The Real Mayhem Band Story: Suicide, Murder, and Black Metal Chaos

Think your band’s wild? Seriously. One guy kills himself. Another? Tries to start a cult. Oh, and the third? Burning churches. Murder. That’s barely scratching the surface of the Mayhem band story. The most insane, wild thing in all of metal history. The vibe with them, always intense. A gnarly ride from day one.

Mayhem’s First Gigs: Wild Times in İzmir, Turkey

Oystein Aarseth, who later became Euronymous, was just this quiet, super smart kid from Norway. But as he got older? He just had to dive into that dark, distorted black metal sound. School? Forget about it. His big dream? Starting a band, obviously. And quick. He found Manheim for drums, Necrobutcher on bass. Other like-minded freaks. Mayhem, they called themselves. Real chaos.

But that chaos? It was only just beginning. Because they needed a singer. Euronymous tried, but his voice? Not raw enough. Too clean for black metal. Manheim left, Hellhammer on drums took over. And then, this 18-year-old Swede, Per Yngve Ohlin, called ‘Dead’, enters. He mailed ’em a demo. And a rotten mouse. Stuck on a cross. Mayhem was complete then.

They blew up fast in Norway’s black metal world. Niche, sure. But big. Then came this crazy idea. An international tour. A new band. Hitting the road in 1990. Germany and, get this, Turkey. Totally wild.

The Turkey trip itself? Oh man. A trip. This Istanbul metalhead, Arcan Öğütverici – Euronymous’s pen pal from way back – set up a show in İzmir. So the band trained it to Greece, then tried to cross into Turkey. Customs saw all their gear. Thought they were selling it. Boom. Huge argument. Arcan had to call someone. Just to calm everyone down.

And then more mayhem. In Istanbul, at Sirkeci Station, Necrobutcher sees those “Alaturka” squat toilets for the first time. He flat out refused. Wouldn’t go near ’em. Later, at Arcan’s aunt’s empty place, he finally gives in. Only to pull the chain flush so hard, the water tank. Crashed to the floor. Toilet gone. Wrecked.

And another thing: he hogged the phone for like 90 minutes. Calling his girlfriend in Norway – supposedly pregnant. Blew up the phone bill, man. The nerve! Next up was İzmir. Long drive. And the band? They wanted showers. Arcan’s fix? A Turkish hamam. Seriously. So smart.

The İzmir concert? A total legendary mess. Soundchecks for other bands just ran for ages. Delayed Mayhem’s settime. They got through three songs. Just three! Then the power died. Cops burst in. The place had blown its music curfew. Euronymous, on the mic, screamed this super famous Turkish curse right at the police. Show done. Shut down completely.

No video of this epic fail. Just a few fuzzy photos. Streets, stations. Big time missed opportunity.

Dead’s Tragic Fight with His Brain

Dead wasn’t just edgy with that name. He truly believed he was already dead. Just visiting the rest of us. It all started with this brutal thing from his childhood. This bullied kid. Got a severe beating. Ruptured spleen, internal bleeding. His heart stopped real fast. Saw this cold, blue place. He was technically dead. He thought it was the actual land of the dead. Calling him back.

His whole vibe got more and more messed up. Buried his stage clothes. Said it gave them an “earthy” smell before gigs. And before shows? He’d seriously sniff a bag of dead animals. Bird carcasses. Under his bed. Gross. At first, the other guys just wrote it off as ‘inspiration.’ But things got pretty out of hand.

So, at one concert, Dead had this dull knife he’d bought. Pulled it out. During the solo section, tried to cut himself. Not sharp enough. He totally smashed a beer bottle. Immediately started slashing his arms. Like crazy. Blood sprayed everywhere. All over the audience, man. His bandmates wanted to pull the plug. Dead said no. Show kept going. Necrobutcher was freaking out. Euronymous? Impressed by it all. They all knew. He was a ticking time bomb.

Euronymous: The Ultimate Manipulator

That bomb? Went off April 8, 1991. Dead, all alone in their house, way out in the woods. Euronymous shows up. Forgot his damn key. Climbed through a window into Dead’s room. What he saw in there was just horrific. Dead had slashed his wrists, his neck. Then shot himself, head blasted wide open. With Euronymous’s own shotgun. Brain matter. Splattered everywhere. His suicide note? Apologized for all the blood. Said he belonged to the forest. Wasn’t human, he said.

Most normal people? They’d call the cops. Or an ambulance. Euronymous? Nope. He left. Bought a camera. Came back. And rearranged the knife and shotgun. Made it ‘look better’ somehow. Then took pictures. Lots of ’em. Of Dead’s mutilated body.

Then he called Necrobutcher. Told him Dead had pulled off ‘something truly great.’ Necrobutcher was just sickened. Cut all ties with Euronymous. Quit Mayhem. Hellhammer, though totally disgusted, stuck around. But Euronymous? He wasn’t done. He sent out those gruesome photos. Put one right on a Mayhem album cover. And another thing: he picked up fragments of Dead’s skull. Made ’em into necklaces. For other metalheads. Even claimed he boiled and ate some of Dead’s brain. Probably a lie. But it sure made his stage name stick. Real sick stuff.

