Live bootlegs are a fairly touch and go situation to begin with, but unless you're a die-hard Mayhem fan, there's very little justification for picking up this CD. The sound quality on this is atrocious at best (the 1990 Sarpsborg set), and becomes completely unlistenable towards the end (the Lillehammer 1986 set). All the songs from the 1990 set also appear on the "Live in Leipzig" CD (in a much better form), so I can't even recommend this on the "lets hear what it would sound like live" basis. Granted, the 1986 set does have some novelty value (4 tracks of very badly executed Celtic Frost and Venom covers as played by the pre-Hellhammer and Dead line-up), but even that wears thin after a few listens. The only real selling points for this CD are A) it has the infamous picture of Dead after he blew his brains out, and B) as horrible as the sound quality is, you can still sense the great aura/atmosphere of these shows. Recommended only to Mayhem completists and those with too much money burning a hole in their pockets...

© 1999 chorazaim