Search - Mayhem :: Wolf's Lair Abyss

Mayhem's declaration of HATE

Lunar Strain | United States | 03/07/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Did you ever make a declaration of love? How about a declaration of hate? A declaration of hate adressed to the whole humanity? Why am I saying this? Because this album is the most eloquent acoustic expression of hate, anger and misanthropy.



Some of you are gonna tell me that I should look for the "most hatefull" album in discographies of bands like Napalm Death, Sepultura, Suffocation or Slayer. While, to those bands, the hate is the violent decomposure of violence, to Mayhem, it appears as a more intimate feeling.



I was knocked down when I first listened to this album. The 4 songs are like a hurricane...I haven't sensed so much anger spitted in humanity's face than in that short interlude from Ancient Skin, when Maniac declares with profetic, clean voice "I've captured the moment given, I denied the sickening love, turned to the purity of anger."



Al the 4 songs have an incredible weight, given by the intensity of the riffs and the heavy, very good drumming and a speed unexlored before, even by Mayhem. There is one song, Ancient Skin, in wich the band says "This is who we are". The song starts very fast, and a feeling of "deja-vu" takes place, but, after 1 minute, Hellhammer rises the tempo of the drumming, the speed reaches an unexpected high level, simultaneously with the transition to the very dense web of riffs (typical to this Wolf's Lair Abyss), preparing for Maniac's entrance. His part consist of the most violent vocals ever recorded on a black metal album.



This album fascinated me since the first audition. The intro - the breathing of a septic body and the trumpets annnouncing a new Era (in black metal), followed by the unleashing of high speed and immense brutallity and a very good instrumental technique.



This is one amazon black metal release..."

They're still going strong!

Matt Pullen | USA, Maryland | 09/01/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Being that this is the first Mayhem album without Euronymous, this is a fairly interesting one. This is proof that even without Mayhem's former "leader," they can still manage to pump out some blistering and worthy black metal. This isn't as raw as Deathcrush or the legendary DMDS; the production is much more clean, dry and sharp. Maniac is back on vocals, and to say the least, his style is much different than it was on Deathcrush. Instead of his former Deathcrush style screams, he's got more of a guttural and gritty shriek going on.



Many, and I mean many, will be put off by Maniac's vocals. Maniac almost sounds like he's got cicadas and beetles in his throat while he sings from his stomach. Some people may pick up on his singing right away, others may find it to be an acquired taste, and then the rest will despise his singing. At times Maniac's singing reminds me of Smeagol from Lord of the Rings, but I still manage to enjoy it when I'm not thinking of those big bug eyes and that voice that calls out for his precious. Blasphemer puts on a satisfactory performance, but his guitar sounds a little rusty and anhydrous...but it does the job decently. Some of the material sounds rather DMDS-ish (Ancient Skin, I Am Thy Labyrinth).



The drumming is rather brisk, but it's much more varied than what I expected from Mayhem - instead of the majority of just blast beats there is a lot more interchanging between double bass, snare, and cymbals. Of course this is Mayhem, so all of the songs with the exception of the opening instrumental are fast and tenacious. The opening track is a bit too long, using a clip in length of a minute or less would have done the job instead of almost two and a half minutes of thick swirling wind sounds accompanied by some static. Not only that, but this is far too short (I've seen the price on this album going for as much as a regular CD, which I find to be a tad ridiculous).



It's a worthy purchase for sure, but I have my doubts about it being worth the amount of an album, which uses up all of the space available on the CD. Get it sometime, but don't put it ahead of a kick ass full-length that you might be looking for."

The Soul of A Serial Killer Put To Music.

SpacegrassMan | Insane Land of Words & Music | 02/09/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"That's what this AMAZING recording from Mayhem sounds like. As if all the violence and insanity from their past were somehow transformed into this intense Black Metal. You can talk about singers for this band all you want, in my opinion the work Maniac has done on this and Chimera will stand the test of time. I'm sure we'd all love to hear Dead on every Mayhem recording, but sadly that's not going to happen. The info I have is that Maniac will not be singing on the new one this year; big mistake.

At only 24 minutes and 42 seconds (on my counter), Wolf's Lair Abyss will invade your mind like a mental demon bent on the pure corruption of your soul. If this isn't in your collection, may you be forced to rot in an afterlife poisoned with nothing but American Idol retards for eternity.

5 STARS!!! HAIL! HAIL! HAIL! MAYHEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"