MAYHEM — De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas Alive (review)

MAYHEM — De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas Alive album cover

Live album · 2016 · Black Metal

2/5 · 2025-01-11
Vim Fuego

A live Mayhem show is a rare and much vaunted occasion. The band’s body count, and the collective prison time served by various members has meant finding enough musicians for a show has not always been a straightforward exercise.

Even the most casual of black metal fans knows the basics of the Mayhem story. A group of Norwegian teens got together in the mid-80s, and from a series of events involving unhinged band members, murders, church burnings, master-tape tampering, and extreme theological and political views, black metal was born. Oh yeah, and there was a bit of music thrown in there too.

“De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas” was a revelation on its initial release in 1994, the album black metal fans had been yearning for since “Deathcrush”. Put simply, it was fast, raw black metal from beyond the grave. Even though it had been preceded by a few high quality albums, from the likes of Darkthrone and Immortal, “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas” redefined what black metal actually was.

When the Gods (from the Norse pantheon, of course) smile upon Mayhem, and the required number of living and un-incarcerated band members can be assembled, the results can be magnificent, as the band’s explosive “Live in Leipzig” album proved. So, can lightning strike twice?

“No” would be too simplistic an answer. “Not really” would be too vague. “Yes” would be wrong. “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas Alive” is just a bit tough to judge.

Look at the title. Deliberate or not, sticking “…Alive” at the end of the album title invites instant comparison to the four, or perhaps five (it depends if you count the “Alive! The Millennium Concert” album or not) “Kiss Alive” albums. Many Kiss fans will tell you those albums are where the band shines brightest. Mayhem definitely shines live, but there is just something a bit flat about this entire performance.

It was recorded in Norrköping, Sweden, in December 2015, and is the entire “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas” album performed live, played in order, and seemingly without breaks, just like a studio album. Therein lies a weakness to the trend of bands playing entire albums live. The strike rate of great songs to duds meant Kiss had to be picky as to which songs they put in a live show, but even bands with a lower dud rate like Metallica still have the odd turd in the swimming pool, like “Escape”, James Hetfield’s least favourite song, which he was still forced to learn and play for their performances of the “Ride The Lightning” album. While there is nothing like “Hooligan”, “Baby Driver” or “2000 Man” anywhere in Mayhem’s back catalogue, the four tracks from “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas” which appeared on “Live In Leipzig” just seems stronger in this situation too.

Vocalist Attila Csihar is not famous for between song banter, but surely there must have been some breaks between songs. Remember moments like Iron Maiden’s “Live After Death”, with Bruce Dickinson’s “And this is what not to do if a bird shits on you” or Lemmy’s introduction to “We Are The Roadcrew” on “No Sleep ‘til Hammersmith”. Wit is not essential, but it would be nice to know there was actually a band playing live to an audience.

And that is possibly the biggest problem. This all sounds too polished, especially for such an incendiary black metal band, and may as well have been a re-recording of the entire album in the studio. There is no life, nor any chilled necrotic death to this album at all. Mayhem may perhaps be too good for their own good. While near faultlessly performed, it has no character or vitality, and is just not an essential release from one of black metal’s most essential bands.