Annoying, Irritating and Nauseating - "Esoteric Warfare" Review (7%)
Sometimes I wonder if Mayhem band members actually realize just how low they've been falling since the release of Grand Declaration of War - their last decent album - back in 2000, almost two decades ago.
They've dumbed down their performance and taken influences from American mallcore, and the saddest part is that they actually believe they're still a black metal band.
Norway's elite black metal force at that.
Mayhem is just one big joke at this point, which is sad since they have some of the most talented musicians (mainly Hellhammer) and absolutely nothing of worth to show for it.
Esoteric Warfare is everything metal shouldn't be.
Simple, mediocre, 'catchy' songs based on soft-loud dynamics reminiscent of Nirvana, ridiculously studio-enhanced vocal parts and stupid-ass nu metal riffage are some of the pathetic characteristics that define this diarrhea of an album.
The drum production sounds so artificial, and Attila's vocals are, for the first time in his career, just plain terrible.
He no longer delivers high-pitched shrieks like he used to do in DMDS and even Ordo ad Chao, he simply sounds like an American hardcore screamer.
Everything about this album is absolutely lame.
Annoying, Irritating and Nauseating
The main problem with Esoteric Warfare is that the guitar parts are piss poor.
No haunting riffs, no atmosphere, no creative solos, but 'catchy' mallcore choruses aplenty.
It's easy to dissect the songs because they all sound the fucking same. The guitars only serve as a support for the vocals, when it should be the other way around. That is something I have no tolerance for - the guitar work should be the main focus of any metal album, period.
The only reason I'm not giving this album a 0% is the drumming on some tracks, which still manages to sound convincing, but that's it. Everything else is pure nauseating shit.
So there you have it, one of the worst albums ever recorded. It's basically pop music disguised as American alt-metal disguised as black metal. The worst thing of all is that the majority of Mayhem's fanbase actually prefers their newer records, which is way beyond me.
You'd do well to not buy this mallcore laden crap.
Hell, some mallcore is better than Esoteric Warfare. The same elements are being used as is by bands like Slipknot or Papa Roach, except 'The Trve Mayhem' sucks even more.
On a side note, my ears started to bleed when I listened to 'Posthuman', isn't that just the weirdest thing ever?
Esoteric Warfare score: 7/100.
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