Early Norwegian black metal scene

"Helvete" redirects here. For the Nasum album, see Helvete (album).

The early Norwegian black metal scene was a music scene and subculture in Norway during the early 1990s, based around black metal. Identified by some as a cult – "The Black Circle" or "Black Metal Inner Circle" – it consisted of youths ranging from late teens to mid-twenties, many of whom gathered at the record shop Helvete ("Hell") in Oslo. It is from this scene that the "second wave" of black metal emanated.

The scene was the focus of controversy due to the strong anti-Christian beliefs of its members and the crimes they committed. There were two cases of murder, over two-dozen cases of arson, and other alledgedly "Satanically-motivated" crimes. The scene drew the gaze of the Norwegian and international media, who often exaggerated the claims surrounding its members. For example, one Norwegian TV channel aired an interview with a woman who claimed that "Satanists" had sacrificed her child and killed her dog.^[1]

Musical innovations

Norwegian black metal singer Gaahl wearing corpsepaint

During the 1980s, "black metal" was a loose term used to describe a handful of extreme metal bands who shared traits such as "shrieked" vocals, high-pitched guitar tones, raw recording, and "Satanic" lyrics. During 1990–1992 a number of Norwegian artists, who were strongly influenced by those bands, began performing and releasing a new kind of "black metal" music. The surge of interest and popularity that followed is often referred to as the "second wave of black metal". The Norwegian bands developed the style of their 1980s forebears as a distinct genre of heavy metal music. This was partly thanks to a new style of guitar playing developed by 'Blackthorn' (Snorre Ruch) of Thorns/Stigma Diabolicum and 'Euronymous' (Øystein Aarseth) of Mayhem.^[2] 'Fenriz' of Darkthrone has credited them with this innovation in a number of interviews. He described it as being "derived from Bathory"^[3] and noted that "those kinds of riffs became the new order for a lot of bands in the '90s".^[4] Visually, the dark themes of their music was complemented with corpsepaint, which became a way for black metal artists to distinguish themselves from other metal bands of the time.^[5]

Suicide of Per Yngve Ohlin

On 8 April 1991, Mayhem vocalist Per Yngve Ohlin (aka 'Dead') committed suicide in a house shared by the band. While fellow musicians often described Ohlin as odd and introverted off-stage, his on-stage persona was very different. He went to great lengths to make himself look like a corpse and would cut his arms while singing.^[6][2]

He was found with slit wrists and a shotgun wound to the head, by Mayhem guitarist Øystein Aarseth (aka 'Euronymous'). Ohlin's suicide note read "Excuse all the blood" and apologized for firing the weapon indoors. Before calling the police, Aarseth allegedly went to a nearby shop and bought a disposable camera with which he photographed the body, after re-arranging some items.^[7] One of these photographs was later used as the cover of a bootleg live album called Dawn of the Black Hearts.^[8]

In time, rumors spread that Aarseth had made a stew with bits of Ohlin'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.^[6] Moreover, Aarseth claimed to have given these necklaces to musicians he deemed worthy. Mayhem bassist Jørn Stubberud (aka 'Necrobutcher') noted that "people became more aware of the [black metal] scene after Dead had shot himself ... I think it was Dead's suicide that really changed the scene".^[9]

Two other members of the scene would later commit suicide: Erik Brødreskift aka 'Grim' (of Immortal, Borknagar, Gorgoroth) in 1999^[10][11][12] and Espen Andersen aka 'Storm' (of Strid) in 2001.^[13]

Helvete and the 'Black Circle'

The basement of Helvete

During May–June 1991,^[14] Øystein Aarseth opened a record shop which he called Helvete.^[15] The term Helvete is Norwegian for hell, and comes from the Norse hels víti, meaning Hel's punishment.^[16] The shop was at Schweigaards gate 56 in Oslo. Norwegian black metal musicians often met in the shop's basement, including the members of Mayhem, the members of Emperor, Varg Vikernes of Burzum, and Snorre Ruch of Thorns. Euronymous also founded 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. Emperor drummer Bård 'Faust' Eithun worked in Helvete and lived at the back of the building;^[2] Emperor guitarist Tomas 'Samoth' Haugen also lived there for a time.^[17] 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.^[2] The shop was shut in summer 1993.

