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Grand Declaration Of War is the second full-length studio album by legendary Norwegian black metal band Mayhem, originally released in 2000 through Season Of Mist. Arriving six years after De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, it represented a radical departure from conventional black metal and remains one of the most experimental records in the band's catalogue.
The album features Maniac on vocals, Blasphemer on guitar, Necrobutcher on bass and Hellhammer on drums. Rather than attempting to recreate the sound of their earlier recordings, Mayhem incorporated progressive structures, industrial and electronic elements, spoken-word passages and highly technical rhythmic arrangements into their extreme-metal foundation.
The title track establishes the album's confrontational conceptual character, while the ferocious A Time To Die demonstrates Hellhammer's extraordinary drumming. View From Nihil introduces unusual spoken vocals, and the two-part A Bloodsword And A Colder Sun moves into electronic and almost trip-hop territory before returning to extreme metal.
The lengthy Completion In Science Of Agony and the multi-part To Daimonion push the album even further into experimental, progressive and avant-garde territory. The result is a deliberately challenging work that helped expand the possibilities of black metal beyond the traditional sound of the genre.
Recorded between November 1999 and January 2000 at Fagerborg Studio and Top Room Studio, the original album was produced by Mayhem together with Børge Finstad. Its combination of unusually clear production, complex composition and experimental electronics made it highly controversial upon release but subsequently established it as one of Mayhem's most distinctive albums.
Track Listing:
Side A
Side B
