YMMV / Mayhem

For the film:

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • How much of Derek and Melanie's rampage is driven by their own personalities and stresses, and how much are driven by the ID-7 virus?
  • When Derek first storms into the elevator after his infection to meet with Towers, was he planning on forcefully negotiating with Towers and the Nine for his job back, or was he planning to attack and/or kill him/them?
  • Lester "the Reaper" McGill. A Jerkass Smug Snake just as bad as Towers and the rest of the leadership? Or an Affably Evil Punch-Clock Villain just doing his job, only as bad as pre-infected Derek?
    • When Lester attacks Derek after handing him the keycard, was it to protect himself from the firm's wrath? Out of fear Derek would still kill him after he handed him the card? Or was it out of plain hatred of Derek? Or simply the virus' effect?
  • The Bull emptying out his bullets in his gun to face Derek? Proof of him being a Blood Knight and Sadist who wants to draw out the fight? Or evidence of him being a Noble Demon willing to fight fair(ish)?
  • Irene Smythe and Melanie. Why did Smythe refuse to sign her loan extension? Did she know that contracts signed during the quarantine wouldn't be valid and wanted to point it out (albeit condescendingly)? Or did she have some prior history with Melanie?
  • Aside from loyalty to Melanie, did Derek refuse the partnership due to knowing that contracts signed during the quarantine are invalid, or due to seeking revenge for Ewan? Notably, he only kills Towers after he brings up Ewan's death.
  • Even after approval from the board, Derek still hesitates to kill Towers at the end. Due to every previous kill of his being in self-defense, could he be balking at actual first-degree murder? Or was it the virus's effects waning as the vaccine takes effect, with him realizing what he is doing?
• Magnificent Bastard: Derek Cho is an employee working for the corrupt TSC law firm. Fired over a case he had no involvement in and exposed to the ID-7 virus, Derek tries to demand his job back from the CEO, John Towers. When Towers sends his guards to imprison Derek and inadvertently kills one of his friends, Derek opts to simply kill Towers and anyone standing in his path along with Melanie Cross, knowing anyone under the virus' influence can't be prosecuted for murder. With their quick thinking and pragmatic fighting skills, Derek and Melanie assault or kill anyone in their path on the way to the top floor. When Irene Smythe refuses to give up the access code to Towers' office, Derek seemingly betrays Melanie and offers her to Irene to kill, later freeing Melanie the moment after Irene gives up her code so Melanie can kill Irene. Once Derek confronts Towers, he rejects his proposal to be his business partner and kills him before taking Towers' job long enough to void the foreclosure on Melanie's house.
• Spiritual Successor: The closest thing we'll get to a sequel to The Belko Experiment.

For the band:

