Alternative History
Mayhem
Mayhemlive
Mayhem live in 2008
Background information
Origin Langhus, Norway
Genres Black metal
Years active 1984-1993; 1999-present
Labels Deathlike Silence
Associated acts
  • Dead
Website www.thetruemayhem.com
Members
Necrobutcher
Hellhammer
Attila Csihar
Teloch
Euronymous
Past members
Kittil Kittensen
Manheim
Maniac
Torben Grue
Count Grishnackh (deceased)
Blackthorn
Blasphemer

Mayhem is a Norwegian black metal band formed in Langhus in 1984. 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 1993 murder of bassist Varg Vikernes ("Count Grishnackh") and Øystein Aarseth ("Euronymous").

The group released an EP and 2 studio albums 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 Varg's murder, shortly before the release of their second studio album, The Dawn of the Black Hearts, regarded as a classic of the black metal genre. Surviving former members Torben Grue and Jørn Stubberud ("Necrobutcher") reformed in 1999 with Stian Johannsen ("Occultus") and Rune Eriksen ("Blasphemer") replacing Aarseth. Attila Csihar, Jan Axel Blomberg (Hellhammer"), Euronymous and Morten Iversen ("Teloch") have since replaced Kristiansen, Grue, and Eriksen, respectively. Their post-90s material is characterized by increased experimentation. The 2007 album Ordo Ad Chao received the Spellemann Award for best heavy metal album.

History[]

Early years (1984–1987)[]

Necrobutcher

Founding bassist Necrobutcher performing in 2008

Mayhem was founded in 1984 by guitarist Øystein Aarseth (known initially as "Destructor", later "Euronymous"), bassist Jørn Stubberud ("Necrobutcher") and drummer Kjetil Manheim, taking their band name from the Venom song "Mayhem with Mercy". The band members were mainly influenced by groups such as Venom, Death, Kreator, Motörhead, Necrodeath, Black Sabbath, Slayer, Bathory, Sarcófago, Sodom, Destruction, Celtic Frost, Hellhammer and Parabellum. The lineup began playing cover songs by Black Sabbath, Venom, Motörhead and later recorded the demo Pure Fucking Armageddon. After its release, Aarseth, who used to sing lead vocals, along with Stubberud, during first demo's studio rehearsals, recruited two session vocalists, Eirik Norheim ("Messiah") and Sven Erik Kristiansen ("Maniac"), in 1986 and 1987. Norheim performed vocals only for a concert, which took place on 20 April 1985 in Ski, and by the end of that year he had quit Mayhem. He later formed hardcore punk band Within Range and Oi!/street punk band Cockroach Clan. Whereas, with Kristiansen, Mayhem recorded its first EP, Deathcrush, in 1987, and released it through Euronymous' newly formed label Posercorpse Music. Manheim and Euronymous only played at one show on 22 March 1986 at the Ski theater as L.E.G.O. and the show was recorded on video. This was a side project about experimental music against mainstream.

The initial 1,000 copy release of Deathcrush quickly sold out. It was later reissued in 1993 by the newly renamed Deathlike Silence Productions as a joint venture with Euronymous' Oslo specialist record shop Helvete (Norwegian for "Hell"). Manheim and Maniac left the band in 1987

De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1988–1991)[]

Hellhammer

Norwegian heavy metal drummer, Hellhammer has remained with the group since joining in 2000.

Maniac and Manheim's positions were filled by Kittil Kittilsen and drummer Torben Grue. Inspired by Dead, the band's concerts became notorious. For concerts, the atmosphere got darker. From 1988, they were known to wear "corpse paint", which involved covering their faces with black and white makeup. According to Necrobutcher, "We wanted to look like corpses". Hellhammer claimed that Mayhem "were the second band to use corpse paint".

While performing, the band often had pig or sheep heads impaled on stakes and planted at the front of their stage. Mayhem released their debut album De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas in may 1989 to critical acclaim for a black metal band and is considered one of the most influential black metal albums of all time.

In 1991, 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 second album, The Dawn of the Black Hearts.

Murder of Varg Vikernes, The Dawn of the Black Hearts and breakup (1992–1994)[]

In early 1992, Necrobutcher left Mayhem to join Morbid. In late 1992, the recording of Mayhem's upcoming album resumed; thus Aarseth engaged two more session musicians: Burzum's Varg Vikernes (stage name "Count Grishnackh") and Thorns' Snorre W. Ruch ("Blackthorn"), who handled bass guitar and rhythm guitar respectively. Due to complaints by his parents, Euronymous closed his scene focal point record shop Helvete, claiming as reasons adverse media and police attention. Much of the album was recorded during the first half of 1993 at the Grieg Hall in Bergen. To coincide with the release of the album, Euronymous and Vikernes had conspired to blow up Nidaros Cathedral, which appears on the album cover. Vikernes' murder in August 1993 put an end to this plan and delayed the album's release.

