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Mayhem

a.k.a.The True Mayhem, ex-Musta
CountryNorway
Formed1984, Ski, Viken, Norway
CurrentlyOslo, Norway
GenresBlack Metal
LabelsDeathlike Silence Productions, Season of Mist, Century Media Records
Years active1984 (as Musta), 1984-1993, 1994-present
Websitehttp://www.thetruemayhem.com

Line-up (members)

  • Necrobutcher : Bass (1984-1991, 1994-present)
  • Hellhammer : Drums (1988-1993, 1994-present)
  • Attila Csihar : Vocals (1993, 2004-present)
  • Teloch : Guitars (2011-present)
  • Ghul : Guitars (2012-present)

Former members

  • Manheim : Drums (1984-1987)
  • Euronymous : Guitars, Vocals (1984-1993)
  • Per Nilsen : Guitars (1984)
  • Messiah : Vocals (1986-1987)
  • Torben Grue : Drums (1987-1988)
  • Maniac : Vocals (1987, 1994-2004)
  • Kittil Kittilsen : Vocals (1987-1988)
  • Dead : Vocals (1988-1991)
  • Occultus : Vocals, Bass (1991)
  • Count Grishnackh (Varg Vikernes) : Bass (1992-1993)
  • Blackthorn : Guitars (1992-1993)
  • Blasphemer : Guitars, Bass (1994-2008)
Releases : 20     Total votes : 6     Reviews : 3
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Added by Eagles Last edited by SludgeLeader

Mayhem Discography

Album title Lyrics Type Released Rating Votes Reviews
(1987) collection wish list EP - 0 0
(1993) collection wish list Live 100 1 0
Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994) collection wish list Studio 91 5 3
(1995) collection wish list Live - 0 0
(1997) collection wish list EP - 0 0
(1999) collection wish list Split - 0 0
(1999) collection wish list Live - 0 0
Mayhem - Grand Declaration of War (2000) collection wish list Studio - 0 0
(2001) collection wish list Live - 0 0
(2002) collection wish list Split - 0 0
Mayhem - Chimera (2004) collection wish list Studio - 0 0
Mayhem - Ordo ad chao (2007) collection wish list Studio - 0 0
(2008) collection wish list EP - 0 0
(2014) Single - 0 0
Mayhem - Esoteric Warfare (2014) collection wish list Studio - 0 0
Mayhem - Daemon (2019) collection wish list Studio - 0 0
(2019) Single - 0 0
(2021) Single - 0 0
(2021) collection wish list EP - 0 0
(2023) collection wish list Live - 0 0

Best Mayhem Songs

Track title Album title Rating Votes
1 Freezing Moon De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994) 90 1
2 Funeral Fog De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994) 85 1
3 Wall of Water Ordo ad chao (2007) 85 1
4 Cursed In Eternity De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994) 80 1
5 Pagan Fears De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994) 80 1
6 De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994) 80 1
7 Deathcrush Deathcrush (1987) [EP] 80 1
8 Whore Chimera (2004) 80 1
9 PsyWar Esoteric Warfare (2014) 80 1
10 Life Eternal De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994) 75 1
11 From The Dark Past De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994) 75 1
12 Buried By Time And Dust De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994) 75 1
Additional notes
The band was billed as Wolf's Lair Abyss for a few secret gigs during the Wolf's Lair Abyss tour.

Founded by Jørn Stubberud (Necrobutcher), and Kjetil (Manheim) under the name Musta (Finnish for "black"), which they changed to Mayhem after Øystein Aarseth (Euronymous) joined in. The band name is taken from the Venom song, "Mayhem with Mercy".
During the early years, the band used either session vocalists Messiah or Maniac for live/studio commitments and played either instrumentally, or with Necrobutcher or Euronymous on vocals during rehearsals.

By late 1987 both Manheim and Maniac had left the band, and their positions were filled temporarily by members of Vomit, before vocalist Dead, and drummer Hellhammer took over in 1988.

