Concert Review: Mayhem (f/Black Anvil & Immolation) at The Ready Room 11/10/17

This concert started about thirty years ago in Oslo, Norway.

In those days, Black Metal wasn't a common term. In fact, it hadn't yet reached the mainstream vocabulary on these shores.

At that time, this guy here, was just getting his feet wet with Metallica and that would lead to Morbid Angel and Deicide... 

As said before, folks have been calling me Satanic since the age of eight and based on the pentagrams on my clothing...looking back I see why they said that.

Black Metal now...is a term in the American vernacular. Though, not unlike the vast majority who throw up the devil horns, most people really don't know what it is. 

It took some time for me to warm up to this particular sub-genre of extreme metal, but in the now, though it's not one of my favorites, there's a goodly number of what I'd term classics in my vinyl library.

So, at the show, I'm between belonging and interloping. The crowd there was certainly different than any other show I've ever attended, in ways both good and bad.

A couple of New York bands, Anvil and Immolation opened the show. 

Anvil came out bedecked in corpse paint. The rhythm guitarist had the best looking black metal corpse paint I have ever seen either (now) live or in a photo. He legitimately looked like a corpse.

Sporting pair of Gibson guitars played through what can only be described as an amplifier and soundboard designed in Freddy Krueger's boiler room, they set the tone with their set.

The best way to describe them was unmerciful. They were heavy, engaging, and played a raging set. Do yourself a favor and check them out if you haven't already.

Immolation was next. They had some fans in the crowd. It's unfortunate to me that how in extreme metal, a band can have been around for over 20 years, have several albums, and be truly amazing and yet none of my cadre had ever heard of them.

They were somewhere between: groove, black, and death metals, at least based on the conversation in the car on the way home.

They didn't wear any paint and had a unified look. Black buttoned shirts and black slacks. The guitarists couldn't have looked more different. On lead we had a Satanic Bob Kulick and on rhythm we had a Satanic (and skinny) Warren Haynes.

They were very heavy, very appreciative of their audience, and the other bands on the package. Great songs and great guys. Their stage presence was a bit more polished than Black Anvil.

If you're reading this before the tour, watch how the lead player wields his guitar. It's as though he's holding a magic wand he can't quite control.

After (what always seems like) an interminable amount of time, the lights went out(er). A bright light engulfed us all. A recorded message came over the PA (a first for me) asking the crowd to leave their mobile phones in their pockets in order to maintain the atmosphere of the performance.

It was largely, but not wholly followed.

It was time for the main draw of the night to take the stage, and an entrance they made.What I don't know about Mayhem's live performances could just about squeeze into the Grand Canyon, but never would I have expected them to come out in monk's robes.

The players took the stage and began an instrumental, shall we call it mood piece, and in time Attila (the vocalist on the first Mayhem record) appraised the time to be right for his entrance.

Of the players, only one guitarist had on paint which then deposed the earlier guitarist of having the best corpse paint I'd ever seen. His face coupled with the shadows of the stage, the hood, and the ever present fog was a sight to behold.

He was scary.

Attilla's paint was somewhere between standard black metal and King Diamond.

Now that the clergy has arrived and the congregation has obliged, the ceremony can begin.

Mayhem's somewhat short set was as much ritual and magic was was a heavy metal concert. Attilla's movements were very precise and unlike anything I'd ever seen on a stage before.

It seemed like he was attempting to bring Lord Satan to the stage as they played their black hymns. This feeling was all the more powerful during one of the many stage changes that brought out a table set for Black Magic.

During the songs that followed, the ritualized hand movements began taking shape over and in the flames of the lighted candles on stage. Then the skull became a featured part of the show.

Though only two performers on Mayhem's black metal opus, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, were on the stage that night, of the five three of them should be considered as original or classic members.

The history of this band is well documented, so there's no reason to get into it now.

Most of the evening, I was staring at the band that created the black metal conventions we all know today. As Immolation said, Mayhem truly are legends.

It was awe inspiring to be in their presence.

Date: 11/10/17
Venue: The Ready Room, St. Louis, MO
Artist: Mayhem, Immolation, and Black Anvil
(All Photos courtesy of Danny Nichols)