I know this little EP has been discussed to death on most metal forums, and has been reviewed here and thrown about by both respective sides that think it's a milestone of black/death and those who deride it as amateurish and sloppy. To both points of view there is some truth but given its age, do you still see the ep as being as influential as it was to the early black metal scene? How do you personally view the EP given its raw nature, do you see the band as just having scrounged together thrash riffs and recorded it haphazardly? Being one of Mayhem's most primal offerings do you see it as a purer example of what the band should've been, or are do you prefer the much more streamlined sounds of De mysteriis dom Sathanas?

Regarding influence, I think it has been overpowered by DMDS years ago. I love it for its primitiveness and heaviness but I have a really hard time choosing my fave Mayhem record (all have something in them that could make them the best).

In terms of style, production and musicianship, Deathcrush and DMDS are miles apart, but what separates them most in my mind is that Deathcrush is filthy, grimy and crushing, while a lot of DMDS leans more toward being cold and icy. In all honesty I prefer the former, and riffs like the intros to the title track, or to Chainsaw Gutsfuck, for instance, are iconic and decimating - The whole EP has an ethic more akin to the tongue-in-cheek blasphemy of say, Venom, and that really suits my taste.

It must have been absolutely mad to listen to in 1987, and I sort of feel a respect for that while I listen.

I guess it's about perspective. Listening to this in 1987 might have been something else than when I first listened to it in 2010.

I think the fast parts are sloppy and annoying, but the slow parts (like the first couple of minutes of Necrolust...) are anthemic and awesome. It also must have been very influential, since it was Mayhem's only studio production in the early 90s, as it was re-released by DSP in 93.

I think the comparison between Deathcrush and De Mysteriis... is nonsense: Deathcrush was Mayhem's first official record, while DMDS was a full-length album. Besides, the line-up was not the same and the band had largely evolved between both releases music-wise.

But Deathcrush is still undoubtedly a cornerstone in extreme metal's history.

Crank it up loud and it's still devastating. One of my favourite releases of all time, probably #1.

I doubt that it's very influential today, but back in the late 80's and early 90's it was regarded as one of the heaviest records and influenced countless bands. Probably most of the biggest Norwegian black metal bands like Immortal and Emperor, loved this record and inspired them to play this kind of music. In my opinion, this record was the biggest inspiration for those "war metal, bestial" or whatever you want to call it, and thrash black metal, bands like Nifelheim. I wouldn't be surprised if Dissection and Beherit were also influenced. For me, the better one is DMDS it's pure BM, and the atmosphere is very unique. In the 80's there were quite some albums which were similar to Deathcrush, but I never heard anything quite like DMDS. Today it's probably the one that is more influential.

To me, "Deathcrush" is one of the best early-Death Metal albums from the 80's. Sounds totally Death Metal to my ears, deadly, frenetic and with gory lyrics. The voice of Maniac was in perfec shape on that records. I found the tracks on the "Proyection of Stained Mind" comp. with Dead to be more Black Metal sounding than the songs on Deathcrush. With "Live In Leipzing" Mayhem become more a Black Metal with a few early-Death Metal influence that was totally dropped on DMDS.

Anyway, to me, Deathcrush > DMDS.

^ Yeah, I also remember reading that they themselves decleared to be "TOTAL DEATH METAL" in promotions and interviews. If we're comparing Deathcrush to De Mysteriis..., then I would have to go with the latter.

In terms of the 90's black metal I would say "Deathcrush" had some influence- but not really that much. It was the band, more so than the album. That scene was influenced mainly by Bathory and Celtic Frost, perhaps a bit by early Sodom as well. "Deathcrush" sounds completely different from the 1993 full length- it is a totally different type of music and may as well be two different bands (and in a sense it is; Euronymous is the only common denominator of both record line-ups.) "Deathcrush" was classic raw underground death metal- not unlike what Sodom did early on and what a lot of the Brazillian/South American bands were after; it bore little resemblance to what Mayhem and the other black metal bands did in the 1990s. Good or bad, "Deathcrush" is decent for what it is.

Mayhem rode on the notoriety of this EP for over five years after its release. I think its influence definitely speaks for itself, and I'm fairly sure basically every band of the second wave regards it as a huge influence. Personally, I still love it and I think the title track and Chainsaw Gutsfuck are easily two of Mayhem's best songs.

I have no idea if Chainsaw Gutsfuck is necessarily a black metal song, but it's one of the best songs Mayhem ever made.

I'm not a fan, really. It's too sloppy, horribly produced (not in a good way), and the vocals are ridiculous. Give me DMDS any day.

This is my opinion of this EP as well. In every conceivable way Mayhem topped this EP later on in their career. You see some crowds (mainly the Venom/Hellhammer/1st Wave-worship crowd) also loving 'Deathcrush' and it is certainly IMPORTANT in terms of how extremely raw and disgusting it was... certainly a milestone for extreme metal in the 80's. But it's undoubtedly overshadowed by DMDS and other later works. It literally was a different band at this point.

Maniac was amazing on both GDoW and Chimera. On Deathcrush he's a clown.

Deathcrush is more than just brutality and rawness. I actually think it has a dense atmosphere even rivaling DMDS (which still wins because of length and variety) but one that dwells more in industrial realms and primordial fears. The songwriting is awesome too in that the riffs are very heavy and powerful and the drums kinda remind me of tribal ritual music which fits the sheer primitivity and ancient feel of the record. To me this is undoubtly death metal, but I think that 90s black metal owes much to what it accomplished in terms of style (prominent use of tremolo picked powerchords for example), therefore it could also be called proto black metal.

Everybody talks about this album being so important due to being so filthy, raw, and heavy-but was early black metal really about that? Early Burzum sounds nothing like Deathcrush, and while A Blaze In The Northern Sky was very raw, the overall atmosphere is completely different than that of Deathcrush.

Again, different set of influences. Burzum and Darkthrone were heavily influenced by Bathory and Celtic Frost and as such, were more in line with the evolution of Black Metal, while "Deathcrush" still had the old thrash/death metal influence of bands like Kreator and Sodom (circa "Obsessed by Cruelty.") "De Mysteriis" was totally and completely black metal and was a complete departure music-wise, from that first mini-LP.

^Agreed with above. I don't know that Deathcrush was as influential or highly regarded as people may retrospectively decide. Despite the raw sound and higher pitched shrieky vocals, its nowhere near as disctinctly black metal as, say, A Blaze In The Northern Sky.

Personally, I think that DMDS is heaps heaps heaps better, much darker and suffocating. That said, I'm not a huge Mayhem fan, though DMDS is fucking great and Ordo ad Chao is also pretty good. Darkthrone and Burzum and early Immortal will always be the gold standard for black metal, for me at least.