All Photos By Wendy Jasper
I wasn’t sure what to expect as we rolled up to White Oak Music Hall in Houston on Wednesday, March 16, 2022, but I was elated to see a line wrapped around the building consisting of loyal MAYHEM fans awaiting entry to the show they have waited for two years to see. In 2020 the band arrived in the United States and quickly found themselves in quarantine and preparing to return to Norway as the world was clued into the medical state of emergency that was COVID-19. It has been a rough two years as many have lost family and friends, and jobs and entertainment were lost or amended for safety precautions. Music fans have had to wait, make decisions about the safety of attending shows; or in the case of so many musicians, the wait to return to the stage has been grueling and uncertain.
WATAIN was originally on this bill, but Visa and travel restrictions kept them from touring. MIDNIGHT, the world’s current answer to MOTORHEAD, stayed on the bill and I can say they were a delight. Signed to Metal Blade Records, MIDNIGHT’s touring lineup is a three-piece consisting of bassist Athenar, guitarist Commander Vanik, and drummer Secret Steel, and they are supporting the newest album Let There Be Witchery.
Each artist amended their set to include more material when they knew WATAIN would not be touring, and it was brilliant. MIDNIGHT kicked off the show with “In Sinful Secrecy” and moved on into “Evil Like a Knife”. “Lust Filth and Sleaze” was fast and furious and “Fucking Speed and Darkness” had Athenar and Commander bouncing all over the stage. “Szex Witchery” is fun, and the crowd was enthusiastic while the band was onstage.
“Satanic Royalty” puts the band into the appropriate category to tour with a band like MAYHEM. They aren’t black metal but they often explore similar themes. “Funeral Bell” and “You Can Drag Me Through Fire” were as up tempo as the rest of the songs in the set and the band wrapped up their extended playing time with “Telepathic Nightmare”, “You Can’t Stop Steel”, “Who Gives a Fuck” and “Unholy And Rotten”.
During the set change you could feel the transformation across the room. Black metal fans ranging in age from 15 to 50 were waiting for the band that started it all; but what did they start? They started True Norwegian Black Metal. They started the second wave after the road was paved by BATHORY and CELTIC FROST...and VENOM. They are pioneers...and as the kids say, they are kvlt.
This show was nostalgic for me for so many reasons. I was there when the churches were burning so I saw the black metal scene during its most brutal. I interviewed MAYHEM in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s; I knew Euronymous. I met Dead. I hate to admit that I also did a bit of press coverage for Varg and his BURZUM project. This was before it all went up in flames. Literally.
MAYHEM, DARKTHRONE and EMPEROR survived to continue to spread the message. MAYHEM is a band that I think all metal fans should see at least once. You don’t have to be a huge fan, but you should experience it. You may love it, you may hate it, but you need to see it.
The extended set opened with “Falsified And Hated” and jumped effortlessly into “To Daimonion”. The band is not only supporting their last full-length release, Daemon, but they also released an EP last year entitled Atavistic Black Disorder/Kommando. Contrary to popular belief, they have done more than De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas and multiple iterations of Deathcrush, and “Freezing Moon” isn’t their only song. However, it may have been the song most of the crowd was waiting for. “Bad Blood” and “Malum” gave way to “My Death”; and “Symbols of Bloodswords” created the perfect entrance for “Voces Ab Alta”, which is my personal favorite from the new EP.
And then there it was...Attila has long fronted the band and he was the voice on De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas and he carries the band well. I’ve seen all versions of the band and while the nostalgia of Per Yngve “Dead” Ohlin will always be there, I truly enjoy watching Attila. He’s dynamic and as the strains of “Freezing Moon” wafted through the air the crowd went nuts. Easily the band’s most popular song, it encompasses all you would expect from gut wrenching black metal.
“Life Eternal” and “Pagan Fears” kept the pace and “Buried By Time And Dust” rounded out the first 2/3rds of the show. For their last act the band gave us “Silvester Anfang” and “Deathcrush” and the show ended with “Chainsaw Gutsfuck”, “Carnage” and “Pure Fucking Armageddon”.
It is a sight to behold. It is a sound that while grating to some, is pure music to me. I got to reminisce about the old days with friends who also went through the “black metal years” that most people only read about in the news or speculated upon through a viewing/reading of Lords of Chaos. It was perfect. Hellhammer is still the best drummer I’ve ever seen play live and Necrobutcher has that aura born only to the most elite of black metal elitists.
Bassisst Jorn “Necrobutcher”Stubberud, drummer Jan Axel “Hellhammer” Blomberg, vocalist Attila Csihar, and guitarists Morten “Teloch” Iversen and Charles “Ghul” Hedger put on a show that no other band of my generation can put on. They are The True Mayhem and they are mighty. It was the best thing I have seen and heard in a long, long time. Incidentally, the band I manage, BLOOD STAINED DUSK, had the honor of opening for the tour on the stop in Atlanta...Wish I could have been at that show as well! The tour has several more engagements so catch one if you can.
Check out some more photos from the show!
All Photos By Wendy Jasper
