MAYHEM – Gig Review & Photo Gallery 9th January @ Princess Theatre, Bris QLD

MAYHEM
Princess Theatre, Brisbane QLD
January 9, 2025
Support: HOST

As close to household names the black metal scene has, Mayhem have proudly flown the tattered flag for the extreme, anti-commercial music genre for four decades. With their 40th anniversary tour carving its way down to Australia, it feels like only last week that the Norwegian legends were in our land raising hell on their Thalassic Ritual tour at the start of 2023. While that tour was more of a centerpiece for their excellent recent LP Daemon, this evening is all about paying tribute to their entire legacy. As the Brisbane weather produces a suitably bleak and stormy night to serve as a backdrop for the festivities, tonight marks the first performance of the year for Mayhem and the kickoff date for their short Australian run shows.

A somewhat sparsely filled Princess Theatre greets harsh industrial/noise Sydney opening act Host – to be fair, most punters seem to be in the gigantic merch line snaking its way through the venue. Ironically, those waiting for shirts and hoodies more or less experienced the same set from Host as those watching the stage; while interesting at first, Host’s unbroken, droning 40-minute support slot drags badly by the end, with most punters losing interest in the repetitive soundscapes and returning to their conversations. Even the infrequently used percussionist – who barely played for the first 10 minutes – is loose at times, whilst the vocals sit below the samples and walls of reverb. The rumbling low end and cavernous sound make for an artsy experience – but without any visual component, Host’s climax-free music becomes nothing more than background noise.

Fortunately, things take a massive uptick when our headliners take to the stage. With the Princess Theatre nicely filled up with fans both young and old(er), the curtain drops to reveal an elaborate stage setup – and backing screen – with a short documentary playing before Mayhem explodes into live with the powerhouse ‘Malum’. Starting the show with a reverse-chronological journey through their history, some of the band’s underrated mid-career cuts get some deserved love, such as ‘My Death’ and experimental ‘View from Nihil’. The Ordo Ad Chao epic ‘Illuminate Eliminate’ is a set highlight – the ten-minute track sees guitarist Ghul beating the feedback out of his instrument, while his Orlock-esque fellow six-stringer Teloch’s right-arm stamina is a thing to behold.

Backed with blistering lights, an extended stage set up – and some of the best live sound we’ve heard at the Princess Theatre – it’s utterly faultless on the production front. Adding the backing screen is a master touch, with the themed, highly professional video packages between every era really making tonight’s show feel like a proper celebration of Mayhem’s musical history. Separated into 3 slots, it’s the De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas section that (unsurprisingly) receives the biggest ovation of the night, with the pit at it’s most active. Following another short documentary clip, the band remerge in period-correct hoods, with cuts from the landmark black metal release – such as the anthem-like ‘Freezing Moon‘ – sounding as violent and visceral some 3 decades later, whilst the title track is dragged out to become another immense epic.

Founding member Necrobutcher creeps around the stage – slugging from a bottle of wine on top of his bass cabinet – seemingly more than happy to have the blood-soaked Attila Csihar command the proceedings with frantic energy and staggering vocals. Covering all the extreme metal singing territory – shrieking, barking, growling – with the occasional booming operatic clean and falsetto scream – the Hungarian national is certainly tonight’s MVP, hurtling around the expanded stage with boundless energy for the entire of Mayhem’s two-hour show. Wrapping up their performance with their earliest material, the blood-red lighting that swamps the stage perfectly backs Mayhem’s rawest and most primal work. ‘Deathcrush’ and ‘Chainsaw Gutsfuck’ are furiously hammered out with punk-like energy, whilst the apocalyptic ‘Pure Fucking Armageddon’ is a suitable intense way to end this evening.

As the punters – and remaining dry-ice – funnel out of the Princess Theatre, tonight has certainly had a big ‘rock show’ feel, but without sacrificing an ounce of black metal cred. With power, energy, and tightness that’d put a band a quarter of Mayhem‘s age to shame, this evening has been a triumphant celebration of 40 years of black metal. After an incredible 120-minute extreme metal history lesson here in Brisbane, it’s hard to fathom that fans and Mayhem alike could have started their 2025s any stronger.

Review by Andrew Kapper @andrew_kapper

Photo Gallery by Amanda Brenchley @amandabrenchleyphotography
Please credit Wall Of Sound and Amanda Brenchley if you repost photos.