Mayhem (band)

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Mayhem
Cover of Bootleg 'Tribute to the Black Emperors', Feat: Øystein Aarseth (Euronymous) and Per Yngve Ohlin (Dead)
Cover of Bootleg 'Tribute to the Black Emperors', Feat: Øystein Aarseth (Euronymous) and Per Yngve Ohlin (Dead)
Background information
Origin Oslo, Norway Flag of Norway
Genre(s) Black metal
Years active 1984- present
Label(s) Posercorpe Music (1987)
Deathlike Silence (1993–1994)
Misanthropy Records (1997)
Century Media (1994–1996)
Season of Mist/Necropolis Records (2000–present)
Website www.thetruemayhem.com

Mayhem is a black metal band formed in 1984 in Oslo, Norway. The name "Mayhem" is derived from the title of the Venom song, "Mayhem With Mercy"[citation needed]. Much controversy has followed the various murders, suicides and other forms of violence that have surrounded the band since its inception. The controversies have often overshadowed the music, especially in recent years due to, in part, the internet and magazine articles.

Over time Mayhem has evolved through a variety of black metal styles, delving at times into areas of dark avant-garde industrial and electronica. Highly influential, the group is widely considered to be one of the cornerstones of the black metal movement.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early years (1984-1990)

Mayhem was founded in 1984 by guitarist/vocalist Euronymous (Øystein Aarseth - then 'Destructor'), bassist Necrobutcher (Jørn Stubberud) and drummer Manheim (Kjetil Manheim). Euronymous concentrated solely on guitar following the hiring of vocalist Messiah (Eirik Nordheim) in 1985, with Maniac (Sven Erik Kristiansen) replacing Messiah. The band went on to record their third release, following two demos, Deathcrush, with Euronymous's newly formed label 'Posercorpse Music'.

By this time Mayhem's sound had developed from their initial death / speed metal influences to arrive at a sound more distinctive, dark and unique. Though maintaining the usual death metal obsessions in gore and violence, more sinister and nihilistic preoccupations with religion and paganism had emerged, influenced in part by Norse mythology, the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, Satanism (though Euronymous opposed the Crowleyan and LaVeyan brands of Satanism, in favour of a Christian perspective[citation needed]).

An initial release of 1,000 copies Deathcrush quickly sold out, and was later repressed in 1993, by the Posercorpse Music label, since having been renamed Deathlike Silence Productions as a joint venture with Øystein's Oslo specialist record shop Helvete. Øystein's plans for this new outlet included that it was to be "...like a black church in the future. We've thought about having total darkness inside, so that people would have to carry torches to be able to see the records."[citation needed]


By the summer of 1988 both Manheim and Maniac had left the band; Manheim, tired of 'the life', to get a 'real' job, Maniac, following a failed suicide attempt and confinement in a mental institution. After two brief replacements, their positions were filled by Swede Dead (Per Yngve Ohlin, previously of Morbid), and scene drummer Hellhammer (Jan Axel Blomberg).

Dead, as suggested by his stage name, was melancholic by nature and fascinated by death, decay, and darkness. He left even Euronymous, who by all accounts despised him, expressing concern for his mental stability. Despite this he was well liked on the scene, though regarded as a little naïve.

According to Bard Eithun "He (Dead) wasn't a guy you could know very well. I think even the other guys in Mayhem didn't know him very well. He was hard to get close to. I met him two weeks before he died. I'd met him maybe six to eight times, all in all. He had lots of weird ideas. I remember Aarseth was talking about him and said he did not have any humour. He did, but it was very obscure. Honestly, I don't think he was enjoying living in this world." [1]

Dead had, over time, carefully cultivated a notoriety for strange behaviour; once burying a set of clothes underground for weeks so that he could later wear the decaying rags on stage[citation needed]. He had kept a rotting raven in a plastic bag so better to "inhale the scent of death" before going on stage[citation needed]. Such morbid fascinations and antics further developed Mayhem's progressing musical atmosphere, and by this point the band's lyrics had moved increasingly toward Satanism, darkness, depression and evil. A focal point of gigs at this time was the planting of pigs heads on stakes, center stage, and Dead cutting himself with a knife[citation needed].

