Norwegian black metal legends Mayhem have confirmed they are deep in the recording process for the highly anticipated follow-up to their 2019 album Daemon. In a new interview with Poland’s Noise Magazine, Mayhem bassist Jørn “Necrobutcher” Stubberud revealed that the band has been working on the new record for several years and is currently in the studio shaping its sound.
“We are currently in the studio now to record a new album, which has been in the works for several years, obviously, ’cause the last album was in 2019, so it’s already six years,” Necrobutcher said. “But that’s good.”
Why Mayhem Takes Their Time Between Albums
Necrobutcher explained that the lengthy gap between Mayhem releases is deliberate – a creative choice aimed at ensuring each record feels distinct.
“It’s more honest, I think, and it’s better for everyone that there is some space between the albums, because if you release albums too close to each other, it tends to be maybe just a repetition of your last album, or very close to it, ’cause there’s no time to get new inspiration in between.” he said.
“It’s more honest, I think, and it’s better for everyone that there is some space between the albums, because if you release albums too close to each other, it tends to be maybe just a repetition of your last album So the longer the time it takes for the songwriters to distance themselves from the last project and to get new inspiration, the longer time it takes, the better it is. And then the longer time you have to evolve the songs in your head as a composer…”
Using a painter’s process as a metaphor, Necrobutcher said songwriting requires knowing when to stop refining and when to let a piece stand on its own.
“As a composer, I compare it to a painter. You paint and paint and paint, and in the end it’s hard to know when to quit. When is the painting really finished? Same with the songs. You can get lost. You have a song and you write it, and then it sounds good, but then you think, maybe that riff should go a little bit longer and maybe that riff shouldn’t repeat itself and maybe that other riff should repeat itself.
“And then, in the end, you don’t know when to stop. And then so it takes time for this thought process to to be thought through. That’s why always, even after the songs are recorded in the studio, you start to play them live and then they alter a little bit, but musicians, we call them the ‘live versions.’ But really, really the live versions is really how the song ended up to be, ’cause they were not completely matured when recorded, in a sense.
“That’s why they altered when we rehearsed them for live later, ’cause the alteration would be what we have come up with. And that’s why I love to release live albums too, because I feel like that’s how the songs should actually be. And also then you have the roughness from the live and not the studio where you can [perfect] everything and put on extra guitars or keyboards or whatever. So that’s the more honest expression. And sometimes I like the live versions much better.”
Mayhem guitarist Teloch, who has been central to Mayhem‘s creative vision for the past decade, also offered a candid update on social media in early July 2025: “My excuse for not being active on here for the last months: Working on the new Mayhem. I need to focus. My brain is fried. Guitars, bass, drum beats, vocal guides, effects, synths yadayada.”
While this will be Mayhem‘s first full-length in six years, the band has remained active since Daemon. In 2021, they released the Atavistic Black Disorder / Kommando EP, featuring unreleased tracks from the Daemon sessions alongside raw punk covers of Discharge, Dead Kennedys, and Ramones classics. In 2023, they followed it with Daemonic Rites, a live album that captured their blistering onstage power and offered fans a taste of their evolving setlists.
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