I know that you have already read thousands reviews of “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas”, it doesn’t matter because the pleasure of telling you about it is there. And there would be a lot to say about this album, which is a story in itself, but i will summarize the thing if you have already read all the reviews and you know the history of black metal by heart!
When we talk about black metal, we often expect a bad production where lo-fi is a tradition. “DMDS” had the right to a good production without it being perfect in order to keep this black metal aura so attractive to our ears.
The guitars giving us simple riffs have a really very particular saturation accompanied by a bass which vibrates with a lugubrious depth. Hellhammer behind his drums reveals his impressive feeling and his perfect technical mastery of the instrument with its extreme resonance.
And then there is of course MAttila Csihar vocals, which was strongly criticized by early fans (and still criticized today) because it was said that it was inferior to that of Dead and did not correspond to Mayhem. Something to be expected because Attila’s singing is far from the scratchy cries typical of black metal, navigating on a voice from beyond the grave made of bestial grunts and howls of madness.
The mix of all this creativity gives life to a perfectly perceptible morbid and evil atmosphere. An atmosphere so heavy that an icy chill rising along the back…
“De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas” marks the end of the first era of Mayhem, Hellhammer having decided to put an end to the Band after the release of the album before he announced the reformation in 1997. Because this album is engraved in pantheon of legends, a must have by any fan of black metal.