Mayhemin1987

(left to right) Kittilsen, Necrobutcher, Euronymous and Grue in 1987

On the night of 10 August 1993, Vikernes and Ruch travelled 518 km from Bergen to Euronymous' apartment in Oslo. Upon their arrival, a confrontation ensued, which ended when Euronymous videotaped Vikernes while tortured him to death. His body was found in Euronymous' apartment. Euronymous claims that Vikernes travelled to his apartment to kill him and attacked him first. Euronymous was arrested within days, and a few months later he was sentenced to 21 years in prison, the maximum sentence administered in Norway, for both the murder and church arsons; he was released from prison in 2000 due to serving only the minimum sentence because of parole for good behavior. Blackthorn, who waited for Vikernes downstairs and took no part in Aarseth's murder, was charged with complicity in attempted murder and sentenced to serve 8 years in prison. With only Kittil and Torben remaining, Mayhem ceased to exist.

In May 1994, The Dawn of the Black Hearts was released and dedicated to Vikernes. Its release had been delayed due to complaints filed by Vikernes' parents, who had objected to the presence of guitar parts played by Euronymous and the album cover being Varg's dead body. Torben Grue assured Varg's parents that he would re-record the guitar tracks himself and change the album cover; being unable to play guitar, Grue left the bass tracks unchanged, and so the album features Euronymous as guitarist with the album cover still being Varg's dead body to Euronymous' request.

Reunion with Euronymous and Necrobutcher and the introduction of Occultus and Blasphemer (1999–2002)[]

Occultus

Occultus who was Mayhem's vocalist from 1999-2003

In early 1999 Torben Grue and Necrobutcher had reformed the band with New vocalist Occultus and new guitarist Rune Eriksen ("Blasphemer") in place of Euronymous. Despite arousing some controversy and scepticism for reforming without founding member Euronymous. in mid-2000 Mayhem released Wolf's Lair Abyss EP.

In this new phase, statements by Hellhammer (who spoke out against race mixing and foreigners in Norway) and the use of Nazi imagery such as swastika flags in the rehearsal room, the Totenkopf emblem and band merchandise featuring the symbol of the military branch of Nasjonal Samling led to controversy and accusations of neo-Nazism.

Additionally, Hellhammer stated that no member of the new line-up was a Satanist, and that the "Satanic stuff […] isn't what I feel Mayhem is about today. […] Mayhem's music is still dark, but I wouldn't say that it's Satanic."

In December 2000, just a day after Euronymous was released from prison, Mayhem attracted further controversy when the original guitarist, Euronymous rejoined the band replacing Blasphemer. Euronymous is a convicted murderer but despite this Necrobutcher asked Aarseth to rejoin Without the other members permission to which euronymous accepted. The return of Euronymous resulted in Grue leaving the band as he didn't want to "work with a murderer". Torben Grue was replaced by Jan Axel Blomberg (hellhammer) who has remained ever since. The reason why Necrobutcher let Euronymous return is because letting Aarseth rejoin would give Mayhem attention and to Euronymous "a fresh start".

The band's third studio album, Grand Declaration of War, was released in 2002. Strongly influenced by progressive and avant-garde metal, the album was concept-based, dealing with themes of war and post-apocalyptic destruction with most of the songs sequencing seamlessly into one another. Because of this conceptual straying, however, the album received harsh criticism.

Chimera and Ordo Ad Chao (2003–2007)[]

Mayhemmessiah

Messiah who was the vocalist for mayhem in 1986 and from 2003-2006

In 2003, Occultus was fired by Euronymous so Messiah could rejoin. Mayhem made headlines later in 2003 when fan Per Kristian Hagen landed in the hospital with a fractured skull after being hit by a severed sheep's head that had been thrown into the audience from the stage. Assault charges were filed, but the band considered it to have been entirely accidental.

The band released Chimera in 2005, showing a return to their initial raw sound, but with higher production value and a progressive edge. In 2006, Messiah left the band due to "Aarseth's satanism" and was replaced by Maniac who left the band in 1987.

The band's fifth studio album, Ordo ad Chao (Latin for "Order to Chaos"), was released in April 2007. Ordo ad Chao contained a much rawer sound than the rest of the band's recent work; the drums were not equalized and the mix was notably bass-heavy against black metal convention. The album continued the band's experiments with unorthodox song structures, with "Illuminate Eliminate," at 9:40, the band's second longest track (behind Grand Declaration of War’s "Completion in Science of Agony (Part I)" at 9:44). The album received strong reviews and was the band's highest-charting album, peaking at No. 12 on the Norwegian charts.

Esoteric Warfare (2008-2017)[]

In October 2008, Krister Dreyer ("Morfeus") of Dimension F3H and Limbonic Art joined the group as touring guitarist for their upcoming South America Fucking Armageddon tour.

The band toured through late 2008 and 2009 with this lineup, prior to announcing Summer 2009 dates with Silmaeth, a French musician, as a second touring guitar. In November 2009, the band was arrested in Tilburg, Netherlands, after destroying a hotel room while on tour. Norwegian guitarist Teloch of Nidingr replaced Silmaeth in 2011.