Dead committed suicide in 1991 by shooting himself in the mouth with a shotgun after cutting his wrists with a knife. The shells were given to him by Varg Vikernes (Count Grishnackh), who knew that Dead used to practice with a shotgun in the forest close to the house where the members of Mayhem lived. His body, along with a suicide note saying "Excuse all the blood", was discovered in his room. Euronymous took some pictures (one of them appearing as the cover of the infamous Dawn of the Black Hearts bootleg album) of the suicide scene. A legend was born, and it was said that Euronymous had cooked and eaten pieces of Dead's brain. It was also said that fragments of Dead's skull had been collected and made into necklaces that both Euronymous and Hellhammer wore as a tribute to Dead. Of course, it is doubtful that the truth was as macabre as people would like to believe regarding cannibalism, but it is a confirmed fact that necklaces were made and that pictures were taken.

With the media and police attention following Dead's suicide, Necrobutcher (Jørn Stubberud) decided to leave the band. Dead was replaced by Occultus (Stian Johansen), ex-singer of Thyabhorrent and partner of Euronymous in the "Helvete" shop. He sang and played bass in Mayhem for a few months, but soon left. With the band's need for musicians, Varg Vikernes (Burzum) joined as bassist and participated on the De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas album, along with Hungarian vocalist Attila Csihar who performed on the album but never fully committed to the band at the time.

On August 10th, 1993, Varg Vikernes murdered Euronymous in his apartment with Blackthorn acting as an accomplice. Their relationship before the murder was tense, as their friendship and the musical relationship started going downhill. Vikernes, who had started to play bass in Mayhem, killed him due to several alleged reasons: over a girl, jealousy of Euronymous's position in the Inner Circle, Euronymous owing him money, Euronymous not releasing Burzum's albums on time. Euronymous was found in his underwear, with stab wounds inflicted with a knife. Varg was rumored to try and outdo the murder Faust of Emperor committed. At his trial, Vikernes came into court with his long hair made into pigtails and denied his involvement in Euronymous's death. He giggled and laughed throughout the trial. He was convicted of the murder and was sentenced to 21 years in prison (the maximum possible sentence in Norway). When police arrested Vikernes, he was found with over 150 kilograms of stolen dynamite and alleged plans to destroy Nidarosdomen, a large Christian church in Trondheim, on a religious holiday. However, Varg Vikernes has a different story to the reasons for killing Euronymous (see http://www.burzum.org for articles Varg composed himself explaining the murder).

After the trial, Euronymous's parents asked Hellhammer to remove the basslines that Varg had recorded. He told them he would record new basslines himself, but the truth is that he didn't know how to play the instrument, so the album remained the same, featuring Varg on it. Other rumors about Occultus playing the new basslines are also false - he never played a note with the band during his time in Mayhem, according to Hellhammer.

Despite the death of the band's founder and main driving force, Hellhammer later reactivated the band, with Maniac and Necrobutcher rejoining alongside new guitarist Blasphemer. Mayhem's musical style changed drastically over the years that followed. In 2004, Maniac left again and Atilla Csihar rejoined Mayhem on a full-time basis.

Mayhem's live show, particularly in the days of Euronymous and Dead, has always been known for featuring heavy atmospheric effects such as severed pig heads impaled on wooden spikes. Dead's clothes were buried days/weeks before the show and were exhumed decayed, soiled, and full of insects. Pieces of rotting meat were thrown into the audience. Dead ravens were placed in a bag so Dead could continually smell decay and death. Members were also noted to cut themselves onstage. While the more extreme aspects of the show have been toned down in later years, Attila Csihar remains infamous for his theatrical performances and stage costumes.

Trivia: Euronymous is responsible for getting many famous bands (Darkthrone, Immortal, Emperor) into black metal and/or influencing them to change their musical style from death metal to black metal. He's considered to be responsible for sparking the whole Norwegian black metal movement and making it what it is today.

Despite once playing in the strongly anti-Christian band Mayhem, early vocalist Kittil Kittilsen (ex-Kvikksølvguttene, Vomit) left the music scene around 2000 and became a fundamentalist Christian and warned people of the dangers of playing in a rock/pop band regardless of what the lyrics/ideology is about.
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