Warthur
Blasphemer is out, Necrobutcher is back on bass, and Teloch has taken up guitar duties, but otherwise to a large extent Esoteric Warfare is Ordo ad Chao take 2, with more polished production and some occasional almost-traditional heavy metal guitar solos from Teloch spicing up the formula. Once again, the lyrics deal less with the defiant church-burning Satanism of early Mayhem but instead focus on the wildest and most hallucinatory ideas the world of conspiracy theory has to offer, delivered with his usual vocal prowess by Attila. It's a fun listen, but taking away the experimental edge offered by Ordo Ad Chao's unusual production and mix reveals just how generic this stuff now sounds. Back in the day, Mayhem sounded like nobody else - but now they're just part of a very packed scene.