• Awesome Music: De mysteriis Dom Sathanas is the most frequently cited contender, obviously. Where you should go after that depends on your musical inclinations. If you want raw, old-school black metal, your best bets are Deathcrush, Wolf's Lair Abyss, and Ordo ad chao. If you want more experimental, avant-garde material, Grand Declaration of War is probably what you're looking for (although you should check out Wolf's Lair Abyss in this case as well... and then check out Chimera and, again, Ordo ad chao).
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The outro to original version of Deathcrush EP .
  All the little flowers are singing
  All the little birds are too
  They are very happy
  And we hope you are too
• Broken Base:
  • One of the biggest and most notorious examples in black metal. Dead vs. Maniac vs. Attila, Euronymous vs. Blasphemer vs. Teloch/Ghul, the avant-garde style vs. the old-school style, whether the band should even have continued after Euronymous' death, the list goes on and on and on.
  • Arguments exist on how De mysteriis Dom Sathanas should have been. Some fans argue the album's fine as it is, however others feel there should have been a version with Dead on vocals (despite it being too late to do so for the band) or the album should have combined Dead and Attila's vocals ala how Gorgoroth did with Antichrist.
• Common Knowledge:
  • Contrary to popular belief, Dead's suicide note was actually somewhat longer and more elaborate, than simply "Excuse all the blood", which merely opens it. Also, the actual phrase was just "Excuse the blood" ("Ursäkta blodet" in swedish original), NOT "Excuse ALL the blood" (which would be ""Ursäkta allt blodet.")
  • The Dawn of the Black Hearts, featuring a picture of said suicide on the cover, is also not an official Mayhem live album as commonly misconcieved, but a bootleg - the band would later officially release the live material as Live in Sarpsborg without the infamous cover.
• Epic Riff:
  • A lot of the time, most notably on De mysteriis Dom Sathanas.
  • Euronymous' status as a Decent Human Being is highly debatable...his prowess on a six-string is not.
  • His successor, Blasphemer, was if anything even more skilled on guitar. Pretty much all the recordings he made with Mayhem (specifically, Wolf's Lair Abyss, Grand Declaration of War, Chimera, and Ordo ad chao) have their share of Epic Riffs as well.
• Epileptic Trees: Was Euronymous really a Satanist? Was he really the evil sociopath that he made himself out to be? It's debated as to whether his twisted acts (such as using the photo of Per "Dead" Ohlin's dead body after his suicide as a cover for a bootleg album) were because he was like that, or was it just part to build an image. Varg of Burzum keeps stating this, but due to Varg being Varg, it's debated.
• Growing the Beard: Varg Vikernes claims that this happened when Hellhammer and Dead joined the band: "Until Hellhammer and Dead joined the band in 1989, Mayhem was a shitty, ‘fun’, hobby-band. If you read the lyrics on their Deathcrush album you’ll know what I mean". Others may have their own opinions on when this happened, though in any case DMDS is almost universally considered to be better than Deathcrush.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The band used weird names for their instruments on the credit lines to their earlier releases. On Deathcrush, their original drummer Manheim is credited for playing "hellhammers".
• Hype Backlash: By some variation, some listeners will be put off with how hyped Mayhem is as a band and/or how praised De mysteriis Dom Sathanas is considered. The only thing people will pin point and somewhat agree on is that Maniac/Dead made the sound, Euronymous built the band's image, and Attila solidified their debut.
• Memetic Loser: Euronymous. While he's hailed as one of the best guitarist in black metal and one can't deny his influence in the image of current black metal, most people see him as this due to how much of a Card-Carrying Villain he was and his desperation of doing things for attention even if it made others hate him.
• Memetic Mutation: "I was also on my way to kill Euronyomus."^note In 2019, Necrobutcher claimed that he intended to kill Euronymous before Varg did. Needless to say, this ended in a lot of jokes within the Black Metal scene.
• Never Live It Down: Like with Varg Vikernes, 90% of conversations about Mayhem will always be about their second official vocalist overkilling himself, their guitarist using a photo of said vocalist's dead body for a bootleg cover, and said guitarist being murdered by the aforementioned Varg Vikernes who played bass on their debut album after a lengthy period of Troubled Production. This even is a factor for Black Metal's dark reputation, aside the church burnings.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The "cover art" for the bootleg live album Dawn of the Black Hearts, which is a photograph that Euronymous took of Dead's corpse. If you value your stomach, don't look it up.
  • Dead, just Dead. Pelle arguably is viewed upon as an unstable, deranged and terrifying performer live when it came to the self harming and the sheer passion he invoked in his performances. His suicide and learning about how much of a Broken Bird he was just makes it terrifying. That's not even getting to his performance on Live at Leipzig, where he screams at the beginning before "Pure Fucking Armageddon".
    "COME ON! LEIPZIG! COME ON! JOIN US!!!!"
  • The overall atmosphere of De mysteriis dom santhas, with Attila's cryptic-like vocals, the eerie foreshadowing of Dead's lyrics, and the fact this album features Euronymous and Varg despite the fact Varg murdered Euronymous and it technically being the last album the band made before it's resurrection by Hellhammer afterwards is...unnerving to say the least.
  • Euronymous: The fact that his reaction to finding Pelle dead, is to snap a picture and use it as cover art, clearly speaks volume about the dude's mental state.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: Most people who've heard of this band only know about it due to any of the rank insanity from the pre-1995 incarnation, and not a single chord the band has strummed.
• Signature Song: "Freezing Moon," which, along with "Transilvanian Hunger", is often considered the signature song of all of Black Metal. Earlier, their signature song was "Pure Fucking Armageddon."
• Tear Jerker: YES, even for this band. "Life Eternal" can be seen as one of the more bleakest songs the band has ever recorded, about longing for death and wondering what becomes of you when you truly are dead. Considering the lyrics were written by Dead (as confirmed by his suicide note), it paints a dark Reality Subtext over what Dead must have felt mentally.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Grand Declaration of War and Chimera received this reaction from many of Mayhem's fans. However, the former at least is arguably becoming somewhat Vindicated by History as its stature among fans seems to be improving.
• Vindicated by History:
  • Grand Declaration of War seems to be a case of this. When it came out in 2000 it was almost universally despised, but these days most online discussions of it garner far more praise than criticism.
  • Blasphemer, who garnered huge amount of hatred for not being Euronymous is viewed more fondly as being great, if not better than Euronymous in guitar playing.
• WTH, Costuming Department?: Some of Attila's stage costumes are rather weird, to say the least. You don't usually go to a black metal show expecting the lead vocalist to be dressed in Bugs Bunny's costume◊. Or whatever the hell this◊ is supposed to be.

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