Euronymous = Talentless Poser - "Deathcrush" Review (0%)
As opposed to some, I am not going to write about the history of the infamous Mayhem, the band behind Deathcrush, since I am sure those looking for a review are already aware of all the craziness which took place during the few years following the release of this EP.
Going into Mayhem's Deathcrush, I must confess I first felt pretty uncompelled to keep listening after having heard the first couple of opening tracks, as they sounded bland, uninspired, formulaic, generic, and sort of lifeless to me when I played them.
There just didn't seem to be enough worth for me to go through the hassle of sitting through the whole Deathcrush EP. I have to say, though, I do (still) have high hopes for anything coming out of the early Norwegian black metal scene nowadays, in addition to being absolutely a defender of De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas' status as an album, so, of course, my hopes were pretty high up to begin with when giving this early Mayhem record Deathcrush a listen.
I, however, decided to push through the boredom and listen to the whole thing, and I'm somewhat glad I ended up doing just that, I guess, but not really for the music itself.
If anything, this should settle the eternal arguments over who is most responsible for Mayhem's sound and the songwriting on De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas.
All three guitarists - Euronymous, Varg and Blackthorns - contributed to the riffs. Yes, despite that fact having been confirmed by both Hellhammer and Attila on separate occasions (namely that both Varg and Blackthorns wrote most of the riffs), you'd be surprised to learn of how many people think that Euronymous wrote everything, Varg Vikernes "only playing bass" (sic) and Blackthorns... who is that?
Euronymous + Varg = De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
Varg w/o Euronymous = Hvis Lyset Tar Oss
Euronymous w/o Varg = Deathcrush (lol)
You tell me the "intruder" in this list, the one album that sounds most like a warmed over Sodom meets Bathory joke gone stale.
The problem with Deathcrush, and the reason why De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas was seen as such an improvement by the mere presence of two additional guitarists, is Euronymous.
Euronymous = Talentless Poser
Deathcrush is, for all intents and purposes, what happens when you remove Varg and Hellhammer from Mayhem. Shit.
In fact, every Mayhem album since Varg left the band was worse, much worse, than De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, and the latest Mayhem album Esoteric Warfare, the first one without Hellhammer since he joined in 1993, is also the worst Mayhem album ever released. Coincidence?
Mayhem is pretty much worthless without its two most important members, and the only reason it didn't turn into a complete shit show - as it nearly did here on Deathcrush - was Attila's vocal performance nearly matching, in spirit if not in intensity, that of Dead.
Mayhem, the True Mayhem, is Dead, Varg Vikernes, Hellhammer. Any deviation is prejudicial to the band's sound, as their discography undoubtedly shows, and Deathcrush is logically their most risible effort given the absence of all three black metal titans.
Mayhem without either Dead, Varg Vikernes or Hellhammer is what would happen if you removed Fenriz and Nocturno Culto from Darkthrone, or Samoth and Faust from early Emperor (you can keep Ihsahn, he's useless), or Abbath from Immortal (already happened, and the result sucks).
Innovation really is a key element of the music when it comes to standing out, especially in the Norwegian scene, where everyone has been copying everyone ever since even the first wave of black metal. Unfortunately, that factor is severely lacking on Deathcrush, making for an uninteresting, boring release overall. The instruments all sound weak and powerless, and the vocal work is simply atrocious. The only redeeming quality the album has is these vocals don't show up all that much, thankfully, but even the instrumental track isn't worth saving here.
So, you're now probably wondering why I said I'm glad I listened to this terrible album, and that's simply because I am now certain that I can skip modern Mayhem releases without feeling like I'm missing anything of worth. I do not recommend this vapid album, there is no reason to pretend that Euronymous was anything more than a poser clown who contributed next to nothing to De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (the product of his guitar style can be seen here, on tracks such as "Necrolust" that will remind you of a nu metal version of Sodom).
So Euronymous' crimes towards black metal are two-fold: 1) encouraging Dead (Mayhem's best vocalist, by far) to commit suicide and 2) releasing this abomination.
Deathcrush score: 0/100.
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