Mayhem

De mysteriis dom Sathanas (1994)

Mayhem wrote black metal that was stylistically a free-flowing progression of the heavy metal of the 80s, but at the same time, giving a nod to fellow Norse (such as Darkthrone and Burzum) filled it with voids of ambient space. Songs are often constructed as a funeral march, with prolonged mournful introductions (or looping slower mid-sections), to create a morbid, filth ridden atmosphere that is as feral as it is natural. Mayhem used violent sequences of deconstructive riffing, off-set with more introspective, lunar inspired moments (replete with the notorious "eerie chord" idea) to highlight our animalistic desires, and the important part of death in the cycle of nature. This creates such a unique atmosphere, that it has never been re-created by any band since. De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is filled with a fatal embrace of the night time world, and in the end, although it is detailed with many minute details it's most important achievement, and that of the best art, is that it all adds up to an undefinable feeling or mood that transcends the mundanity our every day existence.