Mayhem

About Mayhem

Mayhem, formed in 1984, are the founding band of the Norwegian black metal scene and its most notorious. Their early history reads like a true-crime case file: vocalist Per Yngve Ohlin (Dead) took his own life in 1991, and guitarist Øystein Aarseth (Euronymous), the scene's organising figure and owner of the Helvete record shop, was murdered by bandmate Varg Vikernes in 1993. Their sole album with that lineup, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994), is the genre's defining record. Mayhem still tour and record, and their influence on global extreme metal is total.