History YMMV / Mayhem

* AwesomeMusic: ''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'').
* EpicRiff - A lot of the time, most notably on ''De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas''.

** 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.

* EpilepticTrees: 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.

* HypeBacklash: 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.
* LoveItOrHateIt - Amongst fans of the black metal genre as a whole, everything Mayhem recorded since ''De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas'' is like this. ''...Sathanas'' is almost universally regarded as the pinnacle of the genre (or at least, of the genre at that point in time), but the polarizing reactions to their more recent work is absolute, and best illustrated by ''Ordo Ad Chao'' (a solid attempt to get back to their darker, lo-fi roots, or a particularly lazy rehearsal tape with full production) and most of all, the aptly named ''Grand Declaration of War'' (genuinely avant-garde prog-black metal which showed a willingness experiment with unusual time signatures, guitar techniques and electronica or ''Jesus Christ that chap spent the whole album just talking!'').
** ''Esoteric Warfare'' seems to be this as well. While some do love the change from the Satanic imagery to more different themes such as chaos and war, some found the album boring, and the only good thing was the single "Psywar".
** The band itself is this to some people who start getting more into the black metal scene, whether Mayhem is ''good period'' due to Euronymous basically ''building the band's image'' and being the only reason the band is famous (hence why some regard bands such as {{Music/Darkthrone}} as better known black metal acts).
* MagnumOpus - Fans consider ''De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas'' to be this; it's often regarded as the greatest black metal album of all time.
** ''Deathcrush'', while an EP, is also a frequent contender.
* TheScrappy: Hellhammer is '''immensely''' disliked by some due to suffering heavy SmallNameBigEgo and literally ''praising'' [[Music/{{Emperor}} Bård Faust]] for "killing that fucking faggot". [[note]]The drummer of Emperor, Bård Faust was arrested and sent to prison for murdering a homosexual, resulting with split within the black metal community.[[/note]]
* SignatureSong: "Freezing Moon," which, along with [[{{Darkthrone}} "Transilvanian Hunger"]], is often considered the signature song ''of all of BlackMetal''. Earlier, their signature song was "Pure Fucking Armageddon."

* TheWoobie: '''Yes. Even for this band.'''. Arguably Dead. He suffered sleep apnea as a child ''and'' internal bleeding, which resulted with his obsession with death and the occult. Old band members that knew him (Fellow band member Hellhammer and Faust of Emperor) stated he didn't seem happy with life and Euronymous just kept adding and add more psychological problems and causing fights with him (at one point, Dead had to sleep ''freaking outside'' because Euronymous was tormenting him), until he finally killed himself. And what did Euronymous do? '''TAKE FRIGGEN PICTURES OF HIS DEAD BODY'''.
** There ''is'' a bittersweet thing about Dead is that despite his death, fans and old members still consider him a fun guy, just a bit into the dark humor.

** The band itself is this to some people who start getting more into the black metal scene, whether Mayhem is ''good period'' due to Euronymous basically ''building the band's image'' and being the only reason the band is famous (hence why some regard bands such as {{Music/Darkthrone}} as better known black metal acts.

* TheScrappy: Hellhammer is '''immensely''' disliked by some due to suffering heavy SmallNameBigEgo and literally ''praising'' [[Music/{{Emperor}} Bård Faust]] for "killing that fucking faggot". [note]The drummer of Emperor, Bård Faust was arrested and sent to prison for murdering a homosexual, resulting with split within the black metal community[/note].

* CompleteMonster: Just about every member of the band to some extent, but especially Vikernes, who is a well know white supremacist and convicted murderer and church arsonist.

** His successor, Blasphemer, was if anything even ''more'' skilled on guitar. Pretty much all the recordings he made with Mayhem have their share of Epic Riffs as well.

* TheWoobie: '''Yes. Even for this band.'''. Arguably Dead. He suffered sleep apnea as a child ''and'' internal bleeding, which resulted with his obsession with death and the occult. Old band members that knew him (Fellow band member Hellhammer and Faust of Emperor) stated he didn't seem happy with life and Euronymous just kept adding and add more psychological problems and causing fights with him (at one point, Dead had to sleep ''freaking outside''' because Euronymous was tormenting him), until he finally killed himself. And what did Euronymous do? '''TAKE FRIGGEN PICTURES OF HIS DEAD BODY'''.

* SignatureSong: "Freezing Moon," which, along with [[{{Darkthrone}} "Transylvanian Hunger"]], is often considered the signature song ''of all of BlackMetal''. Earlier, their signature song was "Pure Fucking Armageddon."

* CompleteMonster: Euronymous certainly like to portray himself as this, whether he truly was or not is [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation oft-debated by fans and non-fans alike]].
** A common theory is BecomingTheMask.

** Euronymous' status as a Decent Human Being is highly debatable...his prowess on a six-string is not.

* SignatureSong: "Freezing Moon," which, along with [[{{Darkthrone}} "Transylvania Hunger"]], is often considered the signature song ''of all of BlackMetal''. Earlier, their signature song was "Pure Fucking Armageddon."

* CompleteMonster: Euronymous certainly liked to portray himself this way. Exactly how much of it was an act is unclear.

* CompleteMonster: Euronymous certainly liked to portray himself this way. Exactly how much of it was as act is unclear.

* CompleteMonster: If Euronymous actually believed half his own crap, then he probably qualified as this.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks - ''Grand Declaration of War'' and ''Chimera'' received this reaction from many of Mayhem's fans.

* FaceOfTheBand - Euronymous, mostly thanks to being killed.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks - ''Grand Declaration of War'' and ''Chimera'' received this reaction from many of Mayhem's fans.