"The dawn of the black hearts" is probably the most famous bootleg in Black Metal history. This is due to several reasons. First the cover shows that picture of the mighty Dead with its brain on the table, picture taken by Euronymous (and / or Hellhammer ?) after the suicide of the singer. Then it is a MAYHEM bootleg and MAYHEM is and will be the most "popular" band within the BM scene, you can think whatever you want about it this is the reality and we can't change it. The recording in itself is the live gig played by the band on the 28th of February, 1990, during the "Support For Slayer Magazine" festival that happened on that night in Sarpsborg, Norway, and it is one of the rare live performances of the band with Dead and Euronymous that can be found apart from the official "Live in Leipzig". I know there is also a bootleg LP called "war and sodomy" that offers the live gig played by the band in Zeitz, germany on the 11/24/90, but this Lp is so limited that it's very hard and expensive to get... That's another point that made "the dawn..." so famous : it was edited by several labels in several formats (digipak, jewel case CD in different ediditons, LP, picture LP etc. etc.), some of them feature only the Sarpsborg show whereas others also contain the very first gig played by the band in Lillehammer in 1986. So 3 or 4 years ago this bootleg was still really easily available even through "major distributors" who had them for sale in their catalogues. The musical content in itself is not especially "excellent" for the listener, especially if you're not a "MAYHEM maniac" like me. The sound is not what one could call "great" but it's good though, I mean it is really easily listenable. But on some CD editions there is that live part from 1986, I have to admit the sound on ths recording (2 covers of VENOM and 2 of HELHAMMER) is pretty shitty and this is not the kind of stuff you listen to all night long... Anyway the most important is that concert with Dead and Euronymous, it has exactly the same track list as the one on the "Leipzig" show although there is not "Pagan fears "on this one. This gig is (another) proof that MAYHEM's true line-up was the one of 1990/91 and that this band had an aura and really deserves to be considered as the best BM act of the beginning of the 90s, but I'm waiting my time saying it. All TRUE black metal freaks must have this bootleg.

© 2003 lord pesten