Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994)

When you manage to dig into the history of Black Metal further than all of the pop culture references and riddles of band members stabbing and eating each other, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas holds a solid spot as one of the most influential Black Metal albums of all time. The entire album serves as a demonstration to the raw power behind the Norwegian Black Metal scene as a musical entity. The grim circumstances surrounding the album certainly draw those who are curious about the bands history into a closer look at the album- when it comes to Mayhem, if you haven't at least seen the album cover to Dawn of the Black Hearts, you've at least heard  De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. It's classic monocromatic cover is almost as haunting as the details surrounding the completion of the album. And while some will argue that only the versions that Per "Dead" Ohlin recorded are worthy enough of the name, the studio album is both a well mixture of raw atmospheric and symphonic speed that is raw from the pits of hell all in the same recording.

     While Mayhem's previous vocalist had been Swedish, Csihar was from Hungary. His style was somewhat atypical for Nordic black metal then, and provoked a mixed reception from fans, some giving him the nickname Attila 'Fingernails' Csihar. This tortured vocal style continued to influence a plethora of black metal bands, such as Dissection, Immortal, Carpathian Forest, and Behemoth.