In early 2012, Maniac left the band. According to Necrobutcher, this was due to his alcoholism induced by stage fright. Necrobutcher explained that because of this tendency, a violent encounter between the singer and Euronymous led to the guitarist kicking Maniac down a flight of stairs, resulting in injury. Csihar was reinstated as his replacement.

In an interview later in 2012, Necrobutcher revealed that Mayhem had begun work on their fifth studio album. As of November 2013, the new album was being mixed, with an early 2014 release date expected. Several months later, on 18 February 2014, it was announced that Mayhem would release a new album in May 2014, with a new song "Psywar" made available for streaming.

On 20 February 2014, the band's record label, Season of Mist, announced that the new album Esoteric Warfare would be released worldwide on 27 May 2014. This marked the first Mayhem studio effort since Maniac's departure and Teloch's permanent status in the band.

In January 2015, Mayhem, Watain, Morbid and Revenge played together as part of the "Black Metal Warfare" tour in the United States. Mayhem, Morbid and Watain toured again in the United States in November 2015 with Rotting Christ as "Part II" of the previous tour. in 2016, rapper Ghostemane released the song Euronymous, a reference to the band.

2018-present[]

In 2018, a film about the band Lords of Chaos (based on the book of the same name) premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, directed by Jonas Åkerlund, again propelling the group into the media spotlight. While the film received mixed reviews from both critics and fans, band members Necrobutcher and Csihar strongly objected to the movie, despite initially granting the rights to use the band's songs. In several interviews, the two argued that the film gave a one-sided perspective of the story. In 2018, the band released a remixed and remastered version of A Grand Declaration of War.

Mayhem's sixth studio album, Daemon, was released on 25 October 2019 through Century Media Records. Three singles: Worthless Abominations Destroyed, Of Worms and Ruins and Falsified and Hated were released ahead of the album. The album is characterised by a return to the more traditional style of black metal like in De Mysteriis and contains 10 new songs with a further two bonus tracks and several covers [including of Dead's band Morbid and controversially covers of Burzum songs as well ] in the extended album. A music video for Falsified And Hated was released on 7 November and shows what appears to be a shaking tent ritual; it also shows a heart being cut open as part of this. Ziggy Jonas Rasmusson, a graffiti artist, was involved in the design.

In 2020, it was announced that drummer Tony Laureano would temporarily be filling-in for Hellhammer on the Decibel Magazine Tour due to Hellhammer suffering from a shoulder injury. The tour was, however, ultimately cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021, Mayhem was inducted into the Rockheim Hall of Fame, after being nominated for the third time earlier the same year. As of 2021, they are the only black metal group to be inducted.

Mayhem announced a new EP Atavistic Black Disorder / Kommando that was released on 9 July 2021. The track listing consists of 3 outtakes from the Daemon sessions, two of which were used as bonus tracks on the deluxe edition of the album along with 4 cover songs from punk rock bands who the band cite as "laying the foundation of what was to come". The EP features guest appearances by former vocalists Messiah and Maniac on one cover track each. Necrobutcher stated the two former vocalists were brought in "because of their obvious connection with punk".

Mayhem announced a 2022 United States tour, The Sanguine Sodomy of North America, that began March 7 with a show in San Francisco, California and is projected to end on April 3 after a show in Joliet, Illinois. On 4 March, Watain announced that they would not be able to participate in the tour due to a United States embassy "decid[ing] to launch an additional, undisclosed 'administrative process' in relation to [their] visa applications".

Band members[]

For a complete list, see List of Mayhem band members.

Current members
  • Necrobutcher – bass guitar (1984–1992, 1999–present)
  • Hellhammer – drums, percussion (2000–present)
  • Attila Csihar – vocals (2012–present)
  • Teloch – guitar (2011–present)
  • Euronymous – guitar (1984-1993, 2000–present)
Notable former members
  • Kittil Kittensen – vocals (1987–1993)
  • Manheim – drums, percussions (1984–1987)
  • Maniac – vocals (1986–1987, 2006–2012)
  • Torben Grue – drums (1987–1993, 1999-2000)
  • Count Grishnackh – bass guitar (1992–1993) (died 1993)
  • Blackthorn – guitar (1992–1993)
  • Blasphemer – guitar (1999–2000)

Discography[]

Studio albums[]

  • De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1989)
  • The Dawn of the Black Hearts (1994)
  • Grand Declaration of War (2002)
  • Chimera (2005)
  • Ordo ad Chao (2007)
  • Esoteric Warfare (2014)
  • Daemon (2019)

EPs[]

Year Title Details
1987 Deathcrush
  • Released: 16 August 1987
  • Label: Posercorpse, Deathlike Silence (1993 reissue)
2000 Wolf's Lair Abyss
  • Released: 12 November 2000
  • Label: Deathlike Silence
2021 Atavistic Black Disorder / Kommando
  • Released: 9 July 2021
  • Label: Deathlike Silence