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Mayhem vs Burzum


Requiem

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I like this forum and I think it's time for new blood, if you'll pardon the pun. 

Where do we stand on Mayhem and Burzum?

I ask because obviously they were contemporaneous in their heyday and leaders of the Norwegian black metal scene of the early 90s. Again obviously, there is the fact that Varg was once the bass player for Mayhem, and again obviously he killed Euronymous (hail the eternal king). And again, both bands have pushed on and are still releasing music that may or may not live up to the quality of the glory days. 

Mayhem pros: One classic studio album that is possibly the best black metal of all time. Several other studio albums of increasing variety and progression. Three classic live shows with Dead (Leipzig, Zeitz and Sarpsborg). Towering personalities in Euronymous and Dead, with Hellhammer and Necro Butcher also becoming cult figures to some. 

Burzum pros: Four absolutely classic black metal albums. One of the all time great black metal voices, too. Like him or loathe him, you can't deny that Varg is a true rebel and embodies the black metal spirit (sort of). 

Mayhem cons: Some find the four different vocalists a few vocalists too many. The change of styles puts some people off. Some people feel that the band should have died with Euronymous and that current Mayhem isn't real Mayhem (who even knows who's in the band these days for instance). 

Burzum cons: Some very weak keyboard albums and dodgy recent releases. No live material or shows. Varg is also a jerk. 

Overall Verdict:

I'm going with Mayhem. The sheer variety of their output means that there is such an incredible array of music, whether it's the bootleg 'Dawn of the Black Hearts' with Dead in 1990, or the martial sounds of 2000s 'Grand Declaration of War', there is just so much to offer. Check out my photo of my Mayhem collection in the Photography forum 'Metal Collections' thread. Studio, live, different singers of great ability (yes I love Maniac too). Also the fact that they've played live for years and I've seen them several times, unlike Burzum they actually feel like a real flesh and blood band. The metal ideal really comes through. Euronymous and Dead are now legendary figures. 

I love both bands very much, but Mayhem stands for something that transcends music. It's not just a band for me, it's an entity. 

Whattaya reckon?

 

 

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For me I am only ever interested in "De Mysteriis..." from a Mayhem point of view.  I really don't enjoy "Deathcrush" and probably only ever play "Live In Leipzig" in terms of their other releases.

The fact that he is a massive cock aside, I enjoy all of Burzum's albums up to and including "Fallen".  I genuinely don't mind the ambient stuff he does even though I can see how the repetition of the music can easily grate on some.

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1 hour ago, MacabreEternal said:

The fact that he is a massive cock aside, I enjoy all of Burzum's albums up to and including "Fallen".  I genuinely don't mind the ambient stuff he does even though I can see how the repetition of the music can easily grate on some.

Same here, and I like some of Umskiptar too.

Mayhem never really did it for me.

So yeah, I vote Burzum!

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Burzum's winning this battle. A testament to the incredible quality of his work produced over a very short period of time and some sympathetic views of his recent material. I actually quite like 'Daudi Baldrs' as well. I like that creepy old synth sound. 

 

9 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

Hey look, a Mayhem/Burzum thread about actual music, rather than morbid drama and unsubstantiated rumors!

I'll take Burzum. I actually listen to the first few albums pretty regularly when I'm painting. I'm still a member of the No Attilas Club. I thought Maniac was great, but haven't put any Mayhem on in ages.

Lol - the No Attila's Club. His voice definitely took a while to gel with me back in the olden days, but I don't even think of it now. His work on the last two Mayhem albums is amazing. It was quite a change from Dead, that's for sure. As you can probably tell from my original post, again, I'm well on board with it now. 

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After scratching my head for a while I've decided that this is supposed to be an anti-Attila poster. Not sure what the Homer Simpson thing means though. I think Attila is an awesome vocalist, whether for Mayhem or Aborym. Hail Homer Si- I mean Attila! 

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8 hours ago, Requiem said:

After scratching my head for a while I've decided that this is supposed to be an anti-Attila poster. Not sure what the Homer Simpson thing means though. I think Attila is an awesome vocalist, whether for Mayhem or Aborym. Hail Homer Si- I mean Attila! 

Ah dude, you didn't see the episode with the No Homers Club? The Stonecutters? I rarely watched any Simpsons but that one was hilarious.

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1 minute ago, FatherAlabaster said:

Ah dude, you didn't see the episode with the No Homers Club? The Stonecutters? I rarely watched any Simpsons but that one was hilarious.

