MAYHEM Mediolanum Capta Est CD (2000)

Milan, 1998. Mayhem play a live set that gets a Latin title because apparently that's the level of gravitas we're operating at. It earns it.

Mediolanum Capta Est is one of the most important live black metal recordings in existence, and that's not hyperbole, that's just the canon talking. Recorded during the Wolf's Lair Abyss era with Maniac on vocals, this is the Norwegian black metal scene at its most hostile and committed, a band that had already lived through more mythology than most genres accumulate in decades. The production is raw in the way that matters, not the way that's a polished imitation of raw. If you've been building a collection through Darkthrone, Gorgoroth, and Immortal, this sits at the center of it. If you're new to the second wave, this is a credible place to understand what the fuss was about.

Full length live CD. 2000 release. Country of origin: Norway. Black metal.

Fans of: Immortal, Gorgoroth, Darkthrone, Watain, 1349, Marduk, Burzum, Tsjuder