Kjetil Manheim

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 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.

Norheim performed only for one 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.

After its release, Aarseth, along with Stubberud, during first demo's studio rehearsals, recruited two session menagers, Eirik Norheim ("Messiah") and Sven Erik Kristiansen ("Maniac"), in 1986 and 1987.

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.

Whereas, with Kristiansen, Mayhem recorded its first EP, Deathcrush, in 1987, and released it through Euronymous' newly formed label Posercorpse Music.

Manheim and Maniac left the band in 1988.

After two brief replacements, Maniac and Manheim's positions were filled by Swedish vocalist Pelle Yngve Ohlin ("Dead") and local drummer Jan Axel Blomberg ("Hellhammer").

With Dead, the band's concerts became notorious.

For concerts, Dead went to great lengths to achieve the image and atmosphere he wished.

From the beginning of his career, he was known to wear "corpse paint", which involved covering his face with black and white makeup.

According to Necrobutcher, "it wasn't anything to do with the way Kiss and Alice Cooper used makeup. Dead actually wanted to look like a corpse. He didn't do it to look cool".

Hellhammer claimed that Dead "was the first black-metal musician to use corpse paint".

To complete his corpse-like image, Dead would bury his stage clothes and dig them up again to wear on the night of a concert.

While performing, Dead would often cut himself with hunting knives and broken glass.

Additionally, the band often had pig or sheep heads impaled on stakes and planted at the front of their stage.

Stian Johansen ("Occultus"), who briefly took over as vocalist after Dead's suicide, made this statement about him:

"'He [Dead] didn't see himself as human; he saw himself as a creature from another world. He said he had many visions that his blood has frozen in his veins, that he was dead. That is the reason he took that name. He knew he would die.'"

In 1990, 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 next album, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas.

Mayhem bassist Necrobutcher said that, after living together for a while, Dead and Euronymous "got on each other's nerves a lot" and "weren't really friends at the end".

Hellhammer recalls that Dead once went outside to sleep in the woods because Euronymous was playing synth music that Dead hated.

Euronymous then went outside and began shooting into the air with a shotgun.

Varg Vikernes claims that Dead once stabbed Euronymous with a knife.

Mayhem's early career was highly controversial, primarily due to their notorious live performances, the 1991 suicide of vocalist Per Yngve Ohlin ("Dead") and the 1993 murder of guitarist Øystein Aarseth ("Euronymous") by former member Varg Vikernes ("Count Grishnackh") of Burzum.

The group released a demo and an EP 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 temporarily disbanded after Aarseth's murder, shortly before the release of their debut album, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, regarded as a classic of the black metal genre.

On the 8th of April 1991, Dead committed suicide in the house rented by the band.

He was found by Euronymous with slit wrists and a shotgun wound to the head.

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").

Surviving former members Jan Axel Blomberg ("Hellhammer"), Jørn Stubberud ("Necrobutcher") and Sven Erik Kristiansen ("Maniac") reformed the band in 1995 with Rune Eriksen ("Blasphemer") replacing Aarseth.

Attila Csihar and Morten Iversen ("Teloch") have since replaced Kristiansen and Eriksen, respectively.

Their post-Aarseth material is characterized by increased experimentation.

The 2007 album Ordo Ad Chao received the Spellemann Award for best heavy metal album.