Mayhem
Formed in Norway by Euronymous (real name Oystien Aarseth) who was a young fan of the Satanic black metal played by bands like Bathory and Venom. Mayhem made their first impact with the 1984 demo, PURE FUCKING ARMAGEDDON, which is regarded as something of a classic of extreme metal in underground circles. The black metal genre was losing popularity however, along with the leather and chains imagery and Satanic lyrics that were its trademark. Rather than follow heavy metal fashion and adopt the hardcore punk or death metal genres that were becoming popular, Euronymous opted to preserve purist black metal. In order to do this he opened a record shop in Oslo named Helvete (Norwegian for Hell) and founded the Deathlike Silence label, both dedicated solely to black metal. In 1987 he released DEATHCRUSH, Mayhem's official debut which featured six songs in seventeen and a half minutes of frenzied angst. Then, in 1991, the band's vocalist shot himself (by way of black irony, he went under the stagename 'Dead'). Rather than halting Euronymous' black metal crusade, the tragedy only appeared to have redoubled his faith. Mayhem inspired a number of Scandinavian bands to readopt the musical style and imagery of black metal during the early '90s, while Euronymous became an increasingly melodramatic and popular spokesman on the extreme metal underground with his philosophies of cold hate and spite. A series of Norwegian church burnings in early 1993 were linked to the Black Metal Circle, a cult-like group centred around Euronymous' black metal crusade and dominated by members of bands like Emperor, Dark Throne and Burzum, all signed to Deathlike Silence. Euronymous revelled in the international publicity. Then, on August 10th 1993 he was found, stabbed 25 times, outside his Oslo apartment. Two weeks later Varg Vikernes (better known by his stagename of Count Grishnakh) of the band Burzum was arrested for the murder, and convicted the following year. Vikernes had been Euronymous' right-hand man, and it is not apparent whether the murder was committed because of a financial dispute over record royalties, over a woman, or because of darker doctrinal differences between the two. What does seem clear is that Euronymous was swallowed by the vivid world of pain and hate he had himself created, while the black metal revival he had inspired continues unabated. In 1994 DE MYSTERIIS DOM SATHANAS, Mayhem's last recording, was released posthumously. Sinisterly enough, it featured Grishnakh on bass guitar.