1	Voces Ab Alta
2	Black Glass Communion
3	Everlasting Dying Flame
4	In Defense Of Our Future (Cover Version)
5	Hellnation (Cover Version)
6	Only Death (Cover Version)
7	Commando (Cover Version)

Mayhem

Atavistic Black Disorder / Kommando

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Genre: Black Metal.
Released: 09/07/2021
Via Century Media

EP Review: Mayhem – Atavistic Black Disorder / Kommando

Mayhem is one of the worlds most notorious black metal outfits due to its controversial and often violent history. Their music is raw and intended to sound as evil as it comes. The band’s last album ‘Daemon’ was no exception to the satanic imagery and absurdity. ‘Atavistic Black Disorder / Kommando’ is the band’s way of finishing off that albums saga and it promises to be just as ghoulish as the album itself. Here is what I thought of Mayhem’s ‘Atavistic Black Disorder / Kommando’.

Opening track ‘Voces Ab Alta’ is the only piece of original music from Mayhem that had not been released prior to this EP, and it’s a shame it took this long to see the light of day. An extremely demonic sounding track that utilises the raw and distorted tones Mayhem have become synonymous for, to compliment Atilla’s unearthly growl. This song is probably as close as Mayhem will get to their earlier days and I think fans will find a lot of enjoyment in this track. Following that is the track ‘Black Glass Communion’, A bonus track from ‘Daemon’. The song is a faster-paced track that utilises chugging riffs and a tonne of syncopation. Maintaining the raw sound that was so prevalent on the album, this track still stands out as an awesome black metal jam.

Yet another bonus track of ‘Daemon’ that features on this release is ‘Everlasting Dying Flame’. Demonic in nature, the song wouldn’t sound out of place in a horror film about summoning demons. Almost ritualistic lyrics add a lot of character to the track sadistic sounding instrumental. The start of the EP’s collection of covers is Discharge’s ‘In Defense Of Our Future’. This is certainly not what any Mayhem fan would expect the band to sound like at any point. Gone are the hellish growls and overly distorted instruments as they have been replaced with no-nonsense punk rock. Hearing the band like this is not what I personally wanted and it almost diminishes the image that most people associate with Mayhem.

The other covers featured on the EP are Dead Kennedy’s ‘Hellnation’, Rudimentary Peni’s ‘Only Death’ and the Ramones’ ‘Commando’. All of these tracks sound decent and to a fan of old school punk rock would probably sit quite well, however, This is on one of the most well known black metal band’s releases and with the elitist nature that surrounds the genre, I can not imagine these going down well. The sheer contrast from the opening 3 tracks to these last 4 is almost comical.

I personally think this EP is a very odd and maybe even comedic release from Mayhem. This is the same band that once prided themselves on being the most outrageous band out there, going as far as cutting themselves on stage and using pig heads as part of a stage set. The black metal track on this EP is exactly that, Evil in nature and raw in execution whereas the punk covers are just too far from the bands iconic sound to please the majority of fans.