The new lineup with Dead and Euronymous was quickly to become the band's most notorious. After some live gigs in Norway and Germany (where Live in Leipzig was recorded), Mayhem started working on their first full length album: De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (Lord Satan's Secret Rites), though by the time of its eventual release the two cornerstone members would be dead.

[edit] Classic line-up (1991-1993)

By April 1991, Dead was dead, aged 22, having suffered a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head and several lacerations to the wrists, inflicted by a knife he had bought that day. Dead committed suicide in a house he was sharing in Kråkstad with the other members of the band, and left a note asking that they "Excuse all the blood."[citation needed] Other members of the band claimed it was more extensive, also saying "The knife was too dull to finish the job so I had to use the shotgun." Euronymous was first to discover the body, and took a series of photographs of the corpse, one of which was later stolen and used as cover art for the bootleg album Dawn of the Black Hearts.

According to Occultus, who briefly took position as vocalist after Dead's suicide: "He (Dead) didn't see himself as human; he saw himself as a creature from another world. He said he had many visions that his blood has frozen in his veins, that he was dead. That is the reason he took that name. He knew he would die.."[2]

The shells used had been sent to him by Bergen, Norway musician Kristian Vikernes (aka Varg Vikernes, Count Grishnackh; ex Old Funeral, sole member of black metal band Burzum, later convicted murderer of Euronymous). Euronymous was particularly cold and opportunistic about Dead's suicide; in interviews he claimed, speciously, that Dead had killed himself due to the rising popularity of death metal, the American movement Black Metal had risen against. According to Hellhammer, Euronymous took pieces of Dead's brain and made a stew, in which he put ham, frozen vegetables, and pepper. "He'd always said he wanted to eat flesh, so he figured this was an easy way." Euronymous also claimed to have collected and forged fragments of Dead's skull into necklaces, sending pieces to those he felt 'worthy' (amongst those rumoured to be in possession of such pieces are the members of Swedish black metal band Marduk & Abruptum). Hellhammer has said he made a necklace from Dead's skull fragments as well. Euronymous, however, claims he did not in fact consume any part of Dead's corpse, though he had intended to.

In 1993, Live in Leipzig was released as the band's tribute to Dead. Dead's suicide affected Necrobutcher so much that he left Mayhem, thinning the band's ranks down to two.

Music sample:

Later that year, the recording of Mayhem's upcoming album, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas resumed. In Dead's and Necrobutcher's absences, Attila Csihar handled vocals, with Vikernes on bass.

Due to adverse media and police attention, Euronymous was forced around this time to close his scene focal point record shop Helvete. By this stage he owed Vikernes 30,000 NOK (for album sales and related costs), which he was refusing to pay back, a fact argued over publicly on several occasions[citation needed].

On the morning of August 10, 1993, Vikernes traveled, along with 21 year old Blackthorn (Snorre Westvold, of the band Thorns), the seven hours between Bergen to Euronymous's apartment in Oslo. They created alibis, en route, by getting friends to rent a video locally in their names. Upon arrival, Vikernes fatally stabbed Euronymous with a knife, although Vikernes claims that Euronymous had been planning to kill him for quite some time, and that upon his arrival to Euronymous' apartment, Euronymous had attempted to attack him first. The autopsy revealed that Euronymous suffered twenty-three stab wounds: two to the head, five to the neck & sixteen to the back. However, Vikernes claims that Euronymous fell onto pieces of broken glass, from a lamp shade broken in the ruckus, which he says, attributed to the multiple puncture wounds.

