''Daemon'' is the sixth full-length studio album by

Norwegian black metal Much has been learned about early music in Norway from physical artifacts found during archaeological digs. These include instruments such as the lur. Viking and medieval sagas also describe musical activity, as do the accounts of priests and pil ...

band

Mayhem Mayhem most commonly refers to: * Mayhem (crime), a type of crime Mayhem may also refer to: People * Monica Mayhem (born 1978), Australian pornographic actress * Jason "Mayhem" Miller, American mixed martial arts fighter * Mayhem Miller (dra ...

. Their

major label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produc ...

debut, it was released by

Century Media Records Century Media Records is a heavy metal record label with offices in the United States, Germany and London. In August 2015, Century Media was acquired by Sony Music for US$17 million. Background Century Media was founded by Robert Kampf and Oli ...

on 25 October 2019 in digital formats while a manufacturing problem delayed the physical release until 8 November 2019.

Background and promotion

The band went into the studio not long after the ''De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas Alive'' anniversary tour in which the band played the iconic debut album in its entirety for various dates around the world. Many critics suggested the tour was highly influential to the sound of ''Daemon'' with many comparing it to that album. The album was also released on the back of the '' Lords of Chaos'' semi- biopic movie, giving the band a boost in popularity and interest. During promotional interviews for the album,

Necrobutcher Jørn Stubberud (born 13 April 1968) is a Norwegian musician best known as the bassist in the black metal band Mayhem under the stage name Necrobutcher. He is one of Mayhem's founding members, along with Euronymous and Manheim. He is the band' ...

claimed he was "On isway to kill Euronymous but Varg beat imto it", and also claimed that the

Norwegian Police The Norwegian Police Service ( no, Politi- og lensmannsetaten) is the Norwegian national civilian police agency. The service dates to the 13th century when the first sheriffs were appointed, and the current structure established in 2003. It co ...

were aware of Vikernes' plot to kill Euronymous, stating: "But little did I know that the Norwegian police already knew that Count Grishnackh

arg Arg or ARG may refer to: Places *''Arg'' () means "citadel" in Persian, and may refer to: **Arg, Iran, a village in Fars Province, Iran **Arg (Kabul), presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan **Arg, South Khorasan, a village in South Khorasan P ...

was going down also to kill him. Because they bugged his phone, and he actually talked about this killing before he went to Bergen so the cops already knew that he was coming, so they probably were thinking to themselves, ‘We didn’t nail this guy for the church burnings, so let’s nail him for murder, and get rid of this f–king guy in Oslo the same time.’ So that’s basically what happened." He provided no evidence for this accusation against the Norwegian Police. The bonus disc for the album features a cover of "Disgusting Semla" from former vocalist Dead's pre-Mayhem band Morbid.

Reception

''Daemon'' was met with excellent reviews by critics upon release. Loudersound awarded it 4.5 out of 5 and strongly compared it to the band's debut album '' De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas''. Metal Storm awarded it a 7.8 out of 10 calling it a return to form and "leaving behind the experimental and dissonant sound" of earlier releases. Consequence of Sound awarded the album an A− calling it a "return to form". Blabbermouth.net awarded it a 9 out of 10.

Sputnikmusic Sputnikmusic is an American music community website offering music criticism and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki-style websites. The format of the website is unusual in that it includes both professional and amateur c ...

were more critical, awarding it only 3.0 out of 5, stating "''Daemon'' is a solid dose of

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with t ...

, and not much else".

Track listing

Limited Edition CD bonus tracks Limited Edition Vinyl bonus disc

Personnel

Mayhem *

Attila Csihar Attila Csihar (; born 29 March 1971), also sometimes known as Void, is a Hungarian extreme metal vocalist, best known for his vocal work in Norwegian black metal band Mayhem and American drone-doom project Sunn O))). Author Ian Christe descr ...

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

* Teloch -

guitars The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, engineering (bass) * Ghul - guitars *

- bass guitar * Hellhammer -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Additional personnel *Necromorbus -

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

, mixing, engineering *Thomas "PLEC" Johansson - mastering *Daniel Valeriani - album artwork

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2019 albums Mayhem (band) albums