Mayhem
Ordo Ad Chao

I don't know if it's sadder to improve your economic situation by releasing increasingly accessible albums or to try to win back the hardcore fans by reviving certain more extreme sounds.

Mayhem, albeit with the necessary differences, have charted a path parallel to that of Metallica, releasing increasingly approachable and "commercial" albums from 1997 onwards, following a trend, that of Post-Black, which is very popular among younger listeners. Now, just like what happened with "St.Anger", the group has worked to celebrate their return to rawer and more savage sounds, long dormant, represented by what is their Master of Puppets, "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas". Well, a few weeks ago "Ordo Ad Chao" was released, the third LP of the new formation, the first with Attila Csihar on vocals, one more reason to own it.

A few weeks ago "Ordo Ad Chao" was released, and it's terrible. Very much so.

Even because, regardless of the horrid artwork, the carelessness (ordo ad CHAOS, not chao), the senseless music, there is absolutely nothing that can recall Mayhem’s golden era: the album turns out to be a sort of experiment towards avant-garde sounds that have nothing to do not only with Mayhem but also with Black Metal.

But let's proceed in order. Of the eight tracks that make up the record, only one is salvaged, "Great Work Of Ages", just above average, which best succeeds in conveying the challenging direction Mayhem targeted with this release. Attila's vocal performance is excellent, technically flawless, almost recreating with the singing a tape that plays backward, only to return to the more classic tone that made him famous. This is also the only track in which the other musicians feel particularly at ease with the new formulas adopted. The number of flaws glares prominently; the album doesn't even benefit from the superb and clear production that characterized their previous works, at least appreciable for the clarity with which the musicians' technical side was highlighted.

The songs are built neither around a circular structure, nor following the verse-chorus succession, nor even on more open structures of progressive Black: they make no sense, they have neither head nor tail, but without that genius of bands like Abruptum, where the absence of fixed structures had a precise meaning, symbolizing the absence of order, emptiness, and leading the listener to become estranged from what surrounded them. In Mayhem, as the title rightly suggests (did they also listen to the album before releasing it? It would be a novelty...) they move from the aseptic order of previous albums to primordial chaos, without this being mediated by a poetic mind, a guru, or a priest ready to translate it into clear and understandable terms.

Frantic riffs, casual openings, a voice often really out of place, sudden accelerations only to highlight Hellhammer, a non-existent bass... there is no plausible reason to listen to such a record from start to finish: you can download a Cradle Of Filth CD just for a laugh, or one of Satyricon out of curiosity to see how far they've fallen; but there's no valid reason to be bored for a good 40 minutes.

Everyone has better things to do.
Pointless.