Mayhem on a Cross (Band)

Mayhem on a Cross is an International extreme metal band formed in 2000 by musician Abaddon Luciferious (originally under the name Hell's KillTank). The band has released 6 studio albums, 4 EP (2 of which can only be downloaded), 2 Compilations and 2 Live albums, all of them recorded by Abaddon in studio (he uses live musicians). The band's style has been in debate by fans, since their early works were focused on Black Metal, but they later incorporated more sounds like Horror Punk, Heavy Metal, Doom Metal, Gothic Rock and even Thrash/Groove Metal. Abaddon describes his music as "Hevillish Blackened Horrific Metal".

Early Demos/Works
In 2000 Abaddon Luciferious (going at that time by the name Sadistic) met Canadian musican Robert Clarke, and was invited to his band at that time, after playing a couple of gigs, the band eventually split up and both Sadistic and Clarke went on to create Mayhem on a Cross (althought Clarke just participated on concerts), both of them were 14 when the band was created. They released their first two demos Paranoid & Connected with Satan independetly, somehwere around 2001 Sadistic changed his name to Abaddon Luciferious after this a 7" & a 10" EP was released entitled ''Aura. ''

First Albums
The band's first full lenght album Horror Metal was released by Lovecraft Recordings in 2002. The album was written, composed and recorded entirely by Abaddon. It was recorded between 2000 - 2002 at Sabbat's Requiem Studio. All songs in the album are sung in different ancient and modern lenguages such as Mayan, Aztec, Norwegian & Spanish. This album is widely considered one of the most influential extreme metal albums.

Their second studio album 7 Sins, 7 Rules was released in 2004 also by Lovecraft Recordings, again the whole album is recorded entirely by Abaddon (althought some musicians contribiute performing some instrument in different songs).

Macabra Dance the band's last black metal album was released in 2005 also under Lovecraft Recordings, the album lyrics are written entirely by Abaddon while music is composed by Clarke, it was produced by both musicians, the album features guest apparences by several musicians in the Metal genre.

New Style & First Tour
By 2005, Abaddon said in an interview that he was looking foward to "Experiment with MoaC music" adding some other musical elements, also he said that the band's lyrics will eventually change and they would had a more "comic" style, he stated'' "I find satanic or blasphemic lyrics to 'used' now a days, every band can talk about what they want, even Punk or Rock bands talk about worship satan and that stuff, I want my music to be a little different from that". Eventually this was true and the band's fourth studio album The Difference Between Living and The Death radically changing and adding some more 'clean' style to the band's sound such as adding Heavy/Doom metal style (like old Black Sabbath) and also incorporating the Horror Punk/Gothic sound and lyrics were focused on Horror Movies and Personal/Social problems rather than Satanism or Occultism, the band was accused of being 'commercial' but Abaddon reply saying "I do what I want to do with my music, I won't listen to a creepy supposedly badass 15 year old kid who thinks that metal should stay brutal". ''Even after this, the album was well recieved by critics and the band started a tour in countries like Canada, Mexico, Australia and USA, making stops in places like Norway, Japan and Brazil.

In 2007, the band released a new EP entitled Swansongs for The Monsters, the album had a limited release and it was just avalible in some countries (limited to 1200 copies per country). The following year the band released their first Live album, recorded while they were on tour.

2009 - Present
By 2009 the band released 2 more EP just avalible as download by their official web page.

The band's fifth studio album Music for The Mad Ones was released in 2010, the album had a bonus disc with the band's early works, some cover songs and rare live or rare tracks previously unreleased, this was a limited compilation. A second compilation under the title of ''Living after Death! ''was released the same year, altougt not as special as the first one, this album contains mostly the first songs recorded by the band such as songs from their demos.

In 2011 the band went again on tour and the following year another live album was released.

In 2012 the band released their sixth studio album ''I Wanna be a Deranged. ''

The band also announced they are expecting another Tour alongside other bands, also Abaddon has been writting new music for the upcoming album set to be released in 2014.

Musical Style
Mayhem on a Cross style has been a debate for fans, since their early works were purely black metal (in the style of bands such as Mayhem, Emperor, Darkthrone and Burzum), but as time has progressed, the band has been experimenting with their music adding Punk or Rock elements, such as Traditional Heavy metal sounds with Doom Metal and Epic/Folk music, also the band's two last albums showed a more Groove/Thrash Metal sound.

Abaddon replied to this by saying "I don't really see a reason why I should be labeled as Black, Doom, Thrash, Death/Thrash or any of those strange labels like Blackened Crust Thrashened Death Punk, I find that kind of stupid, I would label myself as some kind of 'Hevillish Blackened Horrific Metal' band!".

Lyrics and Musical Themes
The band's lyrics were at first oriented to a common black metal theme, Satanism, but as 2005, the band decided to change this lyrics and turned them into a more 'comic' theme, inspiring their music in B-Series Horror Movies, Macabre tales, Horror tales, Personal/Social problems, Depression, Dreams and Experiences based on the time an album is recorded.

Abaddon chosed to change this because he found the Satanism theme too 'used and old fashioned'.

Studio Albums

 * Horror Metal
 * 7 Sins, 7 Rules
 * Macabra Dance
 * The Difference Between Living & The Death
 * Music for The Mad Ones
 * I Wanna Be a Deranged
 * TBA

EP

 * Aura
 * Swansongs for The Monsters
 * III (Avalible just as download)
 * IV - Mystery AD (Avalible just as download)

Compilations

 * Bonus (Featured in the Music for The Mad Ones album as bonus disc)
 * Living after Death!

Live Albums

 * Living for Killing
 * Living for Killing II

Demos

 * Paranoid
 * Connected with Satan
 * Lucifage
 * You Can't Stop Me

Studio Members

 * Abaddon Luciferious - Vocals, All Instruments, Arranges

Live Members

 * Robert Clarke - Live Guitar
 * The Shining - Live Bass
 * Dracula Von Amadeus II - Live Drumms