Mayhem

### **Label**

Posercorpse Music, Deathlike Silence, Misanthropy Records, Avantgarde Music, Season of Mist

### **Website**

www.thetruemayhem.com

**Mayhem** is a Norwegian black metal band formed in 1984 in Oslo, regarded as one of the pioneers of the Norwegian black metal scene. Mayhem's career has been highly controversial, primarily due to their violent stage performances, the 1991 suicide of vocalist Per Yngve Ohlin ("Dead") and the 1993 murder of guitarist Øystein Aarseth ("Euronymous") by former member Varg Vikernes ("Count Grishnackh"), of Burzum.

Founded by Jørn Stubberud (Necrobutcher), and Kjetil (Manheim) under the name Musta, which they changed to Mayhem after Øystein Aarseth (Euronymous) joined in. The band name is taken from the Venom song, "Mayhem with Mercy".
During the early years, the band used either session vocalists Messiah or Maniac for live/studio commitments, and played either instrumentally, or with Necrobutcher or Euronymous on vocals during rehearsals.

By late 1987 both Manheim and Maniac had left the band, their positions were filled temporarily by members of Vomit, before vocalist Dead, and drummer Hellhammer took over in 1988.

Dead committed suicide in 1991 by shooting himself in the mouth with a shotgun after cutting his wrists with a knife. The shells were given to him by Varg Vikernes (Count Grishnackh), who knew that Dead used to practice with a shotgun in the forest close to the house where the members of Mayhem lived. His body, along with a suicide note saying "Excuse all the blood", was discovered in his room. Euronymous took some pictures (one of them appearing as the cover of the infamous *Dawn of the Black Hearts* bootleg album) of the suicide scene. A legend was born, and it was said that Euronymous had cooked and eaten pieces of Dead's brain. It was also said that fragments of Dead's skull had been collected and made into necklaces that both Euronymous and Hellhammer wore as a tribute to Dead. Of course it is doubtful that the truth was as macabre as people would like to believe regarding the cannibalism, but it is a confirmed fact that necklaces were made, and that pictures were taken.

With the media and police attention following Dead's suicide, Necrobutcher (Jørn Stubberud) decided to leave the band. Dead was replaced by Occultus (Stian Johansen), ex-singer of Thyabhorrent and partner of Euronymous in the "Helvete" shop. He sang and played bass in Mayhem for a few months, but soon left. With the band's need for musicians, Varg Vikernes (Burzum) joined as bassist and participated on the *De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas* album, along with Hungarian vocalist Attila Csihar who performed on the album but never fully committed to the band at the time.

On August 10th, 1993, Varg Vikernes murdered Euronymous in his apartment with Snorre W. Ruch acting as an accomplice. Their relationship before the murder was tense, as their friendship and musical relationship started going downhill. Vikernes, who had started to play bass in Mayhem, killed him due to a number of alleged reasons: over a girl, jealousy of Euronymous's position in the Inner Circle, Euronymous owing him money, Euronymous not releasing Burzum's albums on time. Euronymous was found in his underwear, with stab wounds inflicted with a knife. Varg was rumoured to try and outdo the murder Faust of Emperor committed. At his trial, Vikernes came into court with his long hair made into pigtails, and denying his involvement in Euronymous's death. He giggled and laughed throughout the trial. He was convicted of the murder and was sentenced to 21 years in prison (the maximum possible sentence in Norway). When police arrested Vikernes, he was found with over 150 kilograms of stolen dynamite and alleged plans to destroy Nidarosdomen, a large Christian church in Trondheim, on a religious holiday. Although, Varg Vikernes has a different story to the reasons for killing Euronymous.

After the trial, Euronymous's parents asked Hellhammer to remove the bass lines that Varg had recorded. He told them he would record new bass lines himself, but the truth is that he didn't know how to play the instrument, so the album remained the same, featuring Varg on it. Other rumours about Occultus playing the new bass lines are also false, he never played a note with the band during his time in Mayhem, according to Hellhammer.

Despite the death of the band's founder and main driving force, Hellhammer later reactivated the band, with Maniac and Necrobutcher rejoining alongside new guitarist Blasphemer. Mayhem's musical style changed drastically over the years that followed. In 2004, Maniac left again and Atilla Csihar rejoined Mayhem on a full-time basis.

Mayhem's live show, particularly in the days of Euronymous and Dead, has always been known for featuring heavy atmospheric effects such as severed pig heads impaled on wooden spikes. Dead's clothes were buried days/weeks before the show, and were exhumed decayed, soiled, and full of insects. Pieces of rotting meat were thrown into the audience. Dead ravens were placed in a bag so Dead could continually smell decay and death. Members were also noted to cut themselves onstage. While the more extreme aspects of the show has been toned down in later years, Attila Csihar remains infamous for his theatrical performances and stage costumes.

Despite once playing in the strongly anti-Christian band Mayhem, early vocalist Kittil Kittilsen (ex-Kvikksølvguttene, Vomit) left the music scene around 2000 and became a fundamentalist Christian and warns people of the dangers of playing in a rock/pop band regardless of what the lyrics/ideology is about.

## Members

Current lineup
* Necrobutcher - bass (1984-1991, 1994-present)
* Hellhammer - drums (1988-1993, 1994-present)
* Attila Csihar - vocals (1993, 2004-present)
* Teloch - guitars (2011-present)
* Charles Hedger - guitars (2012-present)

Past members
* Manheim - drums (1984-1987)
* Euronymous - guitars (1984-1993), vocals (1984-1986)
* Messiah - vocals (1986-1987)
* Torben Grue - drums (1987-1988)
* Maniac - vocals (1987, 1994-2004)
* Kittil Kittilsen - vocals (1987-1988)
* Dead - vocals (1988-1991)
* Occultus - vocals, bass (1991)
* Count Grishnackh - bass (1992-1993)
* Blackthorn - guitars (1992-1993)
* Blasphemer - guitars (1994-2008), bass (2007)

### Live musicians

Current (live)
* Maniac - vocals (2016)

Past (live)
* Alexander Nordgaren - rhythm guitar (1997-1998)
* Ihizahg - guitars (2004-2005)
* Sanrabb - guitars (2004)
* Morfeus - guitars (2008-2012)
* Silmaeth - guitars (2008-2011)
* Manheim - drums (2016)
* Messiah - vocals (2016)

## Discography

Studio albums
* De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994)
* Grand Declaration of War (2000)
* Chimera (2004)
* Ordo ad Chao (2007)
* Esoteric Warfare (2014)
* Daemon (2019)

EPs
* Deathcrush (1987)
* Wolf's Lair Abyss (1997)
* Life Eternal (2008)

Live albums
* Live in Leipzig (1993)
* Dawn of the Black Hearts (1995)
* Live in Bischofswerda (1998)
* Mediolanum Capta Est (1999)
* Live in Marseille 2000 (2001)
* Live in Zeitz (2016)
* De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas Alive (2016)
* Live in Guatemala City (2017)
* Live in Sarpsborg (2017)
* Live in Jessheim (2017)
* Live in Montreal (2018)

Compilation albums
* Out from the Dark (1996)
* U.S. Legions (2001)
* European Legions (2001)
* Legions of War (2003)
* Grand Declaration of War / European Legions (2014)
* Henhouse Recordings (2019)

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