Euronymous, man, he jumped on that. Spun Dead’s suicide as this big ‘sacrifice for pure black metal.’ Just got more attention for himself and Mayhem. Then he opened a record store. Helvete, which means ‘Hell,’ in Oslo. Black walls, medieval weapons everywhere. Made the whole place grim, super dark. He even started this ‘Inner Circle.’ Just hand-picked dudes. Met in the store’s deep storage. A real cult-leader setup for the younger fans.

Varg Vikernes: Burning Churches and Bad Ideas

But Euronymous wasn’t the only one pushing boundaries. Not even close. Varg Vikernes, like, another freaky dude (also called Count Grishnackh), showed up. Only 18! But Varg was already huge with his solo stuff, Burzum. Euronymous signed him to Deathlike Silence Productions. And then Varg? He became Mayhem’s bassist.

Varg, honestly, was even crazier than Euronymous. This super anti-Christian, old-school guy. He thought Christianity had just wrecked ancient Norwegian pagan culture. So, how to show defiance? Get Norway’s old stuff back? Started burning churches. Yeah. He even took pictures of an arson attack. Slapped it on an album cover. Horrific acts. But a lot of black metal heads loved it. He blew up fast. Made Euronymous look small.

Then this super weird thing happened. Varg, wanting more attention from this whole hella chaotic scene, told all his crimes to a journalist. Said they couldn’t print his name, though. Journalist, of course, went straight to the cops. Varg got arrested. Released a month later. Not enough evidence, apparently. That short jail time just blew up his fame even more.

The Murder of Euronymous: The Boiling Point

So Varg got famous. Euronymous wouldn’t pay him for his Burzum albums. That? Made things super ugly. They hated each other. A big ego fight started. Full of thinly veiled threats, public name-calling. Varg just flat out called Euronymous a ‘coward’ and a ‘fake.’ Right there.

The hate just kept getting hotter. It reached a real boiling point when Euronymous, all boastful, told his friends this chilling plan: he’d zap Varg with a stun gun. Tie him to a tree in the forest. Torture him for hours. Film it. Then just terminate him. Most thought, ‘Oh, it’s just talk.’ But Varg? He took it totally seriously.

August 10, 1993. 3 AM. Varg shows up at Euronymous’s Oslo apartment. What actually went down? Still no clear story. But the result? Not disputed. Euronymous found dead. Stabbed over and over. In the stairwell. Everyone knew. Cops got Varg fast.

Varg said he acted in self-defense, claiming Euronymous kicked him, went for a knife. But that story? Didn’t work. Because appearing at 3 AM with a knife. Multiple brutal stab wounds. And neighbors hearing Euronymous screaming for a long time. It painted a very different picture. Snorre Ruch (Blackthorn), who drove Varg there, testified. That nailed Varg. He confessed Varg went there to kill.

Varg Vikernes got convicted. Premeditated murder. Norway’s max penalty: 21 years in lockup. He got out after 15. Still pushing his crazy pagan views, writing books, even doing YouTube stuff (which got banned later). Eight kids with his French wife, Mariette. Makes these family documentaries, that many just find super weird. What a twisted saga, right?

Mayhem’s Messed-Up Legacy

Euronymous’s death. Violent, yeah. But gave some people in the black metal scene this weird relief. Many said he created so much pressure. Violence? It felt inevitable. And it ended up getting him. Necrobutcher even admitted later? He’d planned to kill Euronymous himself. For what he did to Dead’s body. No respect.

The Mayhem band story just stuck this crazy infamy on black metal. Pushed interest, sure. But it also created a lasting stigma. The idea that black metal fans were all Satanists, anti-religious, total psychopaths. The whole genre, anyone who listened? Totally messed up by Mayhem’s wild story.

A Big, Ugly Warning

At the core of this whole dark thing? If there’s any true tragedy? It’s Dead. Everyone said he was this genuinely kind, fragile, real, honest guy. Even with his obvious mental health struggles. Polite to others. Super talented lyricist and singer. He had so much potential.

He was just in the wrong place. Wrong people. They either didn’t care about him, or actively used him. This whole gnarly story, from those wild concerts in far-flung places like İzmir, to the horrific stuff – suicide, murder – it’s a huge warning. About severe mental health issues. About people using others. And about the bad stuff extreme ideas can do in certain groups. He deserved so much better, man.

Quick Questions

Q: Where did Mayhem play one of their first international concerts and have a totally chaotic time?
A: İzmir, Turkey. Part of their small 1990 tour. It was a real mess.

Q: What crazy thing did Euronymous do when he found Dead’s body?
A: Instead of calling anyone, he bought a camera. Posed Dead’s body. Took pictures. Then shared ’em for promo.

Q: Why did Varg Vikernes end up in jail?
A: He got busted for the premeditated murder of Euronymous back in 1993.