De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
Encyclopedia
De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is an album by Norwegian
black metal
band Mayhem
. Songwriting began as early as 1987, but due to the suicide of vocalist Dead (Per Yngve Ohlin) and murder of guitarist Euronymous
(Øystein Aarseth), the album's release was delayed until May 1994. De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is widely considered one of the most influential black metal albums of all time.
Projections of a Stained Mind. However, in April 1991, Dead committed suicide
and bassist Necrobutcher
left the band as a result. Mayhem were now in need of a vocalist and bassist to record the album. In May 1991, Euronymous recruited Attila Csihar
(who performed with Tormentor
) as vocalist and Varg Vikernes
(who performed solo as Burzum
) as bassist. In 1992, Vikernes was allegedly behind three church arson
s in Norway. Blackthorn (who performed solo as Thorns
) claimed to have written some of the riffs for the album and to have finished some of Dead's song lyrics. This lineup recorded much of the album during the first half of 1993 at Grieghallen in Bergen
.
On 10 August 1993, Vikernes and Blackthorn travelled to Euronymous' home in Oslo
. Upon their arrival a confrontation began, which ended when Vikernes fatally stabbed Euronymous. His body was found outside the apartment with twenty-three cut wounds – two to the head, five to the neck, and sixteen to the back. Vikernes defends that most of Euronymous's cut wounds were caused by broken glass he had fallen on during the struggle. He was arrested within days and sentenced to 21 years in prison for both the murder and the church burnings.
During Vikernes' trial, police stated that they had found explosives and ammunition in Vikernes's home. According to the media, Euronymous and Vikernes had conspired to blow up Nidaros Cathedral
, which appears on the album cover. Vikernes denied this allegation in a 2009 interview, stating "I was getting [the explosives and ammunition] in order to defend Norway if we were attacked any time. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union could have decided to attack us".
After Vikernes was arrested for the murder, Euronymous's parents requested that Vikernes's bass tracks be removed. Hellhammer
allegedly agreed to remove the tracks and re-record them himself, but he did not know how to play bass and as a result, Vikernes's contributions remained in the final mix.
The album was eventually released in May 1994, shortly before Vikernes was imprisoned. It features the last lyrics written by Dead before his suicide, and the last songs recorded by Euronymous before his murder.
phrase which Euronymous translates (and intended to be translated) as Lord Satan's Secret Rites, but the phrase translates more literally as Of Lord Satan Mysteries/Of Lord Satan Secrets/Of Lord Satan Secret Rites. The album cover shows the east side of Nidaros Cathedral
in Trondheim
, Norway
. The original release of the album on DSP featured no lyrics in the booklet and the cathedral on the front was coloured a shade of blue. A second pressing on DSP contained lyrics in the booklet and the color of the cathedral was purple, the color that was originally intended. A third pressing on DSP also contained lyrics, but the building was blue again. The more common reissue on Century Black does not feature lyrics and the cathedral is blue.
genre, and its bleak aesthetics and lyrics have often been cited as an inspiration by other black metal groups.
While Mayhem's previous vocalist had been Swedish, Attila Csihar
was from Hungary
. His style is somewhat atypical for black metal, and has provoked a mixed reception from fans; for example, Metal Reviews gave him the nickname "Attila 'Fingernails' Csihar" (although a subsequent review by the website praised his later, Ordo Ad Chao
-era performances). The song "Freezing Moon" was included on Kerrang!s 25 Extreme Metal Anthems. The track "Freezing Moon" has been covered live and in studio by such bands as Behemoth
, Vader
, Enslaved
, Cradle of Filth
and Darkmoon. "Funeral Fog" was covered by Emperor
with Csihar on vocals.
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
black metal
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
band Mayhem
Mayhem (band)
Mayhem is a Norwegian black metal band formed in 1984 in Oslo, Norway and regarded as one of the pioneers of the influential Norwegian black metal scene...
. Songwriting began as early as 1987, but due to the suicide of vocalist Dead (Per Yngve Ohlin) and murder of guitarist Euronymous
Euronymous
Øystein Aarseth , who went by the pseudonym Euronymous, was a Norwegian guitarist and co-founder of the Norwegian black metal band Mayhem...
(Øystein Aarseth), the album's release was delayed until May 1994. De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is widely considered one of the most influential black metal albums of all time.
Background and recording
Mayhem began writing songs for the album in 1987, with vocalist Dead composing the lyrics. In 1991, studio versions of the songs "Freezing Moon" and "Carnage" appeared on the CBR Records compilation albumCompilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
Projections of a Stained Mind. However, in April 1991, Dead committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
and bassist Necrobutcher
Necrobutcher
Jørn Stubberud is a Norwegian musician. He is best known as the bassist in the black metal band Mayhem under the stage name Necrobutcher...
left the band as a result. Mayhem were now in need of a vocalist and bassist to record the album. In May 1991, Euronymous recruited Attila Csihar
Attila Csihar
Attila Csihar , also sometimes known as Void, is a Hungarian black metal vocalist, best known for his vocal work on the album De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas by Mayhem. Author Ian Christe describes his vocals as "operatic."-Biography:...
(who performed with Tormentor
Tormentor
Tormentor is a black metal band formed in 1986 in Budapest, Hungary. Tormentor was one of the first black metal bands using synthesisers to create a more atmospheric sound. They recorded their first album, Anno Domini, in 1988, but were unable to release it until the end of communism. The album...
) as vocalist and Varg Vikernes
Varg Vikernes
Varg Vikernes is a Norwegian black metal musician, writer, philosopher, religious and political activist, arsonist and convicted murderer.Vikernes was born near Bergen, Norway. In 1991, he founded the one-man music project Burzum, which quickly became popular within the early Norwegian black metal...
(who performed solo as Burzum
Burzum
Burzum is a musical project by Varg Vikernes . It began during 1991 in Bergen, Norway and quickly became prominent within the early Norwegian black metal scene...
) as bassist. In 1992, Vikernes was allegedly behind three church arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
s in Norway. Blackthorn (who performed solo as Thorns
Thorns (band)
Thorns is a Norwegian black metal band that formed in 1989 and was part of the early Norwegian black metal scene. They made two highly influential demos in the early 1990s, Grymyrk and Trøndertun, but have only released one full-length album....
) claimed to have written some of the riffs for the album and to have finished some of Dead's song lyrics. This lineup recorded much of the album during the first half of 1993 at Grieghallen in Bergen
Bergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
.
On 10 August 1993, Vikernes and Blackthorn travelled to Euronymous' home in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
. Upon their arrival a confrontation began, which ended when Vikernes fatally stabbed Euronymous. His body was found outside the apartment with twenty-three cut wounds – two to the head, five to the neck, and sixteen to the back. Vikernes defends that most of Euronymous's cut wounds were caused by broken glass he had fallen on during the struggle. He was arrested within days and sentenced to 21 years in prison for both the murder and the church burnings.
During Vikernes' trial, police stated that they had found explosives and ammunition in Vikernes's home. According to the media, Euronymous and Vikernes had conspired to blow up Nidaros Cathedral
Nidaros Cathedral
Nidaros Cathedral is a Church of Norway cathedral located in the city of Trondheim in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It was the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Nidaros from its establishment in 1152 until its abolition in 1537. Since the Reformation, it has been the cathedral of the...
, which appears on the album cover. Vikernes denied this allegation in a 2009 interview, stating "I was getting [the explosives and ammunition] in order to defend Norway if we were attacked any time. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union could have decided to attack us".
After Vikernes was arrested for the murder, Euronymous's parents requested that Vikernes's bass tracks be removed. Hellhammer
Jan Axel Blomberg
Jan Axel "Hellhammer" Blomberg is a three time Spellemannprisen award-winning heavy metal drummer. He is most well known for his drumming with the band Mayhem, with which he began his career...
allegedly agreed to remove the tracks and re-record them himself, but he did not know how to play bass and as a result, Vikernes's contributions remained in the final mix.
The album was eventually released in May 1994, shortly before Vikernes was imprisoned. It features the last lyrics written by Dead before his suicide, and the last songs recorded by Euronymous before his murder.
Title and artwork
The title De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is a LatinLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
phrase which Euronymous translates (and intended to be translated) as Lord Satan's Secret Rites, but the phrase translates more literally as Of Lord Satan Mysteries/Of Lord Satan Secrets/Of Lord Satan Secret Rites. The album cover shows the east side of Nidaros Cathedral
Nidaros Cathedral
Nidaros Cathedral is a Church of Norway cathedral located in the city of Trondheim in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It was the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Nidaros from its establishment in 1152 until its abolition in 1537. Since the Reformation, it has been the cathedral of the...
in Trondheim
Trondheim
Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. The original release of the album on DSP featured no lyrics in the booklet and the cathedral on the front was coloured a shade of blue. A second pressing on DSP contained lyrics in the booklet and the color of the cathedral was purple, the color that was originally intended. A third pressing on DSP also contained lyrics, but the building was blue again. The more common reissue on Century Black does not feature lyrics and the cathedral is blue.
Reception
De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is widely acclaimed as one of the masterpieces of the black metalBlack metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
genre, and its bleak aesthetics and lyrics have often been cited as an inspiration by other black metal groups.
While Mayhem's previous vocalist had been Swedish, Attila Csihar
Attila Csihar
Attila Csihar , also sometimes known as Void, is a Hungarian black metal vocalist, best known for his vocal work on the album De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas by Mayhem. Author Ian Christe describes his vocals as "operatic."-Biography:...
was from Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
. His style is somewhat atypical for black metal, and has provoked a mixed reception from fans; for example, Metal Reviews gave him the nickname "Attila 'Fingernails' Csihar" (although a subsequent review by the website praised his later, Ordo Ad Chao
Ordo Ad Chao
Ordo Ad Chao is the fourth full-length album by the Norwegian black metal band Mayhem. "Ordo ad chao" is incorrect Latin . It is meant to be translated as "order to chaos" - a reversal of the Latin expression "ordo ab chao" often cited as the motto used in Freemasonry...
-era performances). The song "Freezing Moon" was included on Kerrang!s 25 Extreme Metal Anthems. The track "Freezing Moon" has been covered live and in studio by such bands as Behemoth
Behemoth (band)
Behemoth is a Polish blackened death metal band from Gdańsk, formed in 1991. They are considered to have played an important role in establishing the Polish extreme metal underground, alongside bands such as Vader, Decapitated, Vesania and Hate....
, Vader
Vader (band)
Vader is a Polish death metal band from Olsztyn, formed in 1983. According to Piotr Wiwczarek, the band's founding singer and guitar player, the band's name was inspired by Darth Vader from the Star Wars film series. Lyrical themes include stories by H. P. Lovecraft, WW2, horror and anti-christian...
, Enslaved
Enslaved (band)
Enslaved is a progressive black metal band formed in June 1991 in Sveio, Norway, and currently based out of Bergen, Norway.-History:Enslaved was formed in June 1991 by Ivar Bjørnson and Grutle Kjellson when they were 13 and 17 years old, respectively. The band name was inspired by an Immortal demo...
, Cradle of Filth
Cradle of Filth
Cradle of Filth are an English extreme metal band, formed in Suffolk in 1991. The band's musical style evolved from black metal to a cleaner and more "produced" amalgam of gothic metal, symphonic black metal, and other extreme metal styles, while their lyrical themes and imagery are heavily...
and Darkmoon. "Funeral Fog" was covered by Emperor
Emperor (band)
Emperor was a Norwegian black metal band formed in 1991. They dissolved in 2001, but reunited in 2006 and again in 2007 for a few festival dates and brief US tours. The group was founded by Samoth and Ihsahn .-Biography:...
with Csihar on vocals.
Track listing
Additional Info
- The track "From the Dark Past" was originally titled "Materialized In Stone", but was changed upon the album's release. The title was later used by Swedish black metal band MardukMarduk (band)Marduk is a black metal band from Norrköping, Sweden. The band formed in 1990 and released their first record in 1991. Their name is derived from the Babylonian god Marduk, patron deity of Babylon.-Musical style:...
on their album Opus NocturneOpus NocturneOpus Nocturne is the third studio album by Swedish black metal band Marduk. It was recorded and mixed at Hellspawn Studios in September 1994 and released that December by Osmose Productions. It was re-released in digipak format that included bonus rehearsal tracks on June 27, 2006. Opus Nocturne is...
the following month. - The lyrics of "Life Eternal" song was a gift made by vocalist DeadDead (musician)Per Yngve Ohlin , better known by his stage name Dead, was a Swedish black metal vocalist best known for his work with Norwegian black metal band Mayhem...
to Mauricio Montolla "Bull Metal" owner of the underground label Warmaster Records in ColombiaColombiaColombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
who was a pen pal friend of him and EuronymousEuronymousØystein Aarseth , who went by the pseudonym Euronymous, was a Norwegian guitarist and co-founder of the Norwegian black metal band Mayhem...
and who have made the first release of the Dawn of the Black HeartsDawn of the Black HeartsDawn of the Black Hearts is a bootleg live album by the Norwegian black metal band Mayhem. It is infamous for bearing a photograph of Mayhem's vocalist, Dead , after his suicide in April 1991. This photograph was allegedly taken by Mayhem's guitarist, Euronymous , upon discovering Dead's body...
album. "Bull Metal" would use this lyrics later on a theme of his band Typhon in 1995.
Credits
- Attila CsiharAttila CsiharAttila Csihar , also sometimes known as Void, is a Hungarian black metal vocalist, best known for his vocal work on the album De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas by Mayhem. Author Ian Christe describes his vocals as "operatic."-Biography:...
– vocals - Euronymous (Øystein Aarseth) – electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
- Count GrishnackhVarg VikernesVarg Vikernes is a Norwegian black metal musician, writer, philosopher, religious and political activist, arsonist and convicted murderer.Vikernes was born near Bergen, Norway. In 1991, he founded the one-man music project Burzum, which quickly became popular within the early Norwegian black metal...
(Varg Vikernes) – bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - HellhammerJan Axel BlombergJan Axel "Hellhammer" Blomberg is a three time Spellemannprisen award-winning heavy metal drummer. He is most well known for his drumming with the band Mayhem, with which he began his career...
(Jan Axel Blomberg) – drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... - BlackthornThorns (band)Thorns is a Norwegian black metal band that formed in 1989 and was part of the early Norwegian black metal scene. They made two highly influential demos in the early 1990s, Grymyrk and Trøndertun, but have only released one full-length album....
(Snorre Ruch) – wrote some of the lyrics and guitar riffs - Dead (Per Yngve Ohlin) – wrote most of the lyrics