Mayhem: Honest thoughts so far

[Gagaism 11,127]

I love the way one opinion contradicts the previous and so it goes on here 

Anyways, so I like the way Im slowing take time to discover each layer and other production elements on each listen and right now my favorites would be:

Abra, Don’t Call Tonight, Shadow of a Man, Garden Of Eden (which dreamy instrumentals really got me).

Vibing a lot with Perfect Celebrity, it reminds the good times where I would blast to Fallen by Evanescence. 

Im already having visions of a hot sex moments while The Beast playing on the background and I think that’s a very good sign 

Its an amazing album, I’m very happy with it. Too early to say if it’s gonna be my favorite or a rank placement right now but it’s definitely better than Chromatica already for my taste. 

[MountainMonster 327]

I’ve been a little monster since 2008 - I still remember the first time I heard Just Dance on the radio and immediately was in love. I remember feeling like it was like nothing else - and she still gives me that feeling to this day. MAYHEM is exactly what I wanted. This album has the least amount of skips for me ever (1, it’s Blade of Grass). It’s everything I love about her synthesized into one album - grimey, gritty electronic (Abra, Disease, Perfect Celebrity), sexy and sultry (Garden of Eden, The Beast, Disease, Killah), funky, retro and inspired (Killah, Shadow of a Man, Vanish Into You, LoveDrug), kitsch, theatre and camp (Zombieboy, HBDUWM, Beast, Don’t Call Tonight, even Blade of Grass). If there’s anything I’d say is particularly missing from the album it’s a killer solo ballad. And I could do with another slutty s*x song. Overall, it’s a 10 from me. 
 

Also, I understand the nostalgia of looking back at TF, TFM and BTW with love. But objectively, I don’t think they hold a candle to MAYHEM’s musicality and lyrics. Today when I listen back to BTW, it feels like a corn fest. An album full of songs that take themselves too seriously for the camp that they were - and when MAYHEM deliver’s camp, it doesn’t do so while seeming like it’s being too self righteous. I think a lot of BTW today feels like it takes itself too seriously. And I know I’ll take flack over this opinion - but it’s honest. I love BTW, but I feel it gets made out to be THE album, and I’m not sure that it is. 

[ChvVolk 2,218]

I enjoy the album, but only a certain way. I had to readjust the tracklist and remove/add songs. It hits way better the way I listen to it, honestly. 

I mainly listen to darkwave, industrial, goth music and make my own with my band, so I was so excited on Gaga's take on this type of music. I was highly disappointed. Lyrically, it's very The Fame. Lots of repetitive lines, almost every song has the word "bite" in it. It's a fun album but I know Gaga can write better than this because she has before. Perfect Celebrity, Vanish, The Beast, Abracadabra, Disease, Blade of Grass, are all really well written. Everything else is a little basic. Nothing wrong with it, but I expected production and lyrics like Machine Gun, Magic Doors, and We Carry On by Portishead. But that's on me for having high expectations. 

I'll still listen and see her on tour.

[floppyhatboy 88]

It's a solid album. Her best album, yet. Every song has its own life, but the album as a whole is cohesive: a controlled chaos. It's like her greatest hits album in a sense. But to give her the benefit of a doubt, she could've gone down the 'Perfect Celebrity' route and make it sonically chaotic in a sense of electro industrial grungy metal with a tint of pop (disco, synth pop), and that album would have been her 'magnum opus', and it will give her a 90+ Metacritic score and a Madonna's Ray of Light or Bowie's Low moment. She is clearly talented enough to make one in those critics' and music scholars' view.

 

But all that being said, she can make whatever the hell she wants that makes her happy. As a fan of hers, I would be satisfied no matter what if she were truly happy with her work. No music critics should get to pin her works into a number score or attack them on their published review, like their opinion is a fact, because music is subjective. You are bound to be biased.

[Blackout19 11,279]

i really love it 

[skaxboy 5,184]

Garden of Eden and Perfect Celebrity were instant bop and I still love them!

 

Vanish Into You is still kinda a skip for me. 
 

Killah was okay on the first listen but after the SNL performance I vibe with it a little more. 
 

Zombieboy was a bop. Still a bop. It played at the club on Saturday and people were so into it and myself. 
 

I was not too crazy about LoveDrug at first, then it popped in my head while working out and gave it another listen and it grew on me. I like it. 
 

How Bad Do You Want Me feels like a filler to me. It pales in comparison to the others. It’s on the same level of Vanish Into You for me. 
 

I think Don’t Call Tonight is my least listened to so far. I can’t remember it right now. 
 

Shadow Of A Man is excellent. 
 

I love The Beast! I think it’s so sensual! 
 

Blade Of Glass was okay. The chorus was stuck in my head yesterday so I listened to it and I still think it’s just okay. 
 

 

I haven’t listened to the other tracks yet. I wanna digest these first and then hear the other tracks. 

[SHALLOW 16,191]

I love all the songs except for The beast which i find kinda boring but still listenable and HBDYWM which I'm never gonna listen to again 

I still think it's a 7.5-8/10

[RochestrMonstr 2,849]

I’m more obsessed than I’ve been with an album in a long time. It’s just a beautiful album. I love beautiful melodies. I think it may end up being my favorite. It’s still too new to tell for sure . I’ll say It’s tied right now with Born This Way and Joanne, which are also full of beautiful melodies. But I can see Mayhem being my long-run favorite

[River 112,911]

The Beast is so misunderstood, it’s one of her best songs 

[Monstermilo 4,206]

honestly i think everything from disease to zombie-boy is great. everything after that (EXCEPT FOR shadow of a man) is mediocre and just filler tracks. 

i really wish we had gotten more songs that sounded like abra sonically.

i hope it wins AOTY, i hope she gets two more number ones but i dont know if i can say its my favorite project by her. 

wouldve loved to hear something like bloody mary or scheiBe on mayhem 

Edited March 12 by Monstermilo

[Monstermilo 4,206]

mayhem is most similar to born this way

if you compare track by track, i think born this ways tracks beat most of mayhems tracks. 

i do think production on mayhem may be slightly better though overall

[Sarah H 3,400]

Loved it on first listen and love it even more now. Her best sounding album yet. 

The only song I'm not that bothered about is How Bad Do U Want Me. 

Killah, The Beast, Shadow of a Man, Zombieboy and Vanish Into You are standouts for me. 

Blade of Grass doesn't seem that popular but I think it's beautiful. 

Edited March 12 by Sarah H

[SimonBaetens 8,071]

it's so good, timeless and still fresh!

[ReverseDisease 89]

I love all songs, except the last 3

I'm not a fan of ballads / slow songs 

[elijahfan 25,807]

4 hours ago, HotLikeMexico said:

I really love the album. It’s one of my favorites from her in a while. 
 

that being said, I do feel like this album is a bait and switch. Like I knew she said this album was a mix of genres so I’m not bothered that it’s not fully dark pop, but it’s mainly just disco/funk pop with a couple dark pop songs. I thought there would be more variety by how she described it. Hearing the album now, all imagery and album shoot doesn’t really match the vibe.

Basically all this.

I’ve come to a point where I doubt she’ll ever do a straightforward pop album again, and I’ve kinda made peace with that. She’s 39, we can’t expect her to keep doing what she did at 23. I just wish they’d been a little more transparent from the start - I’m still confused by the fact they keep pushing this goth / grunge aesthetic, with her wearing NIN t-shirts… like, yeah.