
On the rebirth of Mayhem and the creation of Wolf's Lair Abyss
..."There was a lot of crap actually,” recalls Blasphemer. “I think Hellhammer got more shit than me. I mean, it was not like I forced my way into the band—I was asked and I accepted. I remember a couple of times when we were out he would end up in discussions, kind of defending why he did this [restart Mayhem]. People were not that convinced and were certain that we would do this to go out and earn as much cash as possible. But with time it sort of bounced off because we did nothing. I mean, I joined in October ’94 and we did not play until ’97, we were just rehearsing all the time.”
“We got no support at all basically,” confirms Necrobutcher. “Nobody was excited. People asked how we could go on in Mayhem without Euronymous. A lot of people said that in the beginning. We felt that the only way to shut their face was to release good shit… That’s why we rehearsed for four years.”
Featuring four songs—“I Am Thy Labyrinth,” “Fall of Seraphs,” “Ancient Skin,” and “Symbols of Bloodswords”—along with an electronic intro track, the opus remains one of the band’s most intense recordings. Frequently high-paced, it is a mass of distorted bass, searing guitars, and blisteringly fast but detailed percussion, all topped off by the inhuman screams of Maniac. Retaining the single-minded and often linear fury of De Mysteriis, the EP is nonetheless more technical and calculated, with unusually complicated drum patterns and guitar work breaking up the furious assaults.
“When you rehearse old songs as often as we did in those early years you begin to understand the patterns,” reflects Blasphemer, “and I think subconsciously I wanted to have some of the similarities from [De Mysteriis]. But at the same time it has this weirdness, the weird timings, ’cos I was always into that technical side. It was a combination of what I did and the older Mayhem stuff.”
“It was clearly aggressive people playing aggressive music,” comments Necrobutcher. “Negativity, drinking a lot… a bunch of pissed-off guys you know? Hellhammer was the only one who had a job—he was working as night guard so it didn’t collide with the rehearsals—so we were poor, piss-poor ’cos we didn’t do anything else but the band.”
Source: Black Metal: Evolution of the Cult, Dayal Patterson.