Wolf's Lair Abyss is an EP by the Norwegianblack metal band Mayhem. It is the first part of Grand
Declaration of War, which has been stated on the band's website.[2] Additionally, the
main riff of the last track, "Symbols of Bloodswords", which is the last tune of
the EP, is also featured in "A Grand Declaration of War" and "View from Nihil
(Part II)". This EP was the first release by Mayhem without Euronymous, who was
killed in 1993. The new lineup's material was far more technical than that of
earlier incarnations of the band; aside from the intro, each track contains at
least two separate sections and is played at a furious tempo. Also, while Maniac's vocal contributions to the
band are generally controversial, his performance on this EP is routinely
praised. This EP has often been cited as the best item in the new lineup's
discography.
Trivia
In Norway's capital of Oslo, there is a black metal shop called Wolf's Lair, thought to
have drawn inspiration from the EP. This has proved itself untrue, as the shop
was originally called Wolff's Lair, after the founder, Rudy Wolff; the store
dropped one "f" from their name after she left. Adolf Hitler's Eastern
Front military headquarters, Wolfsschanze, is translated in English roughly as
Wolf's Lair, which is one of several Führerhauptquartier (Führer
Headquarters) or FHQs located in various parts of Europe. The Wolf's Lair
was the location of the July 20 plot to kill Hitler, where staff officer
Claus von
Stauffenberg carried a bomb hidden in a briefcase into the meeting room and
placed it just a few feet away from Hitler. The resulting explosion devastated
Wolf's Lair, leaving an 'abyss', in its wake.