http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/norway-s-mayhem-working-on-new-material





I haven't seen a topic about this anywhere here. Does anyone know who is composing? Since Blasphemer's gone and no one else in the band is competent enough to do the job?

I have absolutely no clue what to expect with this. Every single Mayhem release has been wildly different.

True. And it's also like Attila once said - that Mayhem is a name more than a band. I don't think he meant it in a bad way, but it would suck to see them become a bunch of guys playing some more or less random person's music (to accompany Attila singing his lyrics). Of course there are many who believe that's just what happened when Blasphemer joined the band.

Regarding the skill of composition, Ordo Ad Chao was hardly exemplary in that regard. Honestly, nothing has been since the mid 90s. I have very low expectations, but at the same time I'm curious, since the last album showed that the band (at that time) was unwilling to conform to trends and instead try their hand at something different. The results left a lot to be desired - I prefer Chimera to it, even - but it is interesting.

I don't know. Maybe the line between judging one's skill and the personal appeal of one's output can be thin at times. To me, OAC was pretty original when it came to composition. It had a definite atmosphere which was excellent paired with Atilla's vocals. And sometimes you can show you skills that way, not always through complexity and grandeur of the song-writing.

It's a very difficult topic to discuss. Especially when it comes to music that doesn't abide to the rules of classical period composition.

I agree. And "atmosphere" which I mentioned can be a very subjective thing. But like stated in the original post, I'm ATM more curious of "who" rather than "how".

It has its appeal, though it doesn't appeal to me, but I was unable to pick up much excellence in the form of songwriting. That's all.

Fixed.

What I meant was music based on harmony. Doesn't matter if it's based on the baroque pieces of Bach or the conventions of modern pop.

Whatever they do, I hope they release a live album as well, Attila is a true beast live, I saw him in Ostrava in May and the performance was a one to remember.

The nature of intervals used in the music is not necessarily relevant in that respect. There are dissonance-loving bands whose music portrays much more skillful songwriting, often largely due to the fact that there is no insistence to avoid harmony entirely. As a concept, an entire album based on murky dissonant sounds is unlikely to show much genius in songwriting, as stellar songwriting with that kind of a restrictive rule is very rare, and requires extraordinary talent (to impress me, that is).

Portal says Hello, especially Seepia which is the most atonal album of them.

To even discuss this you'd first and foremost have to define what good songwriting is. How would you attempt to do that?



Exactly my point.

Let's extrapolate your brilliant logic a little here. To even begin to review albums, there should be a common definition of quality music.

These are matters of taste we're discussing. This should be obvious even to the most dimwitted poster discussing music.

Would you rather not discuss subjective things? Off you go, then.

This need to speak in universal truths is exactly what has ruined music discussion on the internet. Instead of sharing personal experiences, people end up indulging themselves in these endless "the songwriting sucks" monologues totally void of meaning. It's a fucking bore that's all.

Back to topic: I had quite an interesting experience listening to Ordo Ad Chao on headphones in the dark. Especially Illuminate Eliminate was enhanced to great effect. Very uncanny atmosphere. People who've had a hard time getting into the album might (better stick to my discourse to avoid Ilwhyan's merciless retaliation haha) want to try it.

I'm sure I'm not the only person who was hoping for the return of Snorre Ruch in Mayhem, considering he's doing shit all with Thorns (or anyone else, it seems) at the moment. I think he could have created something really special for Mayhem, had he been involved.

But I'm certainly intrigued how the album will turn out and who will be composing the music, seeing as Blasphemer wrote all the music for the albums he featured on.

The original plan was to continue with him as the main composer, but his surprisingly long jail sentence prevented that from happening. They've asked him to return several times since, but he's been turning down their offers every time.

Ps. He did some work on the arrangements of Satyricon's Age of Nero.

I had a similar profound experience doing the same thing. That album can be terrifying in the right setting.

Ordo ad Chao is a highly complex record. Not at all catchy, but very much in line with what the band wanted to convey, a perfect showcase of Blasphemer's songwriting skills. The riffs were dissonant and hardly black metal at all but the approach deconstructed black metal in a way that appealed to me (and wasn't at all dissimilar to say, Funeral Mist), as well as made it sound much more evil than just minor key tremolo riffs over shrieking. Which is precisely what this new record is going to be, I fear.

