Mayhem - Esoteric Warfare

(CD Album Review)

****
The True Mayhem Return!

As I stated in my review of the 'Psywar' single before, which I wrote a few month's back. I was a bit weary with the idea of new material from Mayhem as I thought Blasphemer had left a pretty big void to fill especially after the masterpiece that was 'Ordo ad Chao' how could they possibly follow that up when the man who wrote all the music for that had now gone. Well after hearing 'Psywar' I went from worried to excited very quickly and shame on myself for doubting the mighty (sorry, true!) Mayhem if history teaches us anything it will take more then a member leaving to destroy them.

'Esoteric Warfare' really takes off where 'Ordo ad Chao' finished. It's kind the other side to that albums coin to turn a phrase. The spirit and the feel of that album is still very present and it's striking how much newcomer Teloch understands Mayhem so much and considering the band have trusted him to write all of the music here speaks volumes. The album start off more immediately with blastbeats etc on the first couple of tracks. I'd say more typical Mayhem but really what is typical about this band? every album they have made is different but the album starts off which more of a bang and then we get to 'Pandaemon' and 'Milab' and we get to the more disjointed, atmospheric and downright insane! It's tracks like this that bring to mind the darker depth's or 'Ordo ad Chao' but also 'Grand declaration of War' if you remember how mind warping that album was.

All in all it's still very fresh and all Mayhem's albums take time to fully digest. It took month's for me to wrap my head around 'Ordo ad Chao' and people are actually starting to accept 'Grand declaration of War' now even when it was panned for years. Is it what you would expect? No because how knows what to expect from Mayhem. Is it what you want? absolutely! It's as unique as it is a typical Mayhem album but again what is a typical album by these legends in their field. They are very different from the band that recorded 'Deathcrush' and 'De mysteriis dom Sathanas' all those years ago but they have naturally evolved into is something different but the core remains very much the same. It's a great addition to one of the most fantastic, intriguing catalogue's around.