Oh yeah, I saw it. Wow that was, maybe 20 years ago?? It's definitely one of the classics. That's a very obscure reference but it all makes sense now. Nice one. 

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  • 1 month later...
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2 hours ago, somerandomguy said:

burzum because varg has more studio albums than live ones

 

So does Mayhem.

This is a very odd way to determine your personal preference for a band's music, especially because Burzum has no official live albums out. It almost seems as if you're not taking the content of the music into account at all. 

Also, let's count the official Mayhem releases: 

Studio: 7 (Deathcrush, De Mysteriis, Wolf's Lair, Grand Declaration, Chimera, Ordo, Esoteric)

Live: 5 (Zeitz, Liepzig, Mediolanum, Euro/US Legions, De Mysteriis Alive)

With some pretty significant line-up interruptions, I think this is still a pretty good output. 

If you prefer Burzum, just say Burzum. 

 

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  • 2 months later...

I really do not think that Burzum and Mayhem can be fairly compared beyond personal taste in music.  They each took a distinct direction to black metal that sound significantly different from one another.  I like both of them very much, but for different reasons.  Which of the two I listen to simply depends on how I am feeling at the time.

Overall, I prefer Burzum.

 

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12 hours ago, Vampyrique said:

Burzum wins easily, balancing quality with quantity. 

I really like Mayhem's style but they haven't been able to win me over as much as I'd want them to. I like all of their albums, Esoteric Warfare being my least favourite.

Mayhem are my favourite band, basically, as described in my initial post. It's not that I consider all of their albums to be superior to other bands', but as an entity, they win.

As for Burzum - obviously those first four albums are very special, but Burzum/Varg just doesn't have the same depth of variety and Varg is less interesting to me compared with the various members of Mayhem. Pretty much everything after 'Filosofem' is a cool curiosity at best, boring and empty at worst. 'Esoteric Warfare', as middling as it is, is still vastly preferable for me compared with the last couple of post-prison Burzum albums. 

As you may not have seen my collection I post it here for your personal perusal (I've posted it before but I'm a proud daddy and want to share it with the world):

mayhem_collection_may_17.jpg

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1 hour ago, Requiem said:

Mayhem are my favourite band, basically, as described in my initial post. It's not that I consider all of their albums to be superior to other bands', but as an entity, they win.

As for Burzum - obviously those first four albums are very special, but Burzum/Varg just doesn't have the same depth of variety and Varg is less interesting to me compared with the various members of Mayhem. Pretty much everything after 'Filosofem' is a cool curiosity at best, boring and empty at worst. 'Esoteric Warfare', as middling as it is, is still vastly preferable for me compared with the last couple of post-prison Burzum albums. 

As you may not have seen my collection I post it here for your personal perusal (I've posted it before but I'm a proud daddy and want to share it with the world):

mayhem_collection_may_17.jpg

Wow, that's an impressive collection! I've only got the Mayhem basics. On a side note I'd like to know what else lies deep within the cavernous depths and hidden vaults at Castle Requiem and how does the missus contend with your level of compact disc-ophilia? 

I agree with everything you said about Mayhem being more interesting on many levels and the lure and lore of Mayhem far exceeds that of any metal band but relative to my criteria of ranking bands against one another, musical style and my connection to or appreciation of band members is typically outweighed by the body of work of a band. I find it interesting that Mayhem was able to maintain a consistently Mayhemish vibe on albums throughout their lengthy career despite the line-up changes, between album gaps, and storied events. But I understand your reasoning completely. 

I thought Belus sounded like a logical follow-up to Filosofem and I enjoyed it very much. Fallen was fine but didn't like the direction as much, have the follow up album but listened to it once and didn't bother with anything after. But As you pointed out, the first four are classics and to which showcases run of albums that I don't think many bands can compete with. Hlidskjalf is excellent too! 

 

 

 

 

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17 hours ago, Requiem said:

Mayhem are my favourite band, basically, as described in my initial post. It's not that I consider all of their albums to be superior to other bands', but as an entity, they win.

As for Burzum - obviously those first four albums are very special, but Burzum/Varg just doesn't have the same depth of variety and Varg is less interesting to me compared with the various members of Mayhem. Pretty much everything after 'Filosofem' is a cool curiosity at best, boring and empty at worst. 'Esoteric Warfare', as middling as it is, is still vastly preferable for me compared with the last couple of post-prison Burzum albums. 

As you may not have seen my collection I post it here for your personal perusal (I've posted it before but I'm a proud daddy and want to share it with the world):

mayhem_collection_may_17.jpg

Cool collection!  What are the papers in the center?

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