What I am about to write will not be a true review, indeed... let's say that I will tell you a scary little bedtime story, and it will be quite long. So if horror stories scare you, just skip this one :-)
Ah, I will be a bit irreverent, please no offense!

Once upon a time, there was a band. Their name was Mayhem. Now they no longer exist. At least not with the lineup that composed this live recorded in 1990 in Leipzig. But who were these Mayhem, and why am I about to review this live? They are considered the "fathers" of black metal (I know there are Venom and Bathory before them, but whatever...) and they have a quite original story. You could call it a dark fairy tale (or blood-red) worthy of Poe, with the only exception that what I am about to tell you (more or less) actually happened. I must clarify that it's not my intention to be rigorous!

Let's introduce the main characters:
Per Yngve Ohlin aka Dead (and never a name was more fitting!). The guy grew up quite introverted, detached, often wandering with a candle through the woods, telling of strange hallucinations, of not being from this world (read the lyrics of “Life Eternal” for example), not to mention what he did at concerts! He loved to cut his arms with a knife, keep dead animals in decomposition in a bag and then display them at concerts, among many other charming things. Who knows what was going through his mind, too crazy or too sensitive?
A question hard to answer because on April 3, 1991, he cut his arms for the last time (at wrist vein level) and, to leave no doubt, shot himself in the mouth with a shotgun. His last message? Excuse all the blood (sorry for the blood, funny guy...).
This is how the life of what was the voice of Live in Leipzig ends.

The story of finding Dead's body is also peculiar, but before talking about this, I have to introduce the second character of the story:
Øystein Aarseth aka Euronymous. Our man is the historical guitarist of the band, a central figure in the black metal scene, and head of the infamous “Inner Circle” of which everything and its opposite (meaning nothing) has been said. Owner of a little record store called Helvete (=Hell), he also founded his own record label.
But let's go back to that April 3rd. Our guitarist returns home and finds poor Dead… dead (pun intended). Blood and pieces of brain everywhere (apparently the suicide's posthumous apologies were needed). What to do? Run away in disgust? Call the Police? Faint? None of the above! Our Euronymous thought it best to take several photos of the disaster (they will be the cover of the bootleg “Dawn Of The Blackhearts”, see to believe), keep a piece of the skull as a talisman, and just to try it all, scoop up some of Dead's dead brain, put it in the fridge, and eat it a few days later.
Our guitarist will follow his mate a few years later (August 10, 1993), stabbed in the back by Varg Vikernes (known as Burzum). Reason? According to the murderer, it was a “preventive murder”, as Euronymous intended to kill him as well.
This is how the life of what was the guitar of Live in Leipzig ends.

Nothing to say about the live bass player Necrobutcher.
As for the drummer, Hellhammer, it's only noteworthy that he is one of the best "skin beaters" in the extreme metal scene.

In conclusion, with such characters, could an ordinary live album ever come out? NO, and this Live in Leipzig is proof of that. It is the Made in Japan of black metal.
"Come on Leipzig. Come on!!! Join us pure fucking Armageddon!!!"
We want to remember them this way, still alive and with a pig head impaled on the microphone stand!

Tracklist Lyrics and Videos

01   Deathcrush ()

Demonic laughter your cremation
Your lungs gasp for air but are filled with blood
A sudden crack as I crushed your skull

The remind of your life flashes by
A life that soon won't be
Smiling with axe in my hand
Evil's rotten hand you'll see

I come forward
Deathcrush

I'll send you to your maker
I'll send you to your death

Death nicely crucified
Death, heads on stakes

The barbeque has just begun
Deathcrush - deathcrush - deathcrush

Crush - crush
Deathcrush
Deathcrush
Deathcrush

02   Necrolust ()

Your stinking corpse I desire
nothing can take me higher
Fucking you till your bones break
Another one has to die

Cum dripping from my dick
Fucking you to the core
Can't take this anymore
My brain is driving me insane

Necrolust

Eating the flesh of a thousand corpses
Bloodsucking cuntless nuns
her guts were boiling out of her butt
Eating her slimey cunt as I hold her tits

Come posercorpse and die again!

03   Funeral Fog ()

Every time this year
this dark fog will appear
up from the tombs it comes
to take one more life that
can be near.
In the middle of Transylvania
All natural life has for a long
time ago gone, its thin and so
beautiful but also so dark and
mysterious.

