"CULT ART FOR ANTIHUMAN BEINGS: THE OLD TRUE MAYHEM"

NO MOSH! NO CORE! NO FUN! NO TRENDS!

The insidious band known as Mayhem began in 1984. A young man, by the name of Oystein Aersith, decided to create a band and play music such as Venom's except twice as extreme. With this thought in mind, Oystein searched for fellow band members. After finding his colleagues, Oystein began to think of a band name. The result was Mayhem. Soon after the conclusion of the band name, Oystein thought that the members should, like Venom, have stage names. After giving it some thought, Oystein had come to call him self

Anti-mosh

"Destructor." The drummer took the name "Manheim", and the bassist "Necrobutcher." Later, Destructor became known as Euronymous, which, as Destructor claims, was the greek prince of death. After two years Mayhem were ready to play. With session vocalist Messiah, they performed their first concert playing only Venom and Celtic Frost covers. Later that year, Mayhem recorded their "Voice of a Tortured Skull" and "Pure Fucking Armageddon" demos.

A year after recording the demos, Mayhem went into the studio to record their first album. With this, came the legendary Deathcrush EP. The line up had not changed, except Maniac was the fiend behind the vocals now. Deathcrush was released on Posercorpse records. Only 1,000 copies were printed on vinyl, which made them very scarce and almost impossible to obtain. Despite the rarity of this album, Bard "Faust" Eithun managed to get his hands on a copy. Faust's comments on the album were rather astounding. "Mayhem was the band everyone in Norway that everyone had heard of, but no one actually heard. I got lucky, as I knew Maniac, who had a few copies reserved of Deathcrush. I remember it being very brutal, and probably the most brutal music I heard up until then." With the release of Deathcrush and help from Slayer Magazine, Mayhem were on their way to reign on the throne of black metal.

In 1988, a departure of Mayhem's vocalist and drummer left them searching for new recruits. From hearing many Morbid demos, Euronymous contacted a young man by the name of Per Yngve Ohlin aka "Dead."

Dead

After having found a new singer, the search for a drummer began. The finding of Hellhammer led to the blackest days of Mayhem. The legendary line-up had finally formed. The only material recorded at this time was two songs for a compilation, "The Freezing Moon" and "Carnage." By that time, Dead had already written the lyrics for what would later become known as "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas." Mayhem rehearsed a few new songs and prepared for their second-coming live show. Organized by a long time friend, Metalion, the legendary first black metal concert was scheduled in Sarpsborg. Preparing for the show, Mayhem bought and impaled pig heads on large spikes. Dead had buried his in dirt so they could rot, he had kept a raven in bag to smell the scent of death in between songs, and finally, he promised he would shed is own blood. This show was attended by some of the most infamous members of today's black metal. The members of bands such as Immortal, Darkthrone, and many others were first seeing the rise of Satan himself. The standards had been set.

Even though Mayhem seemed to have everything going their way, they were bankrupt. During their tour of Germany, a live album was recorded and released, entitled "Live In Leipzig." After returning from this tour, Mayhem had decided they were going to record their first full length album, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. Although things were beginning to pick up, a deed took place which would have destroyed any ordinary band, at the time. On the cold day of April 8, 1991, Dead had been talking to his friends about suicide and decided to travel home. With suicide in mind, Dead severed his veins in his wrist and topped it off with a shotgun blast to the head, which the ammo was supposedly provided by Varg Vikernis. Euronymous then came home to a locked door. Thinking he had locked himself out, Euronymous opened the window and climbed in to see Dead laying on his side covered in blood. His brains had fallen out and was completely drained of all blood. Euronymous, instead of calling the police, ran out and bought a disposable camera.

The dawn of the Black Hearts

When he returned, he took pictures of Dead's corpse, which would later become the cover art of "The Dawn of Black Hearts." Euronymous then took pieces of the fractured skull, and some of the spilled brains. Later he cooked a stew including the brain of Dead, and ate it in Dead's honour. Euronymous made two necklaces for himself and Hellhammer from the skull pieces.

After Dead's suicide, Necrobutcher left the band for unknown reasons. Needing new members again, the remaining hellraisers contacted Stian Occultus of the band Perdition Hearse to fill in the vocal/bass sections. This flaming trinity wouldn't last. It later became known that after Stian's departure, Euronymous and Varg Vikernis vandalized Stian's house. At this time, Euronymous had a new record label, named "Deathlike Silence Productions" and had released the first Merciless LP and re-issued the Deathcrush EP. Euronymous also released a new black metal project, which took the name of Burzum. Varg Vikernis was the mastermind behind this insidious act, and quickly became friends with Euronymous. In the summer before that, Darkthrone had released the first true Norwegian black metal album, entitled "A Blaze In The Northern Sky," which was dedicated to Euronymous. After things slowed down for Mayhem, Hellhammer pursued a new band, Arcturus. Plus, Euronymous had opened a record shop, entitled "Helvete," meaning Hell in English. The store had turned into a hangout for all the black metal bands such as Enslaved, Emperor, Darkthrone, and Immortal. The cellar also hosted Varg, whenever he visted Oslo. Euronymous became sort of the leader of the black metal fiends, telling them what should and shouldn't be done.

In 1992, a lot began in the black metal scene. Norwegian metal had finally been established. This year began the revolution. This year began the rise of the satanic underground. De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas was on its way to be recorded, and to add to all the excitement, several church arsons had been committed. Around the end of the year, De Mysteriis� had finally been completely recorded. The line-up had changed somewhat. It was now Euronymous - guitars,

Attila

Hellhammer - drums, Varg Vikernis - Bass, and Atilla Chisar on the vocals. It would later be known as a black metal masterpiece, but it wasn't going to be released yet.

With the completion of De Mysteriis� and the addition of a second guitarist named Blackthorn, Euroynous' record store and lable began getting a lot of business. He was signing new bands every other day. Even though everything looked productive, the future was still bleak. Varg and Euronymous' relationship had turned to pure hatred. The date was August 10, 1993, two betrayers made their way to Oslo. It was Varg Vikernis and Blackthorn, the new guitarist. After arriving in Oslo at Euronymous' house, Blackthorn knocked and was led in by Euronymous. Expecting nothing of the such, Euronymous has attacked form behind by Varg. Varg stabbed Euronymous approximately 21 times. Varg then was convicted of the murder and was sentenced the maximum penalty for his treason. The leader of the dark circle had been murdered. Their leader was dead. After this unfortunate event, chaos erupted in the depths of Norway. There were two sides to black metal now. The followers of Varg, and the followers of the fallen prince. Hail the old true Mayhem!

Mayhem's biography...