The Decibel Magazine Tour – MAYHEM at HOBLV

Decibel Magazine Tour 2025
House of Blues
Las Vegas, Nevada
Sunday, April 13th, 2025

The night sees us begin with New Skeletal Faces. An act formed in 2017 with a mix of LA Glam Metal with death rock and first wave black metal influences. To illustrate the point I’m imagining the recipe calls for Motley Crue self releasing ‘Too Fast For Love’ mixing into a bowl of Christian Death with a pinch of Bathory. 

Not really my thing to be honest but I imagine that they can draw a crowd just fine. I imagine there are some people who frequent Vamp’d that would appreciate seeing a band like New Skeletal Faces. I can imagine that some people may be confused that such a band is on this tour but I say that actually checks out. 

I’ve not read a ton of interviews about musical influences of Mayhem in particular but back then that band would frequently attend shows for foreign bands coming through Norway both as fans but to also promote their own band – which admittedly you’ll still see local bands do the same thing. Looking at other artists in the Norwegian black metal scene even sees Dimmu Borgir cover Twisted Sister and founding Gorgoroth member Infernus cite glam metal as where most of his own influences come from. Also on a side note Ghaal era Gorgoroth is worst Gorgoroth. Enough said. 

Anyway if old Motley Crue meets Christian Death meets Bathory sounds intriguing to you, New Skeletal Faces released their latest record on Peaceville in 2024. 

–

–

Next is a band Imperial Triumphant that I know little about but found intriguing almost right away. Their new album ‘Goldstar’ is a good jumping on point for new listeners for it’s relatively short runtime without overwise compromising on their sound. The blackened death metal and jazz fusion mixture will turn away the meek, but an adventurous listener will find an intriguing record to shift through. I appreciate the art deco and silent movie aesthetic especially since the most obvious reference is to my favorite silent era film ‘Metropolis’. 

Not to mention I love the tongue in cheek way the band plays to the audience. Their vocalist chooses to address the crowd verbally only through a robotic filter and their bass player’s antics bring to mind many of the silent movies they are already drawing inspiration from. 

Check out ‘Goldstar’ or if you need more convincing, Blayne Smith of Banger TV on YouTube did an enjoyable review of the record you can watch by clicking on this link here. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KJDBhvtwZG8

–

–

Mortiis is an artist I had assumed I’d never get to see perform his dungeon synth material because what metal tour is going to put him on the road in the U.S. – apparently the answer is Decibel.

Mortiis’ original claim to fame in the black metal scene is a stint as the original bass player in Emperor however after his departure from the band he’d gotten into electronic music and synths (something I know next to nothing about) and put out music with a medieval bent that would turn into Era I of his catalog. 

In later years he shifted into more goth and industrial sounds before returning to the Era I sound with a modern Mortiis production in ‘Spirit of Rebellion’. I know of at least one person that was disappointed to not get industrial Mortiis on this tour but, for me dungeon synth Mortiis is what I most regularly listen to prepping Dungeons and Dragons or when playing video games in fantasy settings when I get tired of those soundtracks. 

–

–

For the headliner of the tour Mayhem the evening was a waltz through time starting with songs from the latest full-length ‘Daemon’ and ending with the EP ‘Deathcrush’. 

First I have to say this lineup (going strong more than ten years now) is one of my favorites of Mayhem’s history. Held together over the decades by drummer Hellhammer and bassist Necrobutcher. Attila rejoined the band in 2004 bringing his unique vocal styling back into the fold. 

They would later be joined by Teloch who had made his own mark in the Norwegian scene and in recent years even put together his own YouTube channel centered around playing and writing black metal guitar and his experiences touring with Mayhem starting in 2011. 

Finally Charles “Ghul” Hedger who has a fun story of being introduced to black metal at age thirteen that he’s discussed in interviews. As I’ve read it in the past Hedger’s brother gave him copies of Cradle of Filth’s ‘Principles of Evil Made Flesh’ and Mayhem’s ‘De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas’ and later he’d even take lessons from the then former Cradle guitarist Paul Allender. After studying music at the Guitar Institute of London and obtaining a degree he’d even join Cradle of Filth first playing bass and later guitar in the outfit alongside Paul Allender from 2005 until leaving in 2009. 

(My own introduction to the same two albums was also due to a family member. For some reason my Mother gave me cash and dropped off my surprised ass at Tower Records on Easter Sunday. It didn’t escape me what day it was and in a stroke of inspiration I bought the aforementioned CDs as well as releases from Emperor and Dissection that I had wanted. She never explained why she conflated Easter with dropping me off at Tower Records that day but she did later find this whole thing as hilarious as I do.) 

Hedger, like fellow Mayhem guitarist Teloch, has had plenty of his own projects but he’s been the most recent member to join Mayhem in 2012 leading up to the following Mayhem release ‘Esoteric Warfare’ in 2014.  

There were several video clips to enhance the mood and highlight the changes from one release to another – including the now infamous clip of Necrobutcher in 2003 being drunkenly belligerent with Sam Dunn of Banger Films that shows even black metal can poke fun at itself. 

My only real criticism is that inclusion of Varg Vikernes for a brief moment in the photos stills and a short clip or two totalling in less than a second. Yeah sure, he was for a held breath and a fart playing bass in Mayhem but even ignoring that he’s a piece of shit and sole member of an overrated band he was convicted for murdering your founding guitar player. The problem is that of course there were one or two people who cheered as soon as they saw the second clip of Varg.  Goddamn edgelords. Frankly I wish that he’d continue to be uncredited. 

They point out that the first full length record ‘De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas’ is one of the most influential black metal records, and having thought on this plenty before I can’t disagree even if only to contrarian. Even amongst other giant releases from the likes of Emperor and Dark Throne ‘DMDS’ has plenty of equals in the black metal scene of the early to mid 90’s but I can’t definitively think of a record in that timeframe that surpasses Mayhem in influence. 

The last point of interest I feel like I need to address is the tribute to former vocalist Per “Dead” Ohlin. This part of the set was also a tribute to guitarist Euronymous as well but the song “Funeral Fog” in particular had Dead’s vocals accompanying the band rather than Attila. Similarly when I was in high school my mother was given tickets to see Queen perform with Paul Rogers and they had Freddie Mercury’s vocals going over the PA during parts of “Bohemian Rhapsody”. 

Personally when I want to listen to these songs I tend to stick with ‘De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas’ as that is how I first heard Mayhem, and back in my teenage years the rehearsal and live recordings of Dead with Mayhem weren’t as prevalent as would be when they’d see regular official pressings as they do today. It was an interesting experience and more touching than I was expecting from a Mayhem show. 

Overall I’m always thankful when an event that’s not the norm like the Decibel Magazine Tour comes to Las Vegas and I’m always glad to see a black metal giant perform a full set in person. Seeing Mayhem at the last edition of Psycho Fest was a highlight of that weekend but it’s this show that makes it so I can cross that off the bucket list with full confidence. Many thanks to the openers on this tour. I’ll need to check out more from New Skeletal Faces in the coming days and perhaps you will be as well. Mortiis was a dream addition I didn’t know I wanted until it was offered and Imperial Triumphant solidified a fan in me largely on the strength of both their music as well as their performance. Can’t wait to see what these bands and extreme music in general has in store for us next!

–

–

PHOTO CREDIT: Live photos by Courtney Ware for ZRockR Magazine -(c) 2025 – All Rights Reserved.