Mayhem
Live In Leipzig

THE REVIEW

On April 3, 1991, Yngwe Ohlin, better known as Dead, a crazy man known for being a manic depressive with hobbies like displaying rotting crows during his concerts and occasionally cutting his arms with a knife, decided to end it all by shooting himself in the head.
Unfortunately, the singer (whom I consider the best vocalist Mayhem ever had) did not record any studio albums with the Norwegian band. The only evidence we have of Dead behind the microphone is represented by "Live In Leipzig," recorded exactly four months and a week before the great singer's suicide, that is, on November 16, 1990, at the Eisfeller in Leipzig.
Probably, on that cold German night, the best Black Metal lineup every respectable fan of this genre could ever wish for was on stage: the founder of Mayhem, Euronymous on six strings (who would meet his buddy Yngwe in hell on August 10 two years later, killed by Varg Vikernes, better known as a soloist under the name Burzum), Necrobutcher on bass, Hellhammer behind the drums, and obviously Dead on vocals.
Ending this little introduction and knowing you might be fed up with the story of these four depraved individuals, let's move on to analyze the actual album.

The live opens eerily with Euronymous' guitar and the voices of the people, eagerly awaiting the massacre, inaugurated by Dead's roaring voice that with the scream ONLY DEATH IS REAL! kicks off the inevitable "Deathcrush," monumental in its insane tempo changes, even slowed down a lot compared to the album version.
The second piece is the violent "Necrolust," where Dead's voice really sends shivers down your spine, especially in the chorus and after a brief pause where Ohlin incites the crowd in frenzy with the famous Come on Leipzig!, Hellhammer starts "Funeral Fog," another piece that became legendary thanks to its brutality.
...When it's cold and when it's dark, the freezing moon will obsess you!... Thus, thanks to a goosebump-inducing presentation, "The Freezing Moon" is opened, certainly one of the best pieces of the Norwegian band, thanks also to a truly beautiful initial part.
... Are you, dead, uh? CARNAGE!... That's how it starts, along with Necrobutcher's bass, the homonymous Carnage, a piece taken from the old demo "Pure Fucking Armageddon," perhaps the most viciously played piece of the live and a deafening whistle (thanks to the lousy production) passes the torch to "Buried By Time And Dust," followed closely by that gem called "Pagan Fears".
Now comes the time for the obsessive "Chainsaw GutsFuck," also slowed down, exuding malice from every note.
The time has come to reach the end, with a song that could really be used as the soundtrack of the apocalypse... Come on, Leipzig, come on! Join Us, PURE FUCKING ARMAGEDDON!, the right finale for a monumental live (and I even rhymed)...

Certainly, there are mistakes from the four, but surely the goal of Mayhem was not to get on stage and play all the tracks perfectly while practically standing still (certain Dream Theater come to mind), but to hit the audience (perhaps more important in music than showing off one's technique making the concert seem like a guitar or bass lesson), even resorting to nauseating shows quite a few times.
In any case, the four's performance is not at all to be thrown away, where Euronymous' cold guitar like a sharp ax thirsty for blood grinds everything in its path, Necrobutcher's four strings, with its distortion scratches everything that can be scratched, and Hellhammer's murderous pounding creates an atmosphere that can only be described as terrifying. Everything is literally overpowered (and sometimes one might even say "Thankfully") by Dead's inhuman voice, which in many cases covers the mistakes of his bandmates and could have truly given much to Mayhem, while with the group he only managed to record this album and appear on the cover, depicted in the iconic photo wrapped in darkness lit only by his candelabra and on the bootleg "Dawn Of The Blackhearts" where we find a photo of the good Dead with his brains blown out, immortalized on the morning after the suicide.

Unfortunately, the production is at the limits of audibility (a choice, by the way, deliberate), but this does not detract from it being a remarkable live that helped shape a well-defined form in a genre already in its embryonic state: that Black Metal sometimes exalted and sometimes rightly criticized.
For the record, it would be a straight five, but I also have to state that I TOTALLY hate Mayhem as people, in my opinion, the classic failed maniacs who unfortunately in life managed to realize themselves only with music.
These are purely personal judgments, but due to this "Live In Leipzig", it loses the previously assigned five and gets a 4, still a very high rating that allows this live recorded disc to enter the pantheon of the best live recordings of all time.