He then stumbled and broke a lamp on the wall, probably with his head or arm, and fell into the glass fragments - in his underwear. I ran past him and waited. Snorre was still upstairs, and I had no idea how he would react to all of this. Perhaps it was a set-up and he was in on it? Perhaps he too would attack me? I didn't know. When Snorre came running he looked very scared and I just let him ran straight past me. I realized he was not a part of this, so I asked him if he was okay (because he certainly didn't look okay). By then Euronymous was back on his feet. He looked resigned and said: "It's enough", but then he tried to kick me again, and I finished him off by thrusting the knife through his skull, through his forehead, and he died instantaneously. The eyes turned around in his head and a moan could be heard as he emptied his lungs when he died. He fell down to a sitting position, but the knife was stuck in his head, so I held him up, as I held onto the knife. When I jerked the knife from his skull he fell forward, and rolled down a flight of stairs like a sack of potatoes - making enough noise to wake up the whole neighbourhood (it was a noisy, metal staircase).

– Varg Vikernes, A Burzum Story

Though initial suspicion pointed towards members of the Swedish scene, Vikernes had left key pieces of evidence, including a blood stained copy of a recording contract (used as the pretense for his visit to Euronymous). Within days Vikernes was apprehended by police and charged with the murder. He has continued to record for his one-man project Burzum while in prison. With only Hellhammer remaining, Mayhem effectively ceased to exist.

[edit] Later years (1994-present)

De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

In 1994, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas was released and formally dedicated to Euronymous. Its release had been delayed due to complaints filed by Euronymous' family, who had objected to the presence of bass parts played by Vikernes. Contrary to contemporary reports these were not re-recorded by Hellhammer and appear unblemished.

By late 1995 Hellhammer had decided to reform the band with the help of new guitarist Blasphemer (Rune Erickson) and two previous Mayhem members - Maniac and Necrobutcher. The first release of this new lineup was a 1997 EP titled Wolf's Lair Abyss, and was followed by some live European shows. One of these took place in Milan, Italy, guest starring Attila Csihar, and was recorded for the Mediolanum Capta Est live album of that year.

Mayhem's current lineup. l-R Jørn Stubberud (Necrobutcher), Jan Axel Blomberg (Hellhammer), Attila Csihar (Attila), Rune Erickson (Blasphemer)
Mayhem's current lineup. l-R Jørn Stubberud (Necrobutcher), Jan Axel Blomberg (Hellhammer), Attila Csihar (Attila), Rune Erickson (Blasphemer)

In 2000 the band's second full-length CD, Grand Declaration of War was released. Strongly influenced by progressive and avant-garde metal, the album was concept-based, dealing with themes of war and post-apocalyptic destruction. Maniac largely abandoned the traditional black metal rasp for dramatic spoken-word monologue, with most of the songs sequencing seamlessly into one another. Reaction to the album was polarized. Some criticised the album for its avant-garde and electronic elements, which they perceived as pretentious, and for Maniac's vocals, which they perceived as inferior to Dead's and Attila's; others saw it as a laudable attempt to recreate and redefine black metal, with critic Brian Russ going so far as to call it "really the first cohesive work the band has ever done" and "a fitting culmination to their career thus far." In retrospect, the electronic elements of the album were often heavily overstated by its detractors, appearing notably in only a single track, "A Bloodsword and a Colder Sun."

Music sample:

After a four year silence, Mayhem released Chimera in 2004. It showed a return to their earlier raw and brutal style, but with considerably better production values than earlier releases. Chimera still maintained a progressive edge, perhaps due to increasing input from Blasphemer. In 2004, Maniac was forced out of the band and Attila Csihar was reinstated as his replacement.

The band has finished their new album, titled Ordo ad Chao ("Order and Chaos"), scheduled for release on April 6, 2007 (April 17 in the United States and Canada), and set to contain ten tracks. The single, "Anti" can be heard on the official MySpace. As of May 4, 2006, Mayhem is signed to "Season of Mist" records, a French label specializing in Black Metal.

