''Daemon'' is the sixth full-length studio album by Norwegian black metal band Mayhem. Their major label debut, it was released by Century Media Records on 25 October 2019 in digital formats while a manufacturing problem delayed the physical release until 8 November 2019.

Background and promotion

The band went into the studio not long after the ''De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas Alive'' anniversary tour in which the band played the iconic debut album in its entirety for various dates around the world. Many critics suggested the tour was highly influential to the sound of ''Daemon'' with many comparing it to that album. The album was also released on the back of the '' Lords of Chaos'' semi- biopic movie, giving the band a boost in popularity and interest. During promotional interviews for the album, Necrobutcher claimed he was "On isway to kill

Euronymous Øystein Aarseth (; 22 March 1968 – 10 August 1993), better known by his stage name Euronymous, was a Norwegian musician and a founder of and central figure in the early Norwegian black metal scene. He was a co-founder and guitarist of the N ...

but

Varg In the philologist and fantasy author J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fiction, a warg is a particularly large and evil kind of wolf that could be ridden by orcs. He derived the name and characteristics of his wargs by combining meanings and my ...

beat imto it", and also claimed that the Norwegian Police were aware of Vikernes' plot to kill Euronymous, stating: "But little did I know that the Norwegian police already knew that Count Grishnackh argwas going down also to kill him. Because they bugged his phone, and he actually talked about this killing before he went to Bergen so the cops already knew that he was coming, so they probably were thinking to themselves, ‘We didn’t nail this guy for the church burnings, so let’s nail him for murder, and get rid of this f–king guy in Oslo the same time.’ So that’s basically what happened." He provided no evidence for this accusation against the Norwegian Police. The bonus disc for the album features a cover of "Disgusting Semla" from former vocalist

Dead Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

's pre-Mayhem band

Morbid A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

Reception

''Daemon'' was met with excellent reviews by critics upon release.

Loudersound ''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' features news, reviews and long-form a ...

awarded it 4.5 out of 5 and strongly compared it to the band's debut album ''

De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas ''De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas'' is the first studio album by Norwegian black metal band Mayhem. Songwriting began in 1987, but due to the suicide of vocalist Per "Dead" Ohlin and the murder of guitarist Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth, the album's r ...

''.

Metal Storm Metal Storm Limited was a research and development company based in Brisbane, Australia, that specialized in electronically initiated superposed load weapons technology and owned the proprietary rights to the electronic ballistics technology ...

awarded it a 7.8 out of 10 calling it a return to form and "leaving behind the experimental and dissonant sound" of earlier releases.

Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook ...

awarded the album an A− calling it a "return to form".

Blabbermouth.net Blabbermouth.net is a website dedicated to heavy metal and hard rock news, as well as album and music DVD reviews. Blabbermouth.net was founded and is run by Borivoj Krgin. The first version of the website was launched in March 2001; in Octob ...

awarded it a 9 out of 10. Sputnikmusic were more critical, awarding it only 3.0 out of 5, stating "''Daemon'' is a solid dose of

black metal Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw (lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an emp ...

, and not much else".

Track listing

Limited Edition CD bonus tracks Limited Edition Vinyl bonus disc

Personnel

Mayhem * Attila Csihar - lead vocals *

Teloch Morten Bergeton Iversen (born 19 November 1974), better known by his stage name Teloch ( ), is a Norwegian black metal musician known for being a live guitarist for Gorgoroth, God Seed and 1349. He is currently the guitarist for Mayhem. Ca ...

- guitars,

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

(bass) *

Ghul A ghoul ( ar, غول, ') is a demon-like being or monstrous humanoid. The concept originated in pre-Islamic Arabian religion, associated with graveyards and the consumption of human flesh. Modern fiction often uses the term to label a cert ...

- guitars * Necrobutcher -

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

Hellhammer Hellhammer was a Swiss metal band from Nürensdorf, active from 1982 to 1984. Although the band's sound and style were heavily criticized and poorly reviewed during their active years, they have been widely praised in retrospect and are often r ...

- drums Additional personnel *Necromorbus - producer, mixing, engineering *Thomas "PLEC" Johansson - mastering *Daniel Valeriani - album artwork

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2019 albums Mayhem (band) albums