Norway‘s early 1990s black metal scene was defined by extreme, controversial behavior and a grim fascination with death. At the center of this maelstrom sat the band Mayhem, attracting tragedy and infamy. Their history intertwines with church burnings, suicide, and murder – earning them a reputation as one of the most notorious bands in rock history.
The Melancholia of Norway’s Black Metal Origins
Before Mayhem brought Norwegian black metal to sinister heights, the genre first coalesced in the late 1980s as an underground movement centered around small record stores and tiny concert venues in Oslo and Bergen. The bands in this fledgling scene mostly comprised of ostracized, melancholy youth searching for an outlet. Many came from fractured families or foster care backgrounds. Developing their sound and aesthetics in isolation, they channeled nihilism and contempt for Christianity through shocking lyrics and abrasive guitarwork.
Aspects of punk, hardcore, and extreme metal fused with Scandinavia‘s ancient Norse identity. Interest also grew in the occult, Satanism, and pagan religions as ‘counterculture‘ to Norway‘s traditionally devout Christian society. By the early 90s, dozens of raw, underproduced black metal bands sprang up issuing sinister cacophonies recorded in basements on shoestring budgets. Though sonically crude, the paint-like corpse makeup, black leather attire and distorted epic song structures created an intensely dark and foreboding subculture.
Mayhem Rises Within the Darkness
Mayhem came together in 1984, founded by guitarist Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth alongside bassist Jørn “Necrobutcher” Stubberud and drummer Kjetil Manheim. As teenagers, they sought escapes from loneliness through metal music, horror films, and roleplaying games. Mayhem reflected these influences, fusing occult topics with frenzied metal instrumentation. After some lineup shuffling, Swedish vocalist Per Yngve Ohlin joined Mayhem in 1988. Ohlin, nicknamed “Dead” for his ghostly stage presence, fully embraced the band‘s death obsession. His self-destructive theatrics both on and off stage soon built their legend.
Enter the Gothic Ghoul "Dead"
During concerts, Dead appeared looking like a rotting corpse just risen from the grave. His face was adorned with morbid black/white makeup and fake blood. He wore clothing filled with putrid animal remains, emitting a rancid stench as he stalked the stage. Upon reaching the microphone, Dead would cut wrists and arms with knives and broken bottles – spraying blood upon screaming fans. He kept plastic bags filled with pig heads obtained from local butchers and impaled them atop venue floor spikes. At climactic song moments, Dead grabbed these decapitated heads and threw them into the crazed crowds. Bandmates actively encouraged these transgressive acts which aimed reflecting the horrors communicated through their music.
Offstage, Dead‘s existence grew increasingly troubled. He became engrossed with depressing literature like Poe while living in run-down buildings said to be haunted. Given name Per Ohlin, his outlook and behavior worsened through drugs, meaning his ‘Dead‘ persona became less a stage act than overwhelmingly real.
Euronymous gravitated towards Dead‘s extremes. His IDEOLOGY of evil majesty mattered more than Black metal was a tool for revenge against Christian society. He brought groupies to the macabre basement torture chamber decorated with impaled animal heads and satanic artwork inside which Euronymous photographed their naked, bloodied bodies upon an actual coffin.
These theatrics reflected Euronymous’ gnostic belief that shocking sights of horror, bestiality, and humiliation served a "higher satanic purpose." As Mayhem’s chief songwriter, his obsessions with death, torture, and pagan religion colored the band‘s lyrics and visual aesthetic. This in turn attracted vulnerable youth searching for meaning through the infernal and forbidden. For bored teenagers constrained by Norway’s rural towns and religious conservatism, Mayhem signified dangerous possibilities.
Dead‘s Final Ritual Suicide
In April 1991, Euronymous returned to his apartment residence to a horrific sight – bandmate Dead had committed carefully-planned suicide. His death note read “Excuse all the blood, cheers" and apologized for the “mess.” The shotgun used to blow his head apart was a gift from Euronymous. A post-mortem analysis revealed slit wrists, self-inflicted knife cuts and a skull fracture confirming Dead‘s prolonged demise.
