symbols of Bloodswords
6) Freezing Moon
7) Ancient Skin
8) Chainsaw Gutsfuck
9) I Am Thy Labyrinth
10) Pure Fucking Armageddon
11) Necrolust

Mediafire

Live bootleg from the "new" Mayhem, Maniac-era, before GDoW. Those who have heard "MediolanuM Capta Est" know what to expect, though the sound here is naturally much worse. It's quite murky & muddled at times but audible enough for seasoned veterans of bootleg tapes. Newbies might better stick to MCE and/or 'Legions. As you might guess, this was gained by tape-trading back in the day.

I personally prefer Attila and Dead to Maniac (yes in that order) and this being 1998, the setlist concentrates on "Wolf's Lair Abyss" and "Deathcrush" at the expense of "De Mysteriis..." which is a bummer, naturally we also get a torso of "Pure Fucking Armageddon" - why can't the play the full damn song ever? Don't they remember how to play the rest of it anymore? Bitching aside, this is still a quite good neo-Mayhem gig since there are no GDoW-songs to yawn through. Strangely Maniac's speeches between the songs get more inaudible as the gig proceeds, but that's not a major issue. I guess I could've trimmed out some of the banter & crowd noise from between the songs but then it wouldn't be the same, would it? Recommended to Mayhem-fanatics, Maniac-fans, black metal live collectors and other bold ones.