The Mayhem Behind Mayhem Trivia Quiz

Answer: Dead

As a child, Ohlin had a near-death experience after being beaten by bullies at school (although he claimed it was from an ice-skating accident) in which his spleen burst and he was clinically dead for several minutes. As a musician, he was the first in the black metal scene to use "corpse paint", which was simply face paint used to make one look dead. Among other bizarre acts, he would bury his stage clothes before a performance so they could smell of rot.

Answer: Varg Vikernes

Vikernes (who played in Mayhem as Count Grishnackh) started Burzum in 1991, recording music with Deathlike Silence Productions, a company owned by Mayhem guitarist Euronymous. Euronymous also owned a record shop called Helvete (Swedish and Norwegian for "Hell"), where he sold black metal records, including those of Burzum.

The relationship between Vikernes and Euronymous would eventually change black metal forever.

Answer: Low production quality

The 2008 documentary "Until the Light Takes Us" features Varg Vikernes discussing the recording of his debut Burzum album. He mentions that black metal music featured low production quality (poor microphones, cheap amplifiers, etc.) as a "rebellion" against good quality production.

This also led to the use of distortion effects for guitars, fast-paced drumming, and a shrieking vocal style.

Answer: 22

Mayhem guitarist Euronymous often encouraged Dead to commit suicide, as he thought it would fit the band's extreme image. Euronymous came home to the house shared by the band and had to climb in through a window, as he didn't have a key. After finding Ohlin, Euronymous used it to increase Mayhem's "extreme" image, angering bassist Necrobutcher, who eventually left the band because of this.

In the 2008 documentary "Until the Light Takes Us", Varg Vikernes jokingly quipped that Euronymous had "found Dead dead in the bed."

Answer: False

Dead was eventually replaced by "Occultus", who also took over for bass in Necrobutcher's absence. Occultus soon left, and was replaced by Attila, who would go on to sing on their debut album and later reasserted himself as the frontman.

Answer: Euronymous closed his record shop Helvete

Police attention, combined with insistence from his parents, caused Euronymous to close Helvete, angering Vikernes, who would state years later that Euronymous even apologized to the media on behalf of the scene. Vikernes continued to say that despite his "extreme image" and claims of Devil worship and communism, Euronymous was nothing like that, and in today's world would be considered a "geek" for his love of role-playing games (something shared by several notable members of the scene, including Vikernes himself.)

Answer: An unsigned contract

Euronymous, according to both Vikernes and the police, planned to lure Vikernes to a meeting under the guise of needing a contract signed between Buzrum and Deathlike Silence Productions, where he would incapacitate Vikernes. Vikernes, however, caught wind of this through a mutual friend.

Answer: Euronymous was murdered

Vikernes claimed self-defense, but was charged with murder. In addition, he was charged with the church burnings. To this day, Vikernes maintains that he killed Euronymous in self-defense, and that he was only charged with the arsons because the Norwegian justice system wanted to "scare straight" the other members of the scene, so they gave him the maximum sentence in Norway...21 years. He served fifteen years and was released in 2009.

He moved to France with his wife and children, where he practices survivalism and posts videos about his philosophies online.

Answer: A cathedral

The album was slated for a 1993 release, and Euronymous and Vikernes even conspired to blow up the cathedral on the front cover to coincide with the album's release. The only thing that prevented this from happening was the death of Euronymous, and the release was pushed back to 1994.

"De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas" is considered to be one of the most influential black metal albums of all time. All lyrics for the album were written by Per "Dead" Ohlin before his untimely death.

Answer: Freezing Moon

"Freezing Moon" is considered to be one of the band's iconic songs, taken from their debut album "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas." It serves as a cornerstone of their dark image, illustrating their views and the atmosphere they want to convey. The song was written by Per "Dead" Ohlin, based on his near-death experience as a child, in which he saw darkness and bizarre shapes before being revived.