Due to their spearheading of Norway’s infamous second wave of black metal, Mayhem will always be considered a controversial act within the global metal community. But now, the band look to piss off even their diehard kvltist fans, as they’ve announced a new EP for later this year featuring some unorthodox cover songs.
Mayhem will drop their Atavistic Black Disorder/Kommando EP this July via Century Media Records. The record contains three original tracks and four punk covers, including songs by Discharge, Dead Kennedys, Rudimentary Peni, and Ramones. The material was laid down in extra time left over from the recording of the band’s last album, 2019’s Daemon.
“When we recorded the drums for Daemon, we suddenly had three to four days of extra studio time,” says bassist Necrobutcher. “Hellhammer recorded his stuff faster than we had planned, so we picked out a bunch of covers to record, just to have something for later use. It turns out that we made the right move, as we didn’t want to start on new songs until the Daemon album tour was finished.
“We had some extra time in the studio recording the Daemon album two years ago, all band members were asked to punch in two cover tracks for some extra materials. I chose songs by Deathstrike (“The Truth”) and Death (“Evil Dead”), which were both used as the bonus tracks on the album. My other contribution was to bring in two old members because of their obvious connection with punk: Maniac on the Dead Kennedys track and Billy (Messiah) on the Discharge track.”
“I picked the Ramones and Discharge songs,” says drummer Hellhammer. “Dead Kennedys are very cool as well and Discharge are one of my all time punk favs, too. When it comes to Ramones, that’s one of my all-time favorite drummers, Marky Ramone! Enough said! If it wasn’t for punk, the harder metal genres would not sound the way they do today. Plus, of course, there is the attitude: say NO, be AGAINST! In fact, we could with a lot more of exactly that in today’s situation.”
Mayhem’s Atavistic Black Disorder/Kommando EP drops July 9th via Century Media Records, and is available for preorder. Check out the full tracklisting and cover art below.
- Voces Ab Alta
- Black Glass Communion
- Everlasting Dying Flame
- In Defense Of Our Future (Discharge cover)
- Hellnation (Dead Kennedys cover)
- Only Death (Rudimentary Peni cover)
- Commando (Ramones cover)
***
Words by Chris Krovatin
