Dawn Of The Black Hearts is one of the most important and legendary metal boots ever to surface. It first appeared about a decade ago on vinyl and CD on the Warmaster Records label based in Colombia. Ran by the late Mauricio "Bull Metal" Montoya, it documents the earliest material by Mayhem and illustrates their transition between being a Slayeresque death metal band into becoming the seminal Norwegian black metal band whose influence is still very obvious today.
The focus is the Sarpsborg show from 1990. Some claim this one of the first, if not the first, concert given by the classic Mayhem line-up: Euronymous on guitar, Dead on vocals, Necrobutcher on bass and Hellhammer on drums. The recording is very good and loud with some high end distortion. I don't think the tape recorder could handle all the sound being produced from the stage. The set list is a mix of material from their Deathcrush LP and some newer material written since Dead had joined the band and the transition is obvious. The first two numbers are very thrash, almost hardcore sounding and there is very little reaction from the 300 attendees.
Things begin to warm up with the first of the brand new numbers, "Funeral Fog". Miles above the others in execution, this has the the intensity and evil that the older material only hinted at. Dead was one of the greatest black metal vocalists and his rendition of this song is chilling. The official version, released in 1994 with Attila on vocals, sounds weak compared to this. Where Attila makes his dumb vomit noises, Dead unleashes an inhuman wail that raises the hair on the back of your neck. "When it's cold and when it's dark the freezing moon can possess you" is how Dead introduces the next song and again the effect is cold and brutal.
The effect this concert had is substantial. The guys from Darkthrone, Immortal, and Emperor were all in attendance and their bands all made the change from death to black metal afterwards. They in turn influenced the second wave of black metal bands like Satyricon, Cradle of Filth and Gorgoroth. The rest of the title is the short tape from Mayhem's very first concert in Lillehammer before they recorded their first demo. Playing only various cover tunes, this is with their very first line up with Manheim on drums and Maniac on vocals. This doesn't sound as good as the Sarpsborg tape and the vocals sound more hardcore/punk than metal.
The bonus material on this release is the very rare first Mayhem demo recorded in the summer of 1986 and limited to only one hundred copies. A high generation tape was used with lots of hiss. But it is fascinating to hear the band in such an embryonic state. Anti-Grishnackh copied the cover of the original vinyl edition with the well known photo of Dead's suicide in April 1991. Euronymous claimed he wanted to use this picture for the first Mayhem full length, yet it never happened after his death in August, 1993. They also included many rare photos from the actual gig in side with copious liner notes, statements Euronymous made to the press following Dead's suicide and his hatred of the "soft" image of the current death metal scene.