Instead of despair, Euronymous saw immense opportunity in using Dead‘s suicide as art and advertisement. He arranged the corpse in a seated position, placed a handgun in its lap, then photographed the dead vocalist before calling the police. With almost detached fascination, Euronymous collected skull fragments for necklaces and amulets later given to fellow black metal musicians. He expressed neither grief nor surprise, rather a duty to honor Dead‘s bloody exit by ensuring Mayhem’s legend was burnished.
For Euronymous the homicide became the ultimate satanic ritual from which infamy and profit could be harvested. He sprinkled rumors that he made stew from pieces of Dead’s brain. While likely untrue, it embellished his branding as Norwegian black metal’s supreme dark mystic. He shared copies of Dead’s gruesome death portraits with fanzines while plotting to feature them on a future Mayhem release.
Dead’s self-slaughter hit Norway’s bleak black metal scene hard. Many in the scene shared his internal despair. Struggling with fractured identities, the genre’s descent into death represented a concerning spiral. Yet for a radical few, the shock value inspired similar attacks upon Norway’s religious institutions seen as symbolic of their ostracization. Within months, a wave of church profanations, graveyard vandalism, and arson swept across Norway’s western countryside.
Enter the Hateful Viking "Count Grishnackh"
As Euronymous continued Mayhem with new members, an obsessive fan named Kristian Vikernes heteronymed ‘Count Grishnackh‘ insinuated himself into the bandleader‘s inner circle through several intimidating letters. An aspiring musician fixated upon Viking-era Scandinavia, Vikernes soon earned notoriety himself under his solo black metal project Burzum. His ambient recordings and savage anti-Christian rhetoric attracted notice. When Mayhem sought a new bassist in 1992, Euronymous recruited the intimidating Vikernes to play with his chief rival act. “The two most evil brands in Norway are finally joined,” boasted Euronymous to one fanzine.
Several hundred Norwegian stave churches date back 800+ years ago into the Viking period representing historic national symbols tied to early Christianity‘s arrival. Vikernes – an admirer of Norse paganism and the occult – believed burning iconic churches would "reawaken Norse heritage" against descendant religiosity and 20th century Norwegian values. Within three months of joining Mayhem, Vikernes was convicted for torching Åsane Church in Bergen using lighter fluid and matchsticks. He was sentenced in May 1994 receiving the maximum penalty under terrorism provisions – 21 years. During the trial, Vikernes evoked ancient Viking codes in defending church arson as an act of war against Christianity’s colonization of Norway’s true ancestral faith.
A Symphony of Destruction
Norway saw over 75 major church attacks unfold between 1992-93. Though unconnected on the surface, these arsons shared a common goal to provoke religious institutions and destroy historic representations of Norway’s spiritual identity. Many buildings dated back centuries possessing irreplaceable religious artwork and artifacts within their ancient timber walls.
While impossible to determine exactly which fires Vikernes set, many prominent church attacks occurred near where he lived during that period. Beyond Åsane Church, Norway‘s 850-year old Fantoft stave church was reduced to cinders on June 6, 1992 (the day credited for popularizing black metal music). The following year, Holmenkollen Chapel and Skjold Church both perished in flames. In just 18 months, over 50 of Norway‘s historic wooden churches dating back centuries burned – causing over $40 million USD in damage. Whether Vikernes or other Norwegian black metal musicians committed particular acts remained inconclusive. Still, law enforcement found Vikernes’ faint fingerprints at another crime scene suggesting his complicity in multiple arsons.
Openly anti-Christian and fascinated with Norse rulers, Vikernes explained later his reasons for burning churches stemmed from political convictions against imperialist religions. He hoped destroying Norway’s historic cathedrals would "sever modern society’s connection to this degenerative, non-Norwegian belief system”. Vikernes sought returning his homeland to pre-Christian times – by violent means if necessary.
