De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is the top of the Black Metal genere. A manifest of blackness and the father of all the releases which have to come! This is an absolute must-have!!!

The title of the album is a latin phrase that means "About the mysteries of Lord Satan". This is what you need to expect when listening to this crude and threatening record! The album was released after the death of Mayhem's guitarist, Euronymous (Greek for Prince of Darkness", killed by the bass player, Count Grishnackh,whose contribution on this album was dubbed over. Mayhem were the founders of black metal as we know it today and this was supposed to be the definitive statement on the ferocity and darkness enveloping the new Norwegian scene.The first track is Funeral Fog with haunting vocals by Attila, now singer with Aborym, whose vocal style is very dark and original; actually he sounds like a wounded madman, spewing rage and depravity. The rest of the tracks also are very impressive, conjuring up a very dark atmosphere that sucks you right in. Hellhammer's drums also are very impressive, thundering away together with the bass. The only negative note can be made about the production on this album, even though its lo-fi, I suspect, 4-track recording in itself helps with the atmosphere of a pagan rite. A great, great album and a must-buy for any black metal fan!

De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is an absolute classic.You can tell the production is fairly feeble but that adds to the mysteriously dark feel it already has.Atilla's vocals really are quite unique.He doesnt scream high pitched like Maniac (current vocalist) and many other black metal 'singers', he sounds a lot more evil.The guitar riffs are original and gripping.Hellhammer's drumming is fast, accurate and very powerful, with the double bass drums and toms combining to give a great rumbling effect.Mayhem, along with Emperor and Immortal and countless other Norweigan bands, kick started the new wave of black metal at the beginning of the 90's.Roughly 10 years after its release, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is still considered Mayhem's best work.All the songs are superb so it is unrealistic to pick out the outstanding ones.Buy this, and be overwhelmed.

An old friend originally copied a crackly vinyl version for me, and it took a while to get round to buying it on CD, but this has to be one of the best death metal albums I own. Not quite as good as Emperor's ...Midnight... or Cradle's Principles... but powerful nonetheless

A quick summary:De Mysteriis is a great metal album: nothing less, nothing more. It is not the greatest black metal album of all time. It has had no clear major impact on the music scene. If anything, it represents the peak of a certain period where every album from Norway sounded the same, but nothing more. Look past the idiocy that surrounded the album, the murder, arson and petty rivalries and you'll find a group of fairly competent musicians, crafting a mostly standard work. The guitar work is hardly impressive, but the riffs are good. That compliment aside, they are also very formulaic. Two or three riff structures overused over the course of eight songs. The drumming may be amazingly fast, and at times rather inventive, but his timing is horrible and the whole performance sounds sloppy. The bass, when audible, is sufficient, but only of note on one track. The vocals, courtesy of the bonkers Attilha Csihar, are utterly impenetrable, regardless of whether you're new to the scene or you have "Silvester Anfang" tattooed on your bum; he sings in a completely unique, bizarre fashion, and soon enough you'll get used to it, whether you like it or not. The album is not without flashes of brilliance (the explosive opening of "Life Eternal", all of "Freezing Moon"), though it can be hard to get through in one sitting. The length is fine. The production suits the music well. Drums like thunder, vocals reverberating throughout the heavens. The artwork is awful. And only two members are credited on an album with four players, one of whom is dead and another is in prison for murdering him. But I asked you to forget about that, didn't I?

Intensely atmospheric work. You can actually hear what's being said, unlike a lot of run of the mill conventional black metal bands who think they're really 'evil' by shrieking nonsensically. I think what heightens the spooky ambience is the fact that Eyronymous was murdered before its release; thus injecting an almost mythical quality to the album. A lot of people dislike the vocalists delivery on this record, but I beg to differ. I think it adds character. Indeed it is theatrical at times as he recites incantations but that's what the genre is all about. Creatures of the night what sweet music they make.