If you don't know or don't like The True MAYHEM, i.e. MAYHEM before 1995, this review will have no interest to you. This LP features MAYHEM's first two demos titled "Voice of a tortured skull" and "Pure fucking armageddon", both from 1986. The first one is labelled as the "side fuck (studio)" on the cover, whereas "PFA" is the "side off (unmixed)". It is a bootleg out on Die Hard / DSP (???), limited to 333 copies (LP version) or 1000 copies (CD version). So the musical content here is very poor, the demos have been recorded on crappy material and the sound is pretty horrible, it's really hard to listen to such stuff unless you are like me, i.e. a total MAYHEM fanatic. Anyway, the tracks presented here are just History of Black Metal, as in 1986 very few bands played so EVIL, dark and brutal music (BATHORY, maybe VENOM, SODOM HELLHAMMER and that was it) and MAYHEM was certainly the most primitive one. Anyway, if you're really into the band's early recordings you will buy this "album" because it's just a cult one. Such songs as "Carnage" (which appears on the "Live in Leipzig" CD) or "Ghoul" (covered by CARPATHIAN FOREST on the "Tribute" album) only appear as "studio versions" on this recording, they are not featured on "Deathcrush" or "De mysteriis..." so getting this album is the only way you can listen to them in their original form... But be careful, the original edition of the album is now completely sold-out (both CD and LP) and there is a recent re-issue of the CD (I don't know exactly what it is concerning the LP) with exactly the same layout and booklet, the only difference being on the CD itself where "Century Blast" is written instead of the "Die Hard" mention of the 1st edition... And I'm pretty sure this "new" edition is not limited to 1000 copies at all... So don't get diddled !

© 2003 lord pesten