What nonsense. Do you presume anyone not explicitly stating otherwise to be in the belief that their expressed opinion is a universal truth? Do you think it necessary for me to say 'IMO' every time I voice an opinion, or are you so insecure in your tastes that you need validation from the reiteration of the fact that every opinion is subjective, to ensure that there can be no factual basis in someone's denouncing an album you like?

And here you're contradicting yourself in a most amusing manner. These are direct quotes:


If your views fluctuate that much, how can you even presume to require standardised definitions of 'good songwriting' from someone merely discussing some music.



Anyway, if you're that soured by the nature of music discussions on the internet, you're more than welcome to refrain from parttaking in them.

What nonsense (to quote yours truly). I'm not contradicting myself. I'm simply requesting a common reference point from which we can discuss the subject matter. Is that too much to ask?

When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom. Take it easy guy.

It is rather contradictory, when you follow that by stating that internet discussions are uninteresting because of that very reason. Common reference point? Are you referring to that "unversal truth", because if you merely wanted to know what I thought was pretty good, you could've asked that quite directly.

I'm not a huge fan of Portal at all, but death metal bands like Gorguts, Immolation, and even Ulcerate write much better dissonant extreme metal, and especially in black metal, the best dissonant stuff is generally has more thematic material (as opposed to fleeting clusters of disharmony), like Flagellant or certain Deathspell Omega songs, as opposed to predominantly atonal (like DSO's Fas, for example). The most profoundly disharmonic material by bands such as Deathspell Omega or Ulcerate showcase more complexity and intricate composition, though personally I don't find myself enjoying it nearly as much as music like Flagellant, for example, since it's both extremely atmospheric and full of well-written, memorable riffing.

I find dissonance to be a great compositional element when used in the right proportion, but I mostly believe that it's simply something not to be specifically avoided. Wagner's opera Tristan Und Isolde features some of my very favourite music, and you can find disharmony and especially a considerable degree of key ambiguity or absence. Earlier Schönberg makes great use of atonality, but later it goes too far for my tastes. Ligeti's tone clusters are a good study, I guess, but hardly enjoyable for listening. Metal has the advantage of powerful expression of aggression and power, which can make even sheer atonality sound punishing and excellent, but Ordo Ad Chao is largely an atmospheric work, and when the atmosphere fails to captivate, the album is bound to feel vapid. That's where better songwriting would've worked to a great effect.

While Wolf's Lair Abyss was very good (Their best post-Euronymous record imho), their recent albums have definitely been decreasing in quality since... They've all been alright, with a few standout tracks on each, except Ordo Ad Chao, which I could not get into at all. Maybe this will be different, I mean, every record has been wildly different from the last.

No idea but thanks for the info!

Has Teloch ever written anything? I was always under the impression that he's been a session musician of sorts in every band he was in.

Attila said in an interview from 2012 that they all made it together.

Fantastic news! I'm a big fan of all Mayhem albums except Grand Declaration which I thought had some cool ideas but was poorly executed. Very much looking forward to hearing how their sound will develop. And maybe Blasphemer will play bass on this? Haha.

Black metal is black metal, at least with this band it's been consistently heavy and "true". I liked all of their stuff. I highly doubt this album will be worth the seven year wait but I expect something worth listening to at the very least.

I'm quite looking forward to this as I've enjoyed each Mayhem album (except perhaps for Chimera which I found a bit of a mis-step, regressive and tame). In the whole, I love that Mayhem have remained an active force by producing mostly adventurous albums that people appreciate more over time. The tremolo-riffing era of DMDS is over and I for one would hate to see a lazy re-hash of the Euronymous sounds, which I highly doubt would happen anyway. The (not so) secret weapon of Blasphemer is now gone, so there is perhaps just as much of a question mark over their future as there was just before Wolf's Lair Abyss came out, but Mayhem have continued to defy expectations so I'll be listening with intent.

