Mayhem - European Legions (Live at Marseille 2000)

Rating:
Summary: Magnificent
Review: A truly essential dvd. Mayhem give a superb performance of course
and the interviews are excellent as well. Grab a copy of this
while you can...black metal at it's greatest.

Rating:
Summary: The gods show up!
Review: I never had the chance of seeing MayheM live, so this DVD was truely a rare opportunity (and privilege!)to watch the black emperors destroy live. it's said that seeing is believing. Well...Doesn't work quite with mayhem, because i actually DID see the drumming of hellhammer but i still cannot believe how fluid ,yet, inhuman is his technique in dealing the cymbals such powerful blows with virtually no seemingly visible effort...Blasphemer's hallucinating guitars simply wipes heads off, clean, and seeing necrobutcher muttering every song's lyrics, along with maniac gives u an idea of how much MayheM is united and more powerful than ever! Then comes maniac...who is in a category that's totally apart. i'll explain: His sick attitude wont be matched by any other vocalist, and completes mayhem's malefic aura to its fullness. on the stage, he becomes a true beast that slashes itself with barb wire and even slashes a fan's arm. It's really difficult to believe that along with fronting the world's blackest metal band, Maniac is actually a philosophy scholar in the university of Oslo (norway)... Mayhem destroyed both, musically and visually on this album. u just can't get enough of drooling before the capacities of each member of this band. those who keep on saying that mayhem is dead are simply blind and pitiful. The songs of their last album are made for the stage. there also comes the shooting of the concert: Excellent image definition and good lighting (in fact a mayhem concert wont be good with excessive lights!), however we rarely see the audience, but that's really too much asking coz the band's performance takes all the attention. the only complaint i may have is the missing of some songs that are of among my faves: Ancient skin, funeral fog, and pagan fears. it's a real shame they weren't played. they would've sounded great, i'm sure of that.... The bottom line is that "European legions" is a black metal milestone (like every mayhem release is!), so to all the black metal fiends out there: go get this one and knock yourselves off!!!

Rating:
Summary: The "true" Mayhem..?
Review: This DVD is excellent production and sound wise. But to me the overall Mayhem sound is gone. The fact that alot of old songs were played including Freezing Moon and Carnage gives the DVD alot of promise...but...i just cant seem to get into the "new" Mayhem...Euronymous' unique guitar sound and Dead's hollow demonic voice are gone. Maniac does extreamlly well but he doesnt seem to be totally into it. A plus is that Hellhammer seems to display one of his finest performances though. A good DVD just not really recommended for old Mayhem fans...Hailz