MAYHEM
The Palladium
Worcester, MA
03.24.25
LIVE REVIEW AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY JEREMY SAFFER
PHOTO GALLERY BELOW
Since 2012 Decibel have been bringing the best and… darkest… within the metal world on the road in the US, first with Behemoth, Watain and others. This time around they have Mayhem on their 40th anniversary tour along with Mortiis, Imperial Triumphant, and New Skeletal Faces as support.
Though being backstage doing photo sessions (look for photos coming to the next issue of Outburn) during the support acts, what could be heard through the walls of The Palladium, New Skeletal Faces absolutely welcomed the audience to what would be one of the best showcases of metal we will see for a while. Being very well versed with both Imperial Triumphant and Mortiis, they always put on an incredible show. Though only catching bits and pieces due to photo obligations, they absolutely sounded top notch and per usual.
After shoots wrapped it was time for the 40th anniversary Mayhem performance which would be a truly special set.
As the room went black, the screen on stage lit up with a pre-performance video giving a visual history of the band before they marched on stage to bring all a sonic history of the band.
The fog flowed in and the band kicked it off with two songs from Daemon then two from Esoteric Warfare into Illuminate Eliminate from Ordo all while the screen behind them would have constantly playing visuals during each song and historical interlude between them. As they went from album to album the screen would play a slew of photos from that era before announcing the album they were about to pull from.
After the first 5 songs there was a change in outfit for Chimera (the album and the title track) into a more military looking garb which would bring the audience from Chimera to Grand Declaration of War, as Attila brought his unique vocal talent to not just his own songs, but those originally recorded by Maniac as well. After a few songs from GDOW, they went into Wolf’s Lair Abyss playing the songs that tied into GDOW.
Once they wrapped WLA, the room went dark and the band exited the stage, everyone well versed with Mayhem knew what was next in the discography. The album that made them a global phenomenon… De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. As the stage was black, the screen played bits and pieces of interviews with Euronymous, with a slew of photos and video giving such an incredible visual history to go along with the band’s set.
The band returned to stage cloaked to bring out the classics, with Freezing Moon into Life Eternal and De Mysteriis with a lot of tribute to Dead. Attila left the stage and the remaining members performed the iconic Funeral Fog with the vocals of Dead playing through the speaker which was such a meaningful tribute to the history of Mayhem and the contributions he made to Black Metal.
The band again exited the stage for a change into more casual clothes (Necrobutcher even repping a shirt for a local Boston record store Armageddon Shop). They ripped into Deathcrush, closing out the historic night with the songs that laid the foundation for what Mayhem and Black Metal was to become.
The night was incredible for fans of metal and especially for Black Metal and Mayhem historians who got an incredible visual and musical history of the band as they celebrated their 40th anniversary of being a band.
Mayhem carefully curated this set to start with their most recent album and in reverse chronological order, ending with their first EP, playing 2 songs off most albums but expanding to 4 songs with what most would say is their most important contributions to Black Metal: De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas and Deathcrush.
This show was a perfect tribute to Mayhem by Mayhem and a gift to all who attended. This show is not one to be missed.