Those who gathered at Helvete have been referred to as "The Black Circle" or "Black Metal Inner Circle". The name has sometimes been widened to inhold the whole Norwegian black metal scene. However, such a term is highly disputable. Not only would it imply that the group was some kind of cult, the accounts about it differ greatly. The books Lucifer Rising: Sin, Devil Worship and Rock and Roll and Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground both claim the existence of "The Black Circle". For example, an online announcement for a film based on Lords of Chaos reads:

In an escalating unholy war, black metal bands and their obsessive fans have left a grim legacy of suicide, murder and terrorism spreading from Norway to Germany, Russia, America and beyond. The feature film will focus on the relationship between legendary figures Varg Vikernes and Euronymous and the rest of the 'Black Circle' as they wage war against the powers that be in their native country.^[18][19]

However, in his review of Lucifer Rising, Varg Vikernes denied its existence, claiming:

First of all the so-called 'Black Circle' was something Euronymous made up because he wanted to make people believe there was such a thing, but it was nonsense and never existed. The media on the other hand believed it existed for a while, but quickly stopped talking about it when they understood it was a fake rumor.^[20]

Likewise, when asked in Lords of Chaos "What was the Black Circle?", Bård 'Faust' Eithun answered:

It's just a name that was invented for the people who hung out at the shop ... there wasn't anything like members and membership cards and official meetings.^[21]

The opening of Helvete led to the black metal style spreading among Norwegian bands. As Daniel Ekeroth wrote in 2008,

Within just a few months [of Helvete opening], many young musicians had become obsessed with Aarseth and his ideas, and soon a lot of Norwegian death metal bands transformed into black metal bands. Amputation became Immortal, Thou Shalt Suffer turned into Emperor, and Darkthrone swapped their Swedish-inspired death metal for primitive black metal. Most notoriously, Old Funeral's guitar player Christian Vikernes had already left the band to form his own creation, Burzum.^[22]

Church arsons and attempted arsons

The Fantoft stave church.

Musicians and fans of the Norwegian black metal scene took part in over 50 arsons of Christian churches from 1992 to 1996.^[1][15][23] Some of the buildings were hundreds of years old, and widely regarded as important historical landmarks. One of the first and most notable was Norway's Fantoft stave church, which the police believed was burnt by Varg Vikernes.^[23] He was found guilty for the burnings of Holmenkollen Chapel, Skjold Church and Åsane Church in May 1994.^[24] To coincide with the release of Mayhem's De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, Vikernes and Aarseth had plotted to blow up Nidaros Cathedral, which appears on the album cover. Aarseth's murder in August 1993 put an end to this plan and stalled the album's release.^[25] The musicians Samoth,^[26] Faust,^[26] and Jørn Inge Tunsberg^[23] were also convicted for church arsons.

Today, opinions on the church burnings differ within the black metal community. Guitarist Infernus and former vocalist Gaahl of the band Gorgoroth have praised the church burnings in interviews, with the latter saying "there should have been more of them, and there will be more of them".^[27] However, Necrobutcher and Kjetil Manheim of Mayhem have berated the church burnings, with the latter claiming "It was just people trying to gain acceptance within a strict group (the black metal scene) ... they wanted some sort of approval and status".^[25]

The following is a partial list of the church arsons:

1992:

• May 23: burning of Storetveit Church in Bergen^[28]
• Jun 6: burning of Fantoft stave church in Bergen^[29] – Varg Vikernes is strongly suspected as the culprit, but was not convicted.^[29]
• Aug 1: burning of Revheim Church in Stavanger^[29]
• Aug 21: burning of Holmenkollen Chapel in Oslo^[28] – Varg Vikernes and Faust were convicted for this.
• Sep 1: burning of Ormøya Church in Oslo^[28]
• Sep 13: burning of Skjold Church in Vindafjord^[28] – Varg Vikernes and Samoth were convicted for this.
• Oct 3: burning of Hauketo Church in Oslo^[28]
• Dec 24: burning of Åsane Church in Bergen^[1] – Varg Vikernes and Jørn Inge Tunsberg were convicted for this.^[1]
• Dec 25: burning of a Methodist church in Sarpsborg^[1] – a firefighter was killed while fighting this fire.^[1]

1993:

• Feb 7: burning of Lundby New Church in Gothenburg, Sweden^[30]

1994:

