✦✧✧✧ Look, I get it: Mayhem deserve at least a modicum of respect for birthing Norwegian black metal, and their general commitment to evil and whatnot. The problem is that this feels like Mayhem imitating themselves, or going through the paces. There are interesting and fun moments, but they’re too few and far between, especially for an album that’s entirely too long (a solid hour with two “bonus” tracks).

★☆☆☆ It’s not that this album is bad per se… but it just sounds so derivative and dated. The performances are blistering, but the anemic production and clichéd use of samples are so distracting that I just had a hard time wanting to pay attention.