Blasphemous Showmanship
Beyond spreading church arson‘s gospel, Vikernes continued honing his ominous stage persona with Mayhem. Crowds witnessed violent confrontations between the band’s warring alpha-monsters. Vikernes taunted Euronymous as a “Jew-loving communist”. Euronymous mocked Vikernes as the “Count Fairy” or “Cunt Fartface”. Their song lyrics turned increasingly sadistic featuring misanthropy, Nazism, and serial killers as subject matter. Each aimed demonstrating greater ‘evilness‘ through their music and imagery.
During one notorious 1992 gig, Vikernes flaunted a "Hellcommander" armband reputedly owned by Norwegian mass shooter Bård Gultson who killed dozens at a Marxist youth camp. Onstage he proclaimed, “tonight Communists will die”. Other photos captured Vikernes wearing an anti-Christian t-shirt moments before torching Fantoft chapel. Clearly church arson and fascist ideology constituted cornerstones of his public persona alongside the ‘Viking warrior‘ identity.
Yet away from the stage lights, Vikernes’ violent tendencies disturbed Mayhem‘s members. In interview he boasted of attacking immigrants around Oslo equipped with a Viking axe. While likely hyperbolic, Vikernes had cultivated a militant reputation that frightened even black metal’s most devoted hellions.
The Spiraling Obsessions of Euronymous
During this period, Euronymous himself grew increasingly reclusive and combative. He now claimed being the central force responsible for birthing Norwegian black metal (rather than ringleader ‘Faust‘ from Emperor). Euronymous demanded credit for building the early underground scene around Helvete – his macabre Oslo record store. Its walls displayed impaled sheep heads and customers faced interrogation on their dedication to "evil and extreme music".
Beyond commercial concerns, Helvete offered Euronymous space to nurture black metal’s twisted creative core. Vikernes mingled there with musicians like Hellhammer, Necrobutcher along with suicidal fans – these vulnerable youths mesmerized by Euronymous holding court on templar mysticism and German atrocities. Through their shared outcast anger, he fostered loyalty to his leadership by providing shelter to runaway teens inside Helvete’s graffiti-covered basement.
Yet as different black metal musicians received growing notoriety, jealous obsession infected Euronymous. He turned hostile against former allies. Faust was now labeled a "psychopath poser". Euronymous declared artistic war upon newer groups like Emperor and Darkthrone emerging from Oslo’s gloom seemingly without his blessing. He demanded Norwegian black metal fans support only Mayhem and Burzum – all other bands were deemed false prophets.
This was the fraught scene in summer 1993 as tensions boiled between erstwhile collaborators Euronymous and Vikernes.
The Final Atrocity
In early August 1993, Vikernes and Snorre ‘Blackthorn’ Ruch drove 500km to Euronymous’ apartment building in Oslo. Confronting Euronymous ambush-style inside the stairwell, Vikernes inflicted 23 stab wounds upon Mayhem‘s creator – his lungs ripped through, skull split apart by savage downward knife blows. Ruch ran away while a cold vikernes lingered over the corpse thoughtfully be before escaping himself. Euronymous died violently at age 25 alongside runes painted upon his apartment walls prophetically reading “Born Dead Murdered Dead”.
Vikernes later claimed JUSTIFIED HOMICIDE against a bandmate plotting his assassination yet bragged openly afterward about the ruthless attack. Vikernes escaped towards Bergen but was captured only days later thanks to his blood-covered clothes discarded nearby. He was soon connected via testimony to between seven and ten cases of arson.
Beyond destroying Norway’s historic churches, Vikernes now eliminated the very scene‘s creative nucleus he once revered. His imprisonment for murdering former idol Euronymous shocked the nation, understandably generating headline-making notoriety. Yet Vikernes exploited trial coverage to promote himself as heroic Viking vigilante confronting Norwegian society. He showed zero remorse grinning whenever Euronymous or Dead were mentioned almost as if feeding off their deaths.