• Mar 13: burning of a church in Sund^[31]
• Mar 27: burning of Seegård Church in Snertingdal^[31]
• May 16: attempted burning of Gol stave church in Buskerud^[31]
• May 17: attempted burning of Åmodt Chapel in Buskerud^[31]
• Jun 4: burning of Frogn Church in Drøbak^[31]
• Jun 19: attempted burning of Heni Church in Gjerdrum^[31]
• Jul 7: burning of a church in Jeløy^[31]
• Jul 21: attempted burning of Odda's Church^[31]
• Aug 13: attempted burning of Loop Chapel in Meldal^[31]
• Dec 10: attempted burning of Åkra Church^[31]
• Dec 22: attempted burning of Askim Church^[31]
• Dec 26: attempted burning of Klemestrud Church^[31]

1995:

• May 13: burning of Lord Church in Telemark^[32]
• May 25: burning of Såner Church in Vestby^[32]
• Jun 14: burning of Moe Church in Sandefjord^[32]
• Jul 21: attempted burning of a church college in Eidanger^[32]
• Sep 3: attempted burning of Vågsbygd church college in Oddernes^[32]
• Nov 3: burning of Innset Church in Rennebu^[32]

Murder of Magne Andreassen

On 21 August 1992, Bård 'Faust' Eithun stabbed-to-death Magne Andreassen, a gay man, in Lillehammer. Police initially had no suspects, and Faust remained free for about a year. The murder, however, was an 'open secret' within Helvete.

Murder of Øystein Aarseth

In late January 1993, Varg Vikernes of Burzum was interviewed by a journalist from Bergens Tidende. Vikernes had requested the interview to get publicity for the black metal scene and for Øystein Aarseth's record shop Helvete. However, the interview led to a police investigation and Vikernes was put under arrest for a week. Faust was also arrested and charged with the Andreassen murder. Aarseth decided to shut Helvete due to this negative attention.

On 10 August 1993, Vikernes and Snorre Ruch traveled from Bergen to Aarseth’s apartment in Oslo. Upon their arrival a confrontation began, which ended when Vikernes fatally stabbed Aarseth. His body was found outside the apartment with twenty-three cut wounds – two to the head, five to the neck, and sixteen to the back.^[33]

It has been speculated that the murder was the result of a power struggle, a financial dispute over Burzum records, or an attempt at "out doing" the stabbing in Lillehammer.^[34] Vikernes claims that Aarseth had plotted to torture him to death and videotape the event – using a meeting about an unsigned contract as a pretext.^[35] On the night of the murder, Vikernes claims he intended to hand Aarseth the signed contract and "tell him to fuck off", but that Aarseth attacked him first.^[35] Moreover, Vikernes defends that most of Aarseth’s cut wounds were caused by broken glass he had fallen on during the struggle.^[35]

Whatever the circumstances, Vikernes was arrested within days and in May 1994 was sentenced to 21 years in prison for the murder and for four church burnings. Vikernes smiled when his verdict was read and the picture was widely reprinted in the news media.^[35] That month, Mayhem finally released the album De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, which features Aarseth on electric guitar and Vikernes on bass guitar. In 2003, Vikernes failed to return to Tønsberg prison after being given a short leave. He was re-arrested shortly after while driving a stolen car with various weapons.^[36]

Conflict with other music scenes

Many recall a strong rivalry between Norwegian black metal and Swedish death metal scenes. Fenriz and Tchort have noted that Norwegian black metal musicians had become "fed up with the whole death metal scene"^[37] and that "death metal was very uncool in Oslo" at the time.^[25] A number of times, Aarseth sent death threats to some of the more 'mainstream' death metal groups in Europe.^[25] Allegedly, a group of Norwegian black metal fans even plotted to kidnap and murder certain Swedish death metal musicians.^[25]
There was also rivalry between Norwegian and Finnish black metal bands. Bands from Norway claimed that their Finnish colleagues were merely copying and 'ripping-off' their style, being told in retaliation that Finland hosted more innovative and diverse artists and was about to "steal the crown" for black metal dominance and trend-setting. Impaled Nazarene printed "No Orders from Norway Accepted" and "Death to the assholes of Norway" on early pressings of their first album and innuendo and snarky comments were made in fanzines. Beherit's mainman 'Nuclear Holocausto' used the rivalry to play a series of telephone pranks on Mika Luttinen (of Impaled Nazarene) in which he would call him in the dead of the night playing nursery rhymes at high speed on a cassette recorder. At the time, Luttinen upheld that the messages were threats from Norwegian black metallers.

