I read the book "lords of chaos" in 2004. It a biographical look at the birth of the modern black metal culture. The book recounts all the music, murder, arson and misanthropy of the culture. I was fascinated. Here was the culmination of what our parents feared about heavy metal. It's extreme almost cartoonish end game. I started avidly buying black metal CDs while reading the book. A huge chunk of the book is dedicated to the band #mayhem and it's circus of murderous arsonist members. I ordered the "deathcrush" mini lp online since I couldn't find it at any local record stores (man, how I miss Home of the Hits). At first listen I was a little disappointed, the legend of the release was already so infamous that it was a real tall order to fulfill my expectations. I was immediately impressed by the diversity of the tribal drum intro and the spooky keyboard passages. The problem was I was listening to this album 17 years after it's 1987 release. Music had gotten much more extreme. Once I found that perspective I grew to love this release. If I had heard this in high school I would have been enamored instantly.
I was hooked on the black metal. I approached it in an archival manner. I was determined to listen to all of its essential releases and find the new strains of grimness. In an event of pure synchronicity I walked into Record Theatre around this time and someone had traded in their black metal collection. It was a dark treasure trove. I begged the staff member I was familiar with to save the CDs for me and I returned with more money than I should have spent. The quest that had begun with the book and this disc was now in full insatiable swing.
