page_title: Mayhem (band)
section_title: With Dead (1988–1991)
hierarchical_section_title: Mayhem (band) / History / With Dead (1988–1991)
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Jan Axel Blomberg von der norwegischen Blac-Metal-Band Mayhem bei deren Auftritt am Jalometalli 2008 in Oulu. English: Jan Axel Blomberg from the Norwegian black metal band Mayhem live at Jalometalli 2008 in Oulu.
context_page_description: Mayhem is a Norwegian black metal band formed in 1984 in Oslo, Norway. They were one of the founders of the Norwegian black metal scene and their music has strongly influenced the black metal genre. Mayhem's early career was highly controversial, primarily due to their notorious live performances, the 1991 suicide of vocalist Per Yngve Ohlin and the 1993 murder of guitarist Øystein Aarseth by former member Varg Vikernes of Burzum.
  The group released a demo and an EP that were highly influential, and amassed a loyal following through sporadic and notorious live performances, attracting further attention through their ties to the string of Norwegian church burnings and the incidents of violence surrounding them. Mayhem disbanded after Aarseth's murder, shortly before the release of their debut album, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, regarded as a classic of the black metal genre. Surviving former members Jan Axel Blomberg, Jørn Stubberud and Sven Erik Kristiansen reformed the next year with Rune Eriksen replacing Aarseth. Attila Csihar and Morten Iversen have since replaced Kristiansen and Eriksen, respectively. Their post-Aarseth material is characterized by increased experimentation.
context_section_description: After two brief replacements, Maniac and Manheim's positions were filled by Swedish vocalist Per Yngve Ohlin ("Dead") and local drummer Jan Axel Blomberg ("Hellhammer"). With Dead, the band's concerts became notorious. For concerts, Dead went to great lengths to achieve the image and atmosphere he wished. From the beginning of his career, he was known to wear "corpse paint", which involved covering his face with black and white makeup. According to Necrobutcher, "[i]t wasn't anything to do with the way Kiss and Alice Cooper used makeup. Dead actually wanted to look like a corpse. He didn't do it to look cool". Hellhammer claimed that Dead "was the first black metal musician to use corpse paint". To complete his corpse-like image, Dead would bury his stage clothes and dig them up again to wear on the night of a concert.
  While performing, Dead would often cut himself with hunting knives and broken glass. Additionally, the band often had pig or sheep heads impaled on stakes and planted at the front of their stage.
  Stian Johannsen ("Occultus"), who briefly took over as vocalist after Dead's suicide, made this statement about him:
  "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."
  In 1990, the members of Mayhem moved to "an old house in the forest" near Oslo, which was used as a place for the band to rehearse. They began writing songs for their next album, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. Mayhem bassist Necrobutcher said that, after living together for a while, Dead and Euronymous "got on each other's nerves a lot" and "weren't really friends at the end". Hellhammer recalls that Dead once went outside to sleep in the woods because Euronymous was playing synth music that Dead hated. Euronymous then went outside and began shooting into the air with a shotgun. Varg Vikernes claims that Dead once stabbed Euronymous with a knife.
  On 8 April 1991, Dead committed suicide in the house owned by the band. He was found by Euronymous with slit wrists and a shotgun wound to the head. Dead's suicide note started with the sentence "Excuse all the blood" and included a brief explanation "nobody will ever understand this, but as a sort of explanation, I am not human, this is only a dream and soon I will awake".The full text has become public and it ended by saying "I didn't come up with this now but 17 years ago". Attached to the note, Dead left the lyrics of the song Life Eternal.
  When Euronymous found all this, he went to a nearby store and bought a disposable camera to photograph the corpse, after re-arranging some items. One of these photographs was later used as the cover of a bootleg live album, Dawn of the Black Hearts.
  
  Necrobutcher recalls how Euronymous told him of the suicide:
  Øystein called me up the next day ... and says, "Dead has done something really cool! He killed himself". I thought, have you lost it? What do you mean cool? He says, "Relax, I have photos of everything". I was in shock and grief. He was just thinking how to exploit it. So I told him, "OK. Don't even fucking call me before you destroy those pictures".
  Euronymous used Dead's suicide to foster Mayhem's 'evil' image and claimed Dead had killed himself because black metal had become 'trendy' and commercialized. In time, rumors spread that Euronymous had made a stew with bits of Dead's brain and had made necklaces with bits of his skull. The band later denied the former rumor, but confirmed that the latter was true. Moreover, Euronymous claimed to have given these necklaces to musicians he deemed worthy, which was confirmed by several other members of the scene, like Bård 'Faust' Eithun and Jon 'Metalion' Kristiansen.
caption: A prolific Norwegian heavy metal drummer, Hellhammer has remained with the group since joining in 1988.
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