Mayhem
's first official release, the
Deathcrush
EP is one of those contradictory recordings which arguably vaulted an entire subgenre --
black metal
-- towards the fulfillment of its destiny while seemingly setting back the overall state of heavy metal beyond its prehistoric past. The primary reason being its outlandishly raw, lo-fidelity sound quality, of course, which made even stylistic forefathers
Venom
(who had coined the "
" term a few years earlier under similarly unlikely circumstances, and whose
"Witching Hour"
tears through here), resemble
Phil Spector
's Wall of Sound, by comparison. In fact, only the earliest efforts by Sweden's
Bathory
, and late-'80s recordings by Brazilian acts like
Vulcano
,
Sarcofago
, and
Sepultura
, plumbed comparable depths of extremity to lunatic
thrashers like
"Chainsaw Gutsfuck,"
"Necrolust,"
"Pure Fucking Armageddon,"
and the title track. Yet,
still found space within its 18, mostly frantic minutes, for a few surprising stylistic asides, like the foreboding marshal percussion of intro
"Silvester Anfang"
and the lonely keyboard chimes of
"(Weird) Manheim,"
that already hint at
's broader aesthetic possibilities. As a result,
anticipates the contradictory essence -- part simplicity defined, part progressive exploration -- of the emerging Norwegian
movement, and will therefore strike a primal chord of recognition with all devoted enthusiasts of the genre. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia