Euronymous - From Mayhem to the grave

I am proud to be able to post this great guest-article by Absinthe Pretty. Thanks and hails!

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On Friday, March 22nd 1968 a boy was born in Surnadal (Norway). The boy was Øystein Aarseth. By the age of 25 he was to meet a violent end but before that he would found and lead a whole new movement in music. Norwegian Black Metal.

Black Metal began with Aarseth’s interest in British thrash metal band Venom - he shared this interest with another teenager - Jørn Stubberud - together they would start their own band and launch a whole new brand of metal. At the age of sixteen though first names like Jørn and Øystein just didn't sound tough enough especially when you are trying to be taken seriously so name changes were called for.

Death, guts and fucking were their interests; the music they played was dark and echoed these themes their new names must also put fear into people so were born Destructor (Aarseth) and Necrobutcher (Stubberud). With others Mayhem began both musically and in a literal sense. From now on metal music in Norway (and subsequently in other places) would never be the same.

They were dark, mysterious, 'satanic'. Early promo photos of the band showed members with their long black hair almost obscuring their faces and creating a dark atmosphere. Unbeknown to Venom who wrote their lyrics simply for shock value a darker meaning had been taken from the songs they wrote by this handful of teens from the far north.

'Black Metal' a Venom song title was used by Aarseth to name this new movement to describe what his own band played. This was like nothing anybody had ever seen before and for teens who were already metalheads this was the next thing, the next extreme step. Very soon Mayhem would spawn countless other Black Metal bands - only a few of who still exist 25 years after Mayhem themselves first picked up their guitars and screeched and growled down the microphone. Of the ones who are still in existence Emperor, Satyricon, Gorgoroth, Immortal and Darkthrone would all have members who would later be part of what the resulting media frenzy would dub The Satanic Terrorists.

By 1989 things were really taking off in the Mayhem camp - Aarseth had now changed his name to Euronymous - it meant Prince of Death in Greek and the band including the newly recruited drummer, Hellhammer (Jan Axel Blomberg) and Swedish vocalist Dead (Per Yngve Ohlin), were now living in a house together, rehearsing, shooting birds in the forest in the middle of the night, conducting experiments and generally intimidating the townsfolk. Things were about to get a whole lot darker.

They had already released an EP, Deathcrush back in 1987 with vocalists Maniac and Messiah (on two songs) - By the time 'De Mysteriis Dom. Sathanas' would finally be released in 1994 Euronymous would have followed Dead to the grave having been brutally slain by jealous one time 'friend' Varg Vikernes 'The Count'.

In the sixteen years since the murder Vikernes has risen as some hero amongst those dumb enough not to question anything he says. When journalists over the years have attempted to quiz him over one of his many contradictory comments, he has leapt on the defensive and ended with more contradictions and of course more lies.

By 1991 Euronymous had moved to Oslo and opened his own record store 'Helvete'. He had always created and maintained a dark image for himself and his band but by now Euro himself had gotten into the darkness even further - this followed the discovery in 1991 of Dead's body after having blown his head off. Fuelled by shock, trauma and possibly depression (though never admitting this). Euro's mood changed. His wearing of corpse paint increased and the style in which he wore it was also darker.

Here was a young man battling with emotions which he could let have free reign, at the same time running his store, starting up his own label and keeping his band going, gigging and rehearsing. How he kept up with this we will never truly know and soon he was to have a bigger problem in the form of 'The Count'. All of Euro´s hard work would soon be undone within the next year. Vikernes would single handily destroy Euro but also the scene that he created. It was a destruction born out of sheer jealousy on the part of Vikernes.

At 3:00AM on August 10th Euro was woken by the buzzer - sleepily he answered - it was The Count demanding to be let in. Euro without knowing the real reason why he was being visited let him in. Their friendship had by now soured but Euro being laid back and easygoing was not concerned. Sadly for Euro Vikernes did not have Euro´s easygoing approach to these things and had now proclaimed Euro an enemy and a threat to his life (wtf) and decided to kill him.

Unarmed and recently roused from sleep Euro had no chance against Vikernes and his knife despite V's claims to the contrary. The Godfather of Black Metal was dead and now so was the true scene. In the weeks and months which followed Bård Faust and Samoth would also be jailed for different crimes.

Had he been allowed to live Euro would now be 41 years of age - possibly still continuing with Mayhem but definitely he would have still be the talented musician that he was up until the age of 25. I think of Euro constantly and I wonder how his life would have panned out if August 10, 1993 had ended differently.

As I write this his murderer has been released from jail and is desperately trying to worm his way back into the BM scene, for whatever that is these days. He also has a wife and kids. The opportunities that he robbed Euro of.

Euronymous and his work will never be and never should be forgotten.

Øystein Aarseth - March 22,1968 - August 10, 1993 R.I.P