Mayhem + Marduk + Immolation

Mayhem

With four decades of darkness behind them, Norway’s extreme metal groundbreakers MAYHEM are celebrating an illustrious and undeniable career.  They’ve stared into the abyss of personal tragedy, endured seismic shifts in the metal scene and are still refining themselves as preeminent promulgators of chaos. That’s MAYHEM’s ongoing legacy as they continue to ensnare the globe with their ”40 Years of Mayhem” ceremonies, including a headline stint on the 2025 Decibel magazine tour in North America. For diehards who were there for 1987’s Deathcrush EP and the landmark 1994 album, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas and new converts alike, there is no question. MAYHEM is living up to their fiery legacy like few can.

“We’ve been playing so long together we’re absolutely a machine,” states guitarist Ghul. As documented by 2023’s Daemonic Rites live album. MAYHEM remain masters of their hellish craft, careening from strength to strength. “The past few years have had so many high points for us” Ghul recounts. “Playing places like Nepal, China, going back to Dubai. Playing festivals like Wacken last year, which was one of my all-time best festival experiences. The show was great, playing a perfect set to an enormous amount of people.”

With founding member, bassist Necrobutcher, long-running drummer Hellhammer and vocalist Atilla Csihar joined by guitarists Teloch in 2011 and Ghul in 2012, on these 40th-anniversary sets, MAYHEM is now looking back on a discography that includes chapters like 2000’s uncompromising Grand Declaration of War through 2019’s career refining Daemon. It’s crystal clear; MAYHEM is a band dedicated to pushing the bounds of extremity itself.  “Well, for the first time in a long time, we felt again like a unit, musically,” opines drummer Hellhammer. “That’s something we haven’t felt in a long time, and that shows in the live setting.”

“With this band, every record is so significantly different from another,” says Ghul.  “It’s almost like learning four or five bands’ material.  We do go back to records like Grand Declaration of War, and while we know a lot of that material isn’t very accessible, we play the ones that work in the live setting. Particularly, within Black Metal, a lot of bands simply wouldn’t be capable or want to do some of the more technical material we do. For us, it would be a total waste to not use our capabilities. Those records are part of our history, part of the extremity of the whole thing.”

With sheer extremity as a driving force, MAYHEM has played nearly 1,000 shows over the years. Since their formation in Langhus, Norway in 1984, they’ve brought their brand of bellicose, preternatural Black Metal to over 60 countries. From the United States and Germany to Australia and Brazil, MAYHEM have stunned, bewildered, and turned rabid into a global legion, dedicated as much to the band’s infamous legacy as they are to its present.

“I knew from day one back in 1984 that this band was going to be outstanding—one of the best bands ever!” Necrobutcher says. “I guess that’s a big reason why we still are here after 40 years—and counting.”

There’s no denying that four decades later, MAYHEM’s legions continue to swell. New fans, intrigued by the band as the forefathers of Norwegian Black Metal as well as their shadowy and violent roots have made MAYHEM more than just an important band. MAYHEM has been acknowledged as a part of their home country’s musical heritage, receiving a coveted Spellman Award in 2008 for their album, Ordo Ad Chao and a Norwegian Grammy in 2021 for Daemon.  They were also part of a Norwegian Black Metal exhibition at Norway’s National Library and are celebrated at Oslo’s record shop/museum, Neseblod Records, on the site of long-deceased founding guitarist Euronymous’ infamous store, Helevete.

And of course, there’s a grimy and often grisly cinematic dramatization of the band’s early years, Lords of Chaos. “A lot gets said about that Lords of Chaos film, both good and bad,” says Ghul. “It does fetishize and glamorize, but it is what it is. You could definitely see a massive drop in the average age of the attendees of our shows after that film came out. The age has dropped 20 years since that film came out, which is something that a band like us really needs. It was also very fortunate for us that when the film came out, we had really tightened up our game.”

Indeed, MAYHEM continues to be an unstoppable force. While atavists will always relish the Deathcrush or the Live at Leipzig lineups, there’s no denying that the band has hit their stride. Hellhammer’s drumming against the twin terrors of Teloch and Ghul remains ferocity unbridled. Csihar’s hair-raising caterwauling and spectral snarls atop Necrobutcher’s seventh-hell low end are as dark and ominous as a Norwegian forest. With murmurings of new music coming, this is MAYHEM in its final and musically strongest form. And they’ve never been deadlier.

“There’s been absolutely zero compromise,” sums up Ghul. “We really have never compromised and I never see that happening simply to try and sell records. The music is extreme. The people are extreme. Pleasing others has never been on the agenda and that’s quite apparent when you listen to our stuff or see us live.  There is something there for people to grab onto and experience, but it’s not supposed to be a pleasant experience or an easy experience. It’s MAYHEM.”