Deathcrush

Background

Though influential to black metal, its lyrics and sound were largely influenced by early death metal bands. After vocalist Dead joined the group, the band adopted darker lyrical topics and guitarist Euronymous (Øystein Aarseth) started rejecting most death metal bands as their lyrics turned towards "social awareness" and "normal" topics instead of death worship; he "wanted things to be more serious and extreme". Dead stated that the lyrics "aren't bad at all, but they are later what would become gore and trendy".

The opening track, "Silvester Anfang", is a cover of a piece by German electronic composer Conrad Schnitzler (known for having worked with the krautrock bands Tangerine Dream and Kluster). Euronymous found Schnitzler's home address and sat outside his house until his wife eventually invited him in.

Drummer Kjetil Manheim later stated that the band's sound was "something that [the studio technician] did not know how to record (...) so he just set the settings and we recorded". He also noted that there was "no mix, before or after" and "no overdubs: bass, drums, guitar are live and then we recorded the vocals after".

In 2008, Daniel Ekeroth wrote, "The two visionaries [Aarseth and Per 'Dead' Ohlin] pushed each other further into darkness, and sometime in 1990 they finally adopted the Satanic image that would become so crucial for the genre [...] It's well documented that Øystein initially was very into death metal and grindcore".

According to Dead, most, but not all of the lyrics were written by bassist Necrobutcher.

Reception

Despite its limited print run, the mini-album appeared in the top 20 on Kerrang! magazine's album charts.

Legacy

"Chainsaw Gutsfuck" was voted "Most Gruesome Lyrics Ever" by Blender in 2006.

Track listing

All tracks written by Mayhem (Maniac, Euronymous, Necrobutcher, Manheim, Messiah), except as noted.

Personnel