From Black Metal to Terror Plots
Following Vikernes’s 1994 conviction, details later emerged of his plans for coordinated terrorist action spanning both bombings and multiple assassinations around Norway. Vikernes plotted these unchecked during early imprisonment, conspiring with neo-nazi allies sharing his national socialist views. Targets reputedly included another historic Norwegian church, an Oslo bookstore, and leftwing activists.
From his cell, Vikernes exploited contacts within Norway‘s neo-Nazi faction to obtain explosives, detonators plus organizational support for attacks. Two accomplices were eventually arrested in 2003 at a Vikernes "safe house" containing this collected arsenal – just days before Vikernes hoped unleashing chaos commemorating Hitler‘s birthday.
Further investigation revealed Vikernes intended retribution against Norwegian institutions for his lengthy incarceration. Like his church arsons a decade earlier, mass violence was deemed the only recourse against a society which failed to embrace his radical philosophies. Unrepentant throughout, Vikernes proved an enduring symbol of Norwegian black metal’s descent into the abyss. He spent 15 years behind bars before his 2009 parole release.
Yet while Norwegian authorities quashed Vikernes‘s most vicious plans prior to execution, the original black metal scene he helped radicalize left collateral damage across many broken youths lacking his appetite for destruction.
A Wave of Death Among the Ruins
Beyond Mayhem’s murdered members, Norwegian black metal’s early years witnessed an epidemic of suicides, church desecrations, violence and hate speech. For outsider youth harboring sadness, its virulent negativity amplified inner turmoil rather than assuaging through artistic catharsis. Unstable personalities attracted towards extremism enhanced hurt. Some called it "sympathetic magic", others a matrix of mutual harm spiraling ever downward as vulnerable adherents celebrated Gothic destruction.
While impossible to determine exact numbers, possibly dozens of Norwegian black metal fans or musicians killed themselves in scene connected deaths either by suicide, overdose or misadventure between 1990-1995. With many cases going unreported, lack of comprehensive data prevented understanding the scale of suffering and mortality surrounding black metal’s original culture.
Yet its chief architects left enduring legacies from their tragic undoing. Dead’s graphic suicide photos featured prominently on illegal Mayhem merchandise decades later as black metal’s most iconic corpse. Countless others self-harmed or wasted away touched by what they helped awaken. Euronymous, meanwhile, eternally possessed the gnostic stature of a fallen anti-savior burdened with failed prophecy. For shadowy disciples worldwide, his fatal dream of enlightenment through profaning Norway’s soul survived beyond the grave.
An Enduring Legacy of Infamy
In Mayhem’s wake, black metal exploded globally throughout the 1990s dovetailing with underground internet proliferation. Yet much of what emerged traced directly towards Norway’s inaugural darkness that first corrupted Scandinavian youth escaping small-town boredom. For legions of outcast adolescents, Euronymous and Vikernes embodied revolutionary ends seemingly justifying musical extremism and spiritual anarchy without limits. Their real-life barbarism granted permission towards act out alienation and self-destruction. Mayhem‘s music arose from that frozen soil before an entire subculture manifested across Europe, Asia, and America during the 1990s bearing the initial infection.
While many original Norwegian bands imploded or faded into obscurity, Mayhem improbably continued releasing albums sporadically over subsequent decades. Their horrifying yet captivating history attracted new generations towards the endless void of nihilistic sound first conjured in Norway‘s evil genesis. Even with all original members expired, sentenced or retired, latter-day "chapters" carried forward the band‘s distinct legacy. This repackaging of Mayhem’s macabre mystique for modern audiences underscores black metal’s original rawness as heart of its enduring fascination not just the music but the abnormal psychology behind it.
The tale of Mayhem and their cohorts’ unhinged descent towards ruin punctuated metal history through the brazen assault on societal mores and even murder. It departed radically from rock music‘s traditional excesses in drug abuse or sexual transgression. As the burgeoning internet spread their infamy globally, a distinct genre was rebirthed which 30 years later continues inspiring maladjusted individuals seeking meaning in return to the abyssal edge – the place where Euronymous first embraced Norwegian black metal’s ominous possibilities and discovered forces beyond imagining.