Mayhem, the bloodbath continues

Written by Cara Thursday, 09 July 2009 22:16

Mayhem. The band's name itself suggests a sort of chaos that many metal bands seek to represent in branding themselves,

but Mayhem succeeded in true mayhem throughout their nearly 30 year history. Born from Oslo, Norway, Oystein Aarseth (Euroymous) formed the band in the early 1980's. They first formed anti-social, minimalist and poorly recorded demos to a hearing impaired metal scene, just beginning to accept bands even less abrasive to the social cohesion, like Morbid Angel and Destruction. After receiving reasonable acclaim and question for their first demos and tours, the band began to change from the inside. By1987, the band released their "Deathcrush" demo under Deathlike Silence Production, a label formed by Euroymous himself and their successes were amplified (Geocities.Com). Shortly after this release, the original drummer and bassist left the band, making way for the Legendary Hellhammer and a new, professional vocalist, Dead.

The following years brought more fans and notoriety, and with the suicide of a disgruntled Dead, Mayhem's fame and infamy truly began. Hellhammer made a necklace of Dead's skull fragments and rumors circulated that Euroymous had dined on pieces of the late singer's brain (vh1.com). With an album half done the two had no vocalist or drummer, so they recruited Count Grishnackh on the bass and Atilla on vocals. Drama ensued as tensions grew particularly between Euroymous and Grishnackh and in August of 1993, Count Grishnackh stabbed an underwear clad Euroymous 23 times to his death (Steinke, Darcey. "Satan's Cheerleaders" SPIN Magazine, February 1996). Grishnackh claimed that Euroymous attacked first, though police also found 150 kg of dynamite and plans to blow up a church on a religious holiday and he was sentenced to 21 years were he pursued his electronic endeavor, Burzum from behind bars (Steve Huey, vh1.com).