As far as I know he is a little bit out of the scene doing very different stuff, I think something realated to art galleries if I am not wrong. So I dont expect to see him taking part in the new album, a new one which I expect to be something similar to Ord Ab Chao, something complex and bizarre, its not my stuff so I cant say if that album was good or bad.

Forget it man, this guy doesn't want to discuss music, he wants to voice his opinions, and wants to hear it echo'd and praised by everyone in the thread. If any contradictory opinions arise, it's due to subjective jackasses and their inability to see that there are no objective truths in music, such as quality and talent etc, isn't that correct Frozen218?

But wow, I can agree with Frozen218 on something, Ordo Ad Chao sounds great on headphones. My god Frozen218, you must be having a full body orgasm just about now. People can agree and disagree with you on something, who could've thunk it.



I don't completely agree with this. I take it you meant specifically in black metal? I think successfully mixing styles qualify as skillful composition to a certain degree, and although I enjoy a band like Drudkh, I don't find their mixing of rock elements with black metal to be really skillful. On the other hand, a band like Oranssi Pazuzu have me completely baffled with their ability to mix seemingly contradictory aspects of music into an absolutely brilliantly composed, blissfully dark experience.

More on topic, I've enjoyed every single one of Mayhem's releases, and I know I'm in the minority here but I am besotted with Wolf's Lair Abyss, and I enjoy Chimera and Ordo Ad Chao very, very much. So I'm super excited for this release, which I'm sure is going to be a very dividing one once again.

Man I have a wildly different opinion. Ordo to me was their best, most claustrophobic work since the wildly different Grand Declaration, and everything before that pales in comparison except maybe the Deathcrush EP. De Mysteriis was solid but I only really cared for Attila's vocal performance.

I too am interested in hearing where the next album takes Mayhem. I'm glad they're constantly exploring new ideas and not regurgitating prototypical Norwegian black metal.

You're welcome.



Wow, I didn't know that. I wonder if that's still true. Because it seems to me he said he thinks they will all make it together. As opposed to referring to it as an ongoing process or an event in the past. Interesting. I don't see Necrobutcher composing anything, but still, interesting. He (Attila) admitted that Blasphemer was the major songwriting force behing Mayhem album for all these years. I wonder if Hellhammer's experience in composing some songs for his (and Sven's) project Arcturus and Attila's creativity would be enough to produce a satisfying record. I like how he refers to Euronymous and gets inspiration from that, that's cool.



Maybe except GDoW, which was a lot more experimental and fused different genres on some of the songs. It's an exceptionally brilliant record nevertheless and easily one of my three favorite Mayhem albums.



So we're both in minority, I guess.



True, and even though they're the prototype :).

Sorry for the confusion, I definitely meant just Mayhem. I enjoy a rather wide array of newer bands (Drudkh not so much), some of whom have surpassed Mayhem in certain areas (although in its own realm, De Mysteriis remains unrivaled).

I re-watched it, and you're right. My mistake. From the pic in the OP, it looked like Necro was overlooking some pro-tool software, so it appears that atleast he is involved with the production - unlike in Ordo.

Pretty sure he writes a lot of the Nidingr stuff...




That is Attila.

Yeah, so unfortunately that picture (most probably on purpose) tells us nothing, since he did some production and some songwriting on the previous album - plus it's just a picture anyway, hard to tell anything from that.

My mistake.... again. I should stop pretending to provide information.



Care to elaborate? Did they upload that picture onto their Facebook page with the purpose of not telling us anything regarding his role in the production? Because that is you are saying.

They should bring Morfeus in to do guitars. Guy writes some serious riffs.

Listening to Ava Inferi last night I realized just how much of Mayhem's sound was pretty much Blasphemer's doing. The band's been oriented around his unusual signature style since freaking 1997. They're gonna have to reinvent themselves from the ground floor up -- which, as someone said when mentioning Attila's "Mayhem is a name not a sound" line, means it's anyone's guess what to expect. As someone who believes their two best works are DMDS and OAC, produced in two vastly different eras under the helm of two drastically different guitarists, I guess I should be optimistic.