Once again the priest is messing
may the god bless us all.
The fog is here again
that'll complete this funeral.
From a place empty of life.
Only dead trees are growing hear
as it comes from a far
Only dead treas are growing hear

............Funeral Fog
............Funeral Fog
............Funeral Fog
............Funeral Fog

04   Freezing Moon ()

Everything here is so cold
Everything here is so dark
I remember it as from a dream
In the corner of this time

Diabolic shapes float by
Out from the dark
I remember it was here I died
By following the freezing moon

It's night again
Night you beautiful
I please my hunger
On living humans

Night of hunger
Follow it's call
Follow the freezing moon

[Guitar Solo]

Darkness is growing
The eternity opens
The cemetery lights up again
As in ancient times

Fallen souls die behind my steps
By following the freezing moon

05   Carnage ()

Witchcraft, blood and Satan
Meet the face of Death
Blood
Fire
Torture
Pain
KILL

Witchcraft, blood and Satan
Meet the face of Death
Blood
Fire
Torture
Pain

Winds of war, winds of hate
Armageddon, tales from Hell
The wage of mayhem, the wage of sin
Come and hear, Lucifer sings

Command for blood, command for war
Command for Satan, command for Hell
Command for blood, command for war
Command for Satan, command for Hell
Command for blood
Command for Satan
Command for you

06   Carnage ()

Witchcraft, blood and Satan
Meet the face of Death
Blood
Fire
Torture
Pain
KILL

Witchcraft, blood and Satan
Meet the face of Death
Blood
Fire
Torture
Pain

Winds of war, winds of hate
Armageddon, tales from Hell
The wage of mayhem, the wage of sin
Come and hear, Lucifer sings

Command for blood, command for war
Command for Satan, command for Hell
Command for blood, command for war
Command for Satan, command for Hell
Command for blood
Command for Satan
Command for you

07   Buried by Time and Dust ()

Visions of that no mornings
light ever will come. I'm to old now.
The dark is so near, will I ever reach the land beyond
This is where we go when we have to die.
I've been old since the birth of time.Time buried me in earth
centuries ago, I tasted blood.
Buried by time and dust.
Many years has pasted since the funeral.
Missing the blood of human throats
so many years, ages ago.
I must await, feel my bodies stench.
Wanderings out of space.
Wandering out of time.
A world out of light, death at the end.
Only silence can be heard, silence of peoples tears.
No one knows my grave.
Buried by time and dust.

08   Pagan Fears ()

The bloody history from the
past deceased humans now forgotten.
An age of legends and fear a time now
so discant.
Less numbered as they were their lives
so primitive and pagan
superstitions were a part of the life
so unprotected in the dark nights
Pagan fears.
The past is alive.
The past is alive.
Woeful people with pale faces
staring obsessed at the moon
some memories will never go away
ant they will forever be here.

09   Chainsaw Gutsfuck ()

Bleed down to the fucking core
You're going down for fucking more
Screw your slimy guts
Driving me fucking nuts!

Chainsaw in my bleeding hands
As I start to cut you in two
Your guts are steaming out
And I just love the sight!

Maggots crawling in her cunt
I just love to lick that shit
Bury you in a slimy grave
You will rot forever there!

10   Pure Fucking Armageddon ()

Violent torture,
Death has arrived,
Armageddon,
Terror and fright,
Bleeding corpses,
Rotting decay

Anarchy,
Violent torture,
Antichrist,
Lucifer,
Son of satan
Pure Fucking Armageddon

Pure Fucking Armageddon!

11   Freezing Moon ()

Everything here is so cold
Everything here is so dark
I remember it as from a dream
In the corner of this time

Diabolic shapes float by
Out from the dark
I remember it was here I died
By following the freezing moon

It's night again
Night you beautiful
I please my hunger
On living humans

Night of hunger
Follow it's call
Follow the freezing moon

[Guitar Solo]

Darkness is growing
The eternity opens
The cemetery lights up again
As in ancient times

Fallen souls die behind my steps
By following the freezing moon

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Other reviews

By metaldiablo

 "Dead, whom I consider the best vocalist Mayhem ever had, did not record any studio albums with the Norwegian band."

 "Everything is literally overpowered by Dead’s inhuman voice, which in many cases covers the mistakes of his bandmates."