It was back in 1981 when VENOM were singing Mayhem With Mercy in their Welcome To Hell debut album. That song inspired some young and talented lads to start their own band entitled  MAYHEM. Their intention was to play extreme, dark and evil music like none had ever played before. Am I they one to say if they managed to do it? I think their thousands of fans are the appropriate people to prove it!
It all started back in 1983, in the hometown of Norwegian Black Metal, Oslo. MAYHEM were leaded by Euronymous, one of the greatest and most influential Black Metal musicians. Euronymous got murdered in 1993 by Varg Vikernes (BURZUM) who was the band's bass player. To cut a long story short, the band is considered to be one of the top Black Metal acts and has released numerous albums, demo CD's, split CD's, best of compilations, live albums and of course full-length albums. After some albums with Maniac behind the microphone, Attila returns to take on his vocals duties for one more time.
Attila's presence behind the microphone marks the band's fourth album (some of you may count some of the EP's as albums, anyway). While listening to Ordo Ad Chao I ended up being rather confused than anything else. Before I press the play button I was expecting to face not something better than the legendary De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, but equally good. This review will be split into two parts just because I have two things to comment, the music and the production.
First, I want to start by commenting the incredibly awful production this album has! I was confused because I was waiting for a pretty good and solid sound, but the only thing I came across was the most flat production MAYHEM could come up with! Forget about bullshit like avant garde approach and underground true stuff. We are talking about a sound that is even worse than the one De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas had! Are these guys fucking joking? We were waiting for three whole years to get this result? The MAYHEM guys should thank Satan, Attila or who the fuck they want to thank for what they managed to create regarding the music section, otherwise this album would definitely end up in the garbage!
I bypass the production thing and now it is time to comment the real stuff! Even though the sound sucks, even though I was tired of listening to this underground bass sound that almost cause me a headache, I gladly present you the new and recharged MAYHEM, or as some would say THE TRUE MAYHEM! Ordo Ad Chao is beyond any expectations! I believe this is mostly due to Attila's return. This guy is a real beast behind the microphone! He is the one that haunted my nightmares back when I was a little child! His stunning interpretation along with the furious Black Metal riffing creates an atmosphere so cold that will definitely remind of the band's old glorious times! Forget about Declaration Of War and Chimera! MAYHEM return and this time they deliver the real thing! Who cares about the buried bass and the shitty drum sound? This is a masterpiece that seems to be forgotten back in the 80's! A filthy little gem that must not be absent from any Black Metal collection! The eight dark and ice-cold compositions cannot be described with any simple words! Whoever bows in front of Attila's, Blasphemer's, Necrobutcher's and Hellhammer's gloriousness can understand the level that Ordo Ad Chao reaches!
Blasphemer's riffing is more twisted than ever! His Black Metal melodies mix with some drone and noise influences creating an incredible aura of cruelty! Necrobutcher's bass lines smell like death and Hellhammer's drumming is relentless as always! I have run out of words to describe the brand new MAYHEM blasphemous assault!
I used to think that Black Metal has fallen into the trap of saturation. Thank God (Satan, Buddha, Allah or anything you prefer) WATAIN, ROTTING CHRIST, DODHEIMSGARD and MAYHEM proved me wrong! As long as these bands rape our fucking ears, the flag of Black Metal will always wave proudly amongst every teenage fucker with eyeliner and gay look! All hail the infernal masters of hell!
PS: I prefer not to rate this album since the contrast between the music and the production has really confused me. If you do not care about the shitty sound, do not even think about not purchasing this masterpiece! The curse of MAYHEM will haunt you for the rest of your lives!