Euronymous

Øystein Aarseth (22 March 1968 – 10 August 1993), better known by his stage name Euronymous, was a Norwegian musician and a founder of and central figure in the early Norwegian black metal scene.

He was a co-founder and guitarist of the Norwegian black metal band Mayhem and was the only constant member from the band's formation in 1984 until his death in 1993.

He was also founder and owner of the extreme metal record label Deathlike Silence Productions and record shop Helvete.

Euronymous professed to being a theistic Satanist and was known for making extreme misanthropic statements.

He presented himself as leading a militant cult-like group known as the "Black Metal Inner Circle".

Aarseth formed Mayhem in 1984 along with bassist Necrobutcher (Jørn Stubberud) and drummer Kjetil Manheim.

At the time he was going by the stage name Destructor but later changed his name to Euronymous, derived from the demon Eurynomos which inspired the Hellhammer song of the same name.

In summer 1986, Euronymous, Necrobutcher and Jon "Metalion" Kristiansen visited the German thrash metal band Assassin and recorded the Metalion in the Park demo under the name Checker Patrol, Metalion contributing background vocals to the title song "Metalion in the Park".

In 1988, Per "Dead" Ohlin became Mayhem's vocalist and Jan Axel "Hellhammer" Blomberg became its drummer.

By 1991, Dead, Euronymous and Hellhammer were living in a house in the woods near Kråkstad, which was used as a place for the band to rehearse.

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.

On 8 April 1991, Dead was found deceased by Euronymous at his home with slit wrists and a shotgun wound to the head.

His death was considered suicide.

Before calling the police, Euronymous went to a shop and bought a disposable camera with which he photographed the body, after rearranging some items.

One of these photographs was later used as the cover of a bootleg live album: The Dawn of the Black Hearts.

Necrobutcher recalls how Euronymous told him of the suicide:"Øystein called me up the next day ... and says, 'Dead has done something really cool! He killed himself'. I thought, have you lost it? What do you mean cool? He says, 'Relax, I have photos of everything'. I was in shock and grief. He was just thinking how to exploit it. So I told him, 'OK. Don't even fucking call me before you destroy those pictures'."

Euronymous used Dead's suicide to foster Mayhem's "evil" image and claimed Dead had killed himself because black metal had become "trendy" and commercialized.

In time, rumors spread that Euronymous had made a stew with bits of Dead's brain and had made necklaces with bits of his skull.

The band later denied the former rumor but confirmed that the latter was true.

Moreover, Euronymous claimed to have given these necklaces to musicians he deemed worthy, which was confirmed by several other members of the scene, like Bård "Faust" Eithun, and Metalion.

Morgan Steinmeyer Håkansson of Marduk also confirmed this and that he also owns a piece of Dead's brain matter as well as lead from the shotgun shot, all which were gifted to him by Euronymous.

Necrobutcher later speculated that taking the photographs and forcing others to see them was a way for Euronymous to cope with the shock of seeing his friend dead.

He claimed that Euronymous "went into a fantasy world".

Faust of Emperor believes that Dead's suicide "marked the point at which, under Euronymous' direction, the black metal scene began its obsession with all things satanic and evil".

Kjetil Manheim said that, after the suicide, Euronymous "tried to be as extreme as he had talked about".

The suicide caused a rift between Euronymous and some of his friends, who were disgusted by his attitude towards Dead before the suicide, and his behavior afterwards.

Thus, after the suicide, Mayhem was left with only two members: guitarist Euronymous and drummer Hellhammer.

Stian "Occultus" Johannsen was recruited as Mayhem's new singer and bassist.

However, this was short-lived; he left the band after receiving a death threat from Euronymous.

During May–June 1991, Euronymous opened a record shop named "Helvete" (Norwegian for "hell") at Schweigaards gate 56 in Oslo.

Norwegian black metal musicians often met in the shop's basement, including the two members of Mayhem, the members of Emperor, Varg "Count Grishnackh" Vikernes of Burzum, and Snorre "Blackthorn" Ruch of Thorns.

Euronymous also started an independent record label called Deathlike Silence Productions, which was based at Helvete.

It released albums by Norwegian bands Mayhem and Burzum, and Swedish bands Merciless and Abruptum.

Euronymous, Varg and Emperor guitarist Tomas "Samoth" Haugen all lived at Helvete at various times.

Emperor drummer Faust also lived and worked there.

The shop's walls were painted black and bedecked with medieval weapons, posters of bands and picture discs, while its window featured a polystyrene tombstone.

In August 1993, he was murdered by fellow musician and former bandmate Varg Vikernes.