Further Reading For Norwegian Black Metal
Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil & Gillian McCain
Info
Norway in the late 80’s and early 90’s was home to one of the most brutal, confrontational sounds in heavy metal: Black Metal. Though, black metal had existed in previous forms, the Norwegian take on the music came with a particularly venomous philosophy of satanism, white nationalism, and misanthropy. The black metal scene in Bergen, easily the largest in the country, centered around one band and two competing personalities which led to a rash of church arsons, suicide, and murder.
Øystein Aarseth, popularly known by his stage name, Euronymous, headed up the seminal black metal band, Mayhem and came to butt heads with the charismatic bass player for Mayhem, Kristian Vikernes, also known as Varg and Count Grishnackh. It is also during this time that Mayhem’s original singer, Per Olin, stage name, Dead, committed suicide with a shotgun in their rehearsal space. Seeing an opportunity to be more grim and morbid than anyone else in the scene, Euronymous took photos of the body, made necklaces from the skull fragments and is also said to have eaten a piece of Dead’s brains in a stew.
Citing conflicts of personality in the scene, as well as money owed to Varg for unsold copies of solo black metal project, Burzum, Vikernes, aided by Snorre Ruch, attacked Euronymous in his home and stabbed him to death, citing some weak self-defense motive, claiming that Euronymous, dressed only his tighty whiteys at the time, planned to capture and torture Varg on tape to prove to the scene how grim and morbid he was. Idiots, all around.
Episodes: 285-287
Episode Link