List of artists

The following is a list of Norwegian artists that released black metal music during 1991–1993:

Band	Formed	From
Ancient	1992	Eidsvåg, Nesset
Arcturus	1987	Oslo
Burzum	1991	Bergen, Hordaland
Carpathian Forest (aka Enthrone)	1990	Sandnes, Rogaland
Darkthrone	1987	Kolbotn, Oppegård
Dimmu Borgir	1993	Oslo
Emperor	1991	Notodden, Telemark
Enslaved	1991	Haugesund, Rogaland
Fimbulwinter	1992	Oslo
Gorgoroth	1992	Bergen, Hordaland
Hades/Hades Almighty	1992	Bergen, Hordaland
Ildjarn	1992	Bø, Telemark
Immortal	1989	Bergen, Hordaland
Mayhem	1984	Oslo
Satyricon	1991	Oslo
Thorns (aka Stigma Diabolicum)	1989	Trondheim, Sør-Trøndelag
Thou Shalt Suffer	1991	Notodden, Telemark
Ulver	1993	Oslo

List of music releases

The following is a list of black metal recordings and releases by the aforesaid bands during 1991–1993. Releases in bold are albums, whilst the rest are demos and extended plays.

Year/Month	Band	Title	Notes
1987-08	Mayhem	Deathcrush
1989-12	Stigma Diabolicum	Luna De Nocturnus
1990-03	Stigma Diabolicum	Lacus De Luna
1990-11	Mayhem	Live in Leipzig	recorded live on 26/11/1990 but not released officially until July 1993
		1991
1991-??	Mayhem	"Freezing Moon" and "Carnage"	these songs feature Dead as vocalist and appeared on the 1991 Projections of a Stained Mind compilation
1991-05	Burzum	Burzum Demo I
1991-06	Thorns	Grymyrk
1991-07	Thou Shalt Suffer	Open the Mysteries of Your Creation
1991-07	Enthrone	Black Wings
1991-07	Arcturus	My Angel
1991-08	Darkthrone	A Blaze in the Northern Sky	recorded in August 1991 but not released until February 1992
1991-09	Burzum	Burzum Demo II
1991-10	Immortal	Immortal
1991-10	Thou Shalt Suffer	Into the Woods of Belial
1991-12	Enslaved	Nema
		1992
1992-02	Ildjarn	Unknown Truths
1992-03	Burzum	Burzum
1992-04	Burzum	Det Som Engang Var	recorded in April 1992 but not released until August 1993
1992-06	Satyricon	All Evil
1992-06	Enslaved	Yggdrasill
1992-06	Darkthrone	Under a Funeral Moon	recorded in June 1992 but not released until June 1993
1992-07	Immortal	Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism
1992-07	Emperor	Wrath of the Tyrant
1992-08	Burzum	Aske	recorded in August 1992 but not released until March 1993
1992-09	Carpathian Forest	Bloodlust & Perversion
1992-09	Burzum	Hvis Lyset Tar Oss	recorded in September 1992 but not released until May 1994
1992-12	Fimbulwinter	Fimbulwinter Demo	re-released as a full-length album, Servants of Sorcery, in 1994
1992-??	Thorns	Trøndertun
		1993
1993-01	Ildjarn	Ildjarn Demo
1993-03	Burzum	Filosofem	recorded in March 1993 but not released until January 1996
1993-03	Satyricon	The Forest Is My Throne
1993-04	Gorgoroth	A Sorcery Written in Blood
1993-05	Ildjarn	Norse
1993-06	Hades Almighty	Alone Walkyng
1993-08	Ancient	Eerily Howling Winds
1993-10	Emperor	Emperor
1993-10	Enslaved	Hordanes Land
1993-11	Immortal	Pure Holocaust
1993-11	Ulver	Vargnatt
1993-??	Carpathian Forest	Journey through the Cold Moors of Svarttjern
1993-??	Dimmu Borgir	Inn I Evighetens Mørke

Documentaries

• Det Svarte Alvor (1994)
• Satan Rides the Media (1998)
• Norsk Black Metal (2003)
• Murder Music: A History of Black Metal (2007)
• Once Upon a Time in Norway (2008)
• Pure Fucking Mayhem (2008)
• Until The Light Takes Us (2009)

Bibliography

• Baddeley, Gavin (1999). Lucifer Rising: Sin, Devil Worship and Rock and Roll
• Moynihan, Micheal and Didrik Soderlind (1998). Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