[edit] Band members

Mayhem band members
(1984-1985)
(1986-1987)
(1987)
(1988-1991)
(1992)
(1993)
(1993)
(1994) SPLIT
(1995-1997)
(1997-1998)
(1998-2004)
(2004-present)

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums (studio)

[edit] Albums (live)

[edit] Albums (compilation)

[edit] Albums (split)

  • Necrolust / Total Warfare [Split CD] - (1999)
  • Freezing Moon / Jihad [Split CD] - (2002)

[edit] Demos and promos

[edit] Bootlegs

  • Live Zeitz [Bootleg] - (1990)
  • Dawn of the Black Hearts [Bootleg] - (1991)
    • Includes the legendary performance in Sarpsborg in 1990 with Dead, as well as Mayhem's first ever live performance in Lillehammer in 1986. The cover is one of the photos of Dead's suicide taken by Euronymous.
  • From The Darkest Past [Bootleg] - (1993)
    • An instrumental rehearsal from the De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas period, including most of the tracks from said album.
  • A Tribute To The Black Emperors [Bootleg - Split w/Morbid] - (1994)
    • Includes the December Moon demo of Dead's previous band, Morbid, released in 1987. It also features a compilation of Mayhem tracks: "Necrolust" from Deathcrush, "Funeral Fog" from Live in Leipzig, and "The Freezing Moon" and "Carnage," from the Projections of a Stained Mind compilation released on CBR in 1991. The tracks from the Projections of a Stained Mind compilation are the only two studio songs Mayhem ever recorded with Dead on vocals.
  • In Memorium [Bootleg] - (1996)
    • Includes a 1991 rehearsal featuring the "classic" lineup of Euronymous, Dead, Necrobutcher, and Hellhammer, an instrumental rehearsal from 1992 featuring Varg Vikernes on bass, and a rehearsal from 1991, after Dead's suicide, featuring the short-lived member Stian Occultus on bass and vocals.

[edit] Videography

  • Live In Bischofswerda [VHS] - (1998)
  • European Legions: Live In Marseille 2000 [VHS & DVD] - (2001)
  • Mayhem - Cult of Aggression (Norweigan/Swedish documentary by Stefan Rydehed)[VHS & DVD] 2002
  • Appearance in Metal: A Headbanger's Journey (2005)
  • Appearance in BBC One World series - Episode Name: 'Death Metal Murders' 2005
  • Pure Fucking Mayhem (English documentary by Stefan Rydehed) 2007

[edit] See also

  • Burzum - The primary band of Count Grishnackh, who murdered Euronymous and played bass on De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas.
  • Darkthrone - Black metal band formed in 1986 (Under the name Black Death) who originally played death metal; its members were part of the original inner circle.
  • Emperor - A well-known symphonic black metal band with members in Euronymous' inner circle.
  • Immortal - Well known black metal band (1989-2004) hailing from Bergen, Norway. Euronymous apparently helped in the changing of style in their songs (from a more death-black to a more black sound). Also known to have been in contact with Count Grishnakh.
  • Thorns - The primary black metal band of Blackthorn, who indirectly aided in the murder of Euronymous.

[edit] References

  1. ^  Moynihan & Soderlind (1998). Lords of Chaos (2nd ed.) Chapter 4, P59. Feral House. ISBN 0-922915-94-6
  2. ^  Moynihan & Soderlind (1998). Lords of Chaos (2nd ed.) Chapter 4, P54. Feral House. ISBN 0-922915-94-6
  3. ^  Moynihan & Soderlind (1998). Lords of Chaos (2nd ed.) Chapter 7, P238 Feral House. ISBN 0-922915-94-6

[edit] External links

Mayhem
Necrobutcher | Hellhammer | Attila Csihar | Blasphemer
Manheim | Dead | Maniac | Occultus | Euronymous | Count Grishnackh | Blackthorn | Nordgaren
Discography
Studio albums: Deathcrush, 1987 | De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas , 1994 | Wolf's Lair Abyss, 1997 | Grand Declaration of War, 2000 | Chimera, 2004 | Ordo Ad Chao, 2007
Live and compilation releases: Live in Leipzig, 1993 | Out from the Dark, 1996 | Ancient Skin / Necrolust, 1987 | Necrolust / Total Warfare, 1999 | Mediolanum Capta Est, 1999 | European Legions, 2001 | Legions of War, 2003
Demos and bootlegs: Voice of a Tortured Skull, 1986 | Pure Fucking Armageddon , 1986 | Live Zeitz, 1990 | Dawn of the Black Hearts, 1991
Related articles
Burzum

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