Mayhem celebrates 40 years of darkness at Groove, Buenos Aires.

Celebrating their 40th anniversary, Mayhem returned to South America, adding a gig in Buenos Aires on December 2nd. It took place in Groove, at the heart of Palermo’s town.
I noticed, and I guess everyone else did, that there wasn’t an opening band. I suppose it is a Mayhem thing. I saw them back in 2018, and the same thing happened; also, people who attended in 2023 noticed it.
The Groove doors opened at 19 hs, and the time between opening hour and the Mayhem set at 21 hs was filled with a DJ set that played a kind of dark music.
A few minutes after 21 hs, the lights went off, and the screen onstage started playing a videotape, showing iconic moments of Mayhem’s story, like Dead onstage, church burning case, the trial of Varg Vikernes, just to name a few…
The band started their set with “Malum” and “Bad Blood” from their 2019 album “Daemon”. The set had a curious thing: it was from the latest release to the oldest one, respecting the time lapse of each album. They didn’t include songs from their upcoming album “Liturgy of Death”, not even “Weep for Nothing”, the single that came out just a few weeks ago.
Going back in time, the album “Esoteric Warfare” appeared in the setlist with the songs “MILAB” and “Psywar”, followed by a song from the previous album “Ordo Ad Chao” from 2007: “Illuminate Eliminate”. 
As the songs were passing by, Attila, the singer, changed his outfit more than once. And the band sounded really tight; it all felt like being in a trance, like we all were part of a ritual.
The Hellhammer’s drumming was insane as always; every hit was accompanied by the bassline of Necrobutcher, while Ghul and Teloch played all those nasty, dark guitar riffs.
The following songs on the set were “Chimera” and “My Death” from the 2004 album “Chimera”, and then “Crystalized Pain in Deconstruction” and “View From Nihil” from “Grand Declaration of War”, released in 2000.
Getting into the 90’s, the band’s golden era, “Ancient Skin” and “Symbols of Bloodswords” (from the 1997 EP “Wolf’s Lair Abyss) were played; and after a videotape remembering the late members Dead and Euronymous, the “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas” (1994) set started with the all-time classic “Freezing Moon”, followed by “Life Eternal” and “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas”, where Attila sang the whole song holding a skull. 
The last song of that set was “Funeral Fog”; Attila left the stage, and the lyrics were sung by a 1991 tape of Dead vocals. It was a pretty emotional moment in all that satanic ambience.
Before the last set of the night, Necrobutcher introduced 2 incredible guests: Manheim (original drummer and co-founder of the band) and Messiah (original singer alongside Maniac). Only the South America leg of the tour had these 2 guests in the lineup.
The “Deathcrush” (1987’s first EP) set started with both guests, and it was pure “mayhem” (haha). “Deathcrush”, “Chainsaw Gutsfuck,” and “Necrolust” were played, and for the grand finale, Attila joined Messiah onstage to sing “Pure Fucking Armageddon”.
After that, the band received a well-deserved football chant from the crowd, and the most pagan gig of the year came to its end.

Photos by Angie Costa

Review by Agustín Lopez

Produced by Noiseground