I first discovered Mayhemic Truth through ‘In Memoriam’ in 1999, and the name immediately struck a chord with me. Those were interesting days, and I must admit that I was also calling myself Mayhemic Destroyer back then. Haha! Looking back, perhaps there were already too many Mayhemic names floating around, and the world probably did not need another one from Singapore. I was a young Black Metal fanatic, though, and subtlety was hardly something we worried about in those days. What mattered was the music, and Mayhemic Truth had plenty to offer. Hailing from Grossbettlingen in Germany, Beliar and Balor formed the band in 1992, drawing heavily from Bathory while developing their own approach to Black Metal with a strong pagan and epic character.
One interesting detail about Mayhemic Truth is that the band began with more than two members, but eventually settled into a duo consisting of Beliar on vocals, guitars and bass, with Balor handling drums and keyboards. They had already released the ‘Son of Dawn’ demo in 1993, followed by the ‘Promo ’94’ tape, before recording the ‘Cythraw’ EP in 1995 and ‘Demo ’96’ the following year. Despite putting out several recordings and playing live with established names, they never released a full length album as Mayhemic Truth. Their material instead circulated through the underground on limited tapes and vinyl, which makes ‘In Memoriam’ an important document of what they were doing during that period.
The Bathory influence is impossible to miss, particularly in the way the music moves between rougher, faster passages and more deliberate, epic sections. There is a clear appreciation for the early Black Metal attack, but also for the atmosphere and grandeur of Bathory’s later Viking period. The keyboards add colour without turning the music into some overly polished fantasy soundtrack, while the vocals retain that raw, rasping quality suited to the material. What I enjoy is the balance between aggression and melody. The songs are not simply trying to sound primitive for the sake of it, nor are they dressing everything up with unnecessary ornamentation. There is a strong sense of songwriting underneath the rough edges, and the longer, more atmospheric moments give the faster material room to breathe.
There was also a bit of controversy surrounding the band during its early years. Mayhemic Truth toured in Germany as a support act for Immortal and Marduk, but some underground followers accused them of selling out simply for appearing in that setting. The band pushed back against those accusations, pointing towards influences such as Venom and Bathory rather than following whatever sound was becoming fashionable. That old argument about what a band should or should not do was already alive and kicking in the nineties. It is worth remembering that Mayhemic Truth were trying to find their own footing while the wider Black Metal scene was expanding rapidly, and not everyone was interested in playing by the same unwritten rules.
The original ‘In Memoriam’ appeared through Iron Pegasus Records in 1999, bringing together the material from ‘Demo ’96’ and the ‘Cythraw’ EP. The 2005 I Hate Records edition is more comprehensive because it adds the four tracks from ‘Promo ’94’, giving listeners a better view of the band’s development rather than presenting only its later recordings. That addition is especially worthwhile because it allows the listener to hear an earlier stage of the band’s sound alongside the more developed material. For anyone who missed the original tapes and EP, the expanded edition provides a much more complete picture of Mayhemic Truth’s early catalogue.
Mayhemic Truth eventually came to an end as a band under that name, and Beliar and Balor later continued together as Morrigan. The change was not simply a case of putting an old band back together under a different logo. They wanted to move forward without riding the reunion wave that was becoming popular at the time, even though the musical connection between the two bands remained clear. Morrigan carried on exploring the pagan and epic side of their sound, making the name change a continuation of their musical journey rather than a complete break from the past.
Listening to ‘In Memoriam’ now brings me back to that 1999 discovery, when I was busy absorbing Black Metal and apparently busy giving myself a name that sounded like I was auditioning for a one-man army. Mayhemic Destroyer may not have made it into the history books, but Mayhemic Truth left behind recordings that still deserve attention. The 2005 reissue makes that legacy easier to appreciate, especially with the inclusion of ‘Promo ’94’, and the eventual transformation into Morrigan gives the story a further chapter. For those interested in the more epic, Bathory-inspired side of German Black Metal, this collection is a worthwhile reminder of a band that had a distinct musical identity long before it became fashionable to label everything Pagan or Viking Metal.
