Description

The Freezing Moon / Jihad split with The Meads of Asphodel is one of a few split discs in Mayhem’s official and bootleg discographies. At first sight a seemingly unlikely pairing, the two bands share, to quote The Meads’ website, a ‘black metal spine’, in spite of their very different tastes in casual wear. There won’t be much argument that the two Mayhem tracks, taken from the old CBR compilation album ‘Projections Of A Stained Mind’, featuring the classic Dead / Euronymous / Necrobutcher / Hellhammer line-up, represent the epitome of Norwegian black metal. The production is minimal and swampy and the music chilling and supremely aggressive. Of all the available studio and live recordings of ‘Freezing Moon’, that offered here must surely stand as the definitive version. What grabs the attention initially with The Meads’ tracks is the liberal use of samples and sound effects. The band describes its music as a ‘unique myriad of colliding musical styles tethered to a black metal spine’. It’s an accurate enough description. The Meads of Asphodel opens with ‘Jihad’. The intro track definitely sets the mood, along with the beginning of ‘The Grisly Din Of Killing Steel’. The intros are very middle eastern sounding, with some form of Arabic talking, missiles launching, church organs, and something that sounds like knives sliding off of each other. The music starts off with a killer riff, some awesome drumming, and very rough vocals. There are some really eerie keyboard sounds here, with a very melodic keyboard/piano piece over top. A really cool, almost techno drum sound is used towards the middle, with some ‘O Fortuna’ symphonies. From the description of the first 3 minutes of the first music track, one can tell this isn't your typical black metal band. The song then almost sounds like the tape is slowing down, only to kick into another great riff. The style here is a mid-pace black metal, with chunky riffing, raw vocals, and relatively speedy drumming. Recommended to black metal fans. All Mayhem fans should own this. Meads of Asphodel are recommended to fans of Nile, Melechesh, and Orphaned Land, simply for the fusion of Middle Eastern elements. Very rare and limited 10” picture disc Mayhem 1. Freezing Moon 2. Carnage The Meads Of Asphodel 1. Intro 2. Jihad: The Grisly Din Of Killing Steel 3. Paradise 4. Another God In Another Place 5. Tanks In The Holy Land 6. Assassins Of Allah