Frankly, there's a reason why Norwegian black metal pioneers Mayhem are better known for their often shocking offstage history than for their music.
It's hard to compete with tales of murder, cannibalism, and other sordid diversions.
And people thought the Sex Pistols were shocking! That said, Chimera is a far better than average slab of Scandinavian black metal that harks back to the band's classic lineup, who are now mostly either dead or in jail.
Singer Maniac varies the attack of his death growl vocals, varying the pitch between the low-register moan that many lesser bands in the style stick to, unexpected attacks like the falsetto shriek in the verses of the piledriving hardcore opener "Whore," and the almost pagan chanting that overlays the extended coda of "My Death." As always, the band plays faster, harder, and louder -- and with a greater attention to sonic detail -- than just about anyone in the style, but the expanded scope and variation of Chimera shows that in the right hands, there's more to this often-maligned music than its detractors give it credit for.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WhoreBlasphemer | Mayhem | Play | 02:58 | 6 MB | 0 MB |
| 2 | Dark Night of the SoulBlasphemer | Mayhem | Play | 06:08 | 14 MB | 0 MB |
| 3 | Rape Humanity With PrideBlasphemer | Mayhem | Play | 05:41 | 13 MB | 0 MB |
| 4 | My DeathBlasphemer | Mayhem | Play | 05:54 | 13 MB | 0 MB |
| 5 | You Must FallBlasphemer | Mayhem | Play | 04:14 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 6 | Slaughter of DreamsBlasphemer | Mayhem | Play | 06:59 | 16 MB | 0 MB |
| 7 | Impious Devious Leper LordBlasphemer | Mayhem | Play | 05:38 | 12 MB | 0 MB |
| 8 | ChimeraBlasphemer | Mayhem | Play | 07:00 | 16 MB | 0 MB |
| 44 mins | 102 MB | |||||
| 0 mins | 0 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blasphemer | Composer, Group Member, Mixing, Producer |
| 2 | Berge Finstad | Engineer, Mixing |
| 3 | Hellhammer | Group Member |
| 4 | Sebastian Ludvigsen | Photography |
| 5 | Mayhem | Primary Artist |
| 6 | Necrobutcher | Group Member |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |