The very first complete NYC MAYHEM anthology ever done (and probably the last) with material compiled from their very first rehearsals to their very last studio recording, showcasing how the band went from pure super intense Metal to highly energetic Crossover. If your ears are not used to rough recordings, go fuck yourself, this is not about clean sounding stuff! This is about music, feeling and creativity, NOTHING ELSE. This low-priced DOUBLE CD set features a collage of interviews, reviews, flyers, photos & band biography.

It's an established fact that Extreme Metal has become somewhat a household word with the billions of bands around all trying to make us believe that they're more evil than Satan himself, quite an accomplishment if you ask me... but before this somewhat tragic painting took place, there was a time when extreme Metal had a meaning because it had to be created, it had to be sculpted, it had to be built... with nearly nothing in hand! If VENOM paved the way back in 1981, the real fun started with the once mighty SLAYER pushing the limits like never before and in the process inventing the term Thrash Metal but for like any music style, it was just the beginning of more to come with the likes of SHELLSHOCK/ DARK ANGEL, HELLHAMMER, MASTER, MANTAS/ DEATH, DESTRUCTION, POSSESSED or SODOM. Still for some young Metalheads from this era it was still not enough, it was clear in their minds that the boundaries could be pushed on and on to no limits known to humanity... Bands like SEMEN OF SATAN or POISON (Ger) did it in their own way but in the process, the musicality was highly sacrificed.
By late 1984/ early 1985 in New York City, three die hard headbangers finally got their chemistry right and within a couple of months, mayhemic destruction was spread with many victims absorbing their newer poison now known as Deathcore: it was time to welcome the one and only NYC MAYHEM! Instantly, numerous sessions were recorded and traded in the highly active underground tape-trading scene. Fanzines were fuckin' hot on featuring this ultra fast/ intense band, with this new scene in their hands literally as people were freakin' badly while listening to destructive numbers such as 'Taken By Storm', 'Adrenalin', 'Ripped To Shreds' etc. With their lineup change, the band went into a much more Hardcore direction but the Metal riffing and sheer speed were still a good part of the sound. A reasonable number of local shows were played, having in attendance people like Danny Lilker, Tom Capone and Scott Rosenfeld. Unfortunately after a year of existence this very first real Extreme Metal/ Hardcore band ceased to exist and the members chose to pursue other interesting careers with bands such as the Cro-Mags and Sick of It All. You always wondered when/ how extreme Metal was born? Now you're gonna know about it and this will make you forget all the trendy shit around! HAIL THE MAYHEM! HAIL NYC MAYHEM!

MAYHEM first started back in 1984 out of the ashes of ASSAULT and CORRUPT, as Gordon explains, "ASSAULT was my first band, which was formed sometime in 1983 with Tony Marc. We both attended the same school and were 15 at the time. I was inspired by all the Metal groups during that era such as PRIEST, MAIDEN, METALLICA and SLAYER. I remember a bus trip we were on, in which I was listening to TWISTED SISTER's Under The Blade album on my walkman. I didn't think Tony would like it, since he was listening to other types of music, but he kept asking me if he could hear it. From that point on, I started turning him on to all the groups that I was listening to."

"Tony knew a kid named Lance Lange, who was going to become our singer," Gordon continues. "It never worked out with Lance, but Lance knew of a drummer named Tommy Carroll. Tommy went to another school and upon meeting him, we clicked. We didn't even audition any other drummers. We all used to go to shows together. We met a lot of people at those shows, who later became close to us like Dan Lilker, who had just formed NUCLEAR ASSAULT and Mike Bevil, who had just started the fanzine Death And Destruction." Tommy adds, "CORRUPT was just one of those bands with two guitarists and me. We would have went nowhere. I wanted to take one of the guitar players with me to MAYHEM, but he was taking too many drugs at a young age. So they were looking for a drummer, I wasn't very good. I had just bought a drum set a few months before, but I guess they had no one else and they came over, we jammed and we started from there. We played with Lance a few times, but nobody could sing, so I started on my own singing and playing drums. When you're young like that, you don't know any better. I actually handled singing and drumming alright. I loved EXCITER, at least the first album and I was inspired by that, even if we were heavier and different. I also came up with the name and drew the logo."

The band went on to rehearse for a couple months, writing and recording their first penned parts as a trio, but it was nothing like the Deathcore stuff that the underground would soon know. "No, it sounded like NASTY SAVAGE or something like that," said Tommy, "like one song, 'Axe Attack.' I took that song and sped it up one day and that's when it all started. We wanted to play fuckin' Heavy/Thrash Metal! I loved SODOM and stuff, but I wanted to be fast, but still have the musicality. Obviously, listening to our music, SLAYER had a big influence. I would say SLAYER was number one. We wanted to be like that. SLAYER and METALLICA were our two biggest influences. I was a big fan of VENOM. MERCYFUL FATE was another big band for us." Tony confirms, "We got progressively faster and crazier. Tommy kept pushing the tempo and we just started thrashing as much as possible, while Gordon and I did our best to retain the heavy riffs and hooks."

On March 16th & 18th, 1985, MAYHEM recorded their first demo/rehearsal featuring "Necropolis (City Of The Dead)," "Death Wish," "War Dogs," "Taken By Storm" and "Mayhemic Destruction." Unfortunately, as much as the material was totally over the top, the sound quality sucked, as Gordon recalls, "The demo tape was our first time in the studio, not just as a band, but as individual players. It was self produced with some assistance from the engineer in the studio. We didn't really have the experience, budget or time to fine tune the sounds. I think most people looked beyond the sound. Having personally collected demo recordings from other bands around that time, which was often just a recorded rehearsal session, it was generally overlooked if the production was subpar. At least for me, it was more about how the music moved you then the overall sound quality." Tommy also remembers, "It was a walkman in the middle of a rehearsal studio, which was pretty cheap to begin with. We sent it to everybody. It was another big thing, I was promoting the band and sent out hundreds and hundreds of tapes in a short period of time." It wasn't long before the band got hailed as the new killer band, in the same league as SLAYER, POSSESSED and DEATH in the underground network, helped by articles in influential magazines such as Metal Forces and Kick Ass Monthly.

Not long after, MAYHEM got offered to play their first gig alongside NUCLEAR ASSAULT and MENTAL ABUSE at The Showplace in Dover, New Jersey on April 5th, 1985. "It was great," says Tony. "We were so ready to play live. We loaded our amps and gear into the truck NUCLEAR ASSAULT rented to get to the show and just couldn't wait to get onstage for the first time. I think everyone was blown away by the speed." "At the time," adds Gordon, "The Showplace was a strip club/go-go bar. We were all between 16 and 17 years old. When we first got there, Scott Ian was hanging backstage, which was nothing more than a room off the side of the stage. It didn't even have a door. It was our first time meeting formally. The show itself was uneventful, other than it was our first gig. Even though there wasn't a large crowd, the folks that came out that evening showed strong support for the band." Like it happens for most bands, personal conflicts started to happen and led to Tony Marc's departure, as he explains, "We had a love/hate relationship. He (Tommy) was hardheaded and so was I. Gordon was the quiet one who would occasionally explode, but it was funny and Tommy and I would laugh. I wanted to slow it down a little, maybe shift the balance a little to bring more melody and to have Tommy work on his drumming. I think Gordon agreed, but I was the one who argued it, so I was the one to go." "He wanted to keep it a mid tempo heavy band, not the Death/Thrash band we were," clears up Tommy. "He had given Gordon an ultimatum. He was like 'Let's get a new drummer,' me and Gordon clicked. Gordon had mentioned that to me and I said 'What do you want to do?' I mean he never really liked doing this to begin with so... it was just time to go our separate ways. Good bass player, good guy."

Enters new member, ex-SMEGMA bassist, Craig Setari, as Gordon explains, "When Tommy and I used to go to the Sunday matinee shows at CBGB's, we would always see this small crew hanging out. I remember seeing the name SMEGMA on the back of one of their jackets, but wasn't familiar with the band. We eventually befriended them. Amongst that crew were Pete and Lou (pre-SICK OF IT ALL), Rob Echeverria, who later went on to play with STRAIGHT AHEAD and HELMET. Armand Majidi was also part of that crew, who played with REST IN PIECES, STRAIGHT AHEAD and eventually SICK OF IT ALL. Tommy recruited Craig through them. We didn't audition anyone else." "I met Tommy at a CBGB's matinee and we became friends right away. He asked me to check out his band's rehearsal, so I did and it was complete," said Craig.

With this revamped line up, the band started to add progressively, a good dose of Hardcore in its material for the first time, and their June 1985 six song studio demo proved it. "It has always been a part of me. G.B.H., DAMAGE, INFERNO and stuff like that, it was always in my background of music," says Tommy. "Craig fitted with that straight forward style. On that demo, I wanted to sing a little more clearer, a little more distinctive. The speed stuff is good, there was still a couple of fast songs, but I don't know, we got older... everybody was happy with songs like "Adrenalin," "Epileptic," that's where we wanted to go, that's the progression thing." Gordon adds, "We never had a defined sound. The musical direction of the band changed from the time of our first rehearsal until we disbanded. As music fans, we were always listening to and discovering new music, which influenced our songwriting. I never favored one particular style, but would have preferred staying somewhere in the middle sonically between the older and newer material, especially the guitar parts."

It's interesting to mention, MAYHEM, was one of the first bands to really pen extremely short tunes like "Body Bags," before S.O.D. became the hype thing we all know. Along with that musical 'progression,' came a change with the band name, as they added the 'NYC' to it, to differentiate themselves from the other MAYHEMs around. The band went on to play one show per month, at places like The Showplace again, but it was mainly at CBGB's that the sonic assaults were taking place, like Gordon explains, "CBGB's was a better outlet for new, underground music. CBGB's was located right in the city, attracting people from the five boroughs, Long Island, New Jersey and Connecticut. L'Amour was known for more establish acts, with maybe an unknown opening act, but more importantly, they leaned more towards Hard Rock and Metal bands, especially during that time. They were known as 'The Rock Capitol of Brooklyn.' At that time, you'd get kicked out of the club if you attempted to stage dive. They eventually booked Hardcore bands, but at the time, it wasn't a good venue for us." Craig adds, "We played with Hardcore bands because those were the bands we were friends with, that accepted us, that was the crowd that liked us. The Metal world was not open to us, not as far as shows were concerned. We were Hardcore kids. Metal was something you liked from a distance, Hardcore was something you were a part of."

At this point, the band still didn't have any record out, but things were on the way to change, as Urinal Records (a record label run by Dave Jones from MENTAL ABUSE fame) had offered them to release an EP called For Real. Unfortunately, it never went further than the recording sessions as Craig explains, "We recorded in New Jersey and Urinal was supposed to put it out. It never came out, but it was traded around a lot." Tommy adds, "They wanted to put it out, but we broke up, so that got scrapped and I don't think Dave really liked the way the recording was done. I think he wanted it to be a little more heavier here and there. I don't think he liked the direction we were going either."

Unfortunately, musical differences had entered the game and it was obvious that the band wouldn't survive from this. It was time to close a chapter for the members involved. "Craig and Tommy had a different direction they wanted to take the band," Gordon recalls. "I kind of went with the flow, but eventually this caused me to leave." Craig adds, "The training wheels came off and it was time to fly, do my thing. It was the right move for me, as I'm still doing it today." Tommy completes, "Gordon just wanted to do something else. It wasn't a bad break up at all. Also, I got in a fight with a guy from METALLICA. I called Kirk Hammett a 'Rock star' and we got into a fist fight and spit on each other, etc. I lost my friendship with ANTHRAX a little bit. My behavior was not that good. That kind of turned off Gordon. He called me one day and he left." Craig and Tommy were soon back in action by the spring of 1986 with STRAIGHT AHEAD (not forgetting different jaunts with bands like WARZONE and YOUTH OF TODAY involving both members), while Gordon got to join at the same time a Metalized AGNOSTIC FRONT for the Cause For Alarm tours (and also joined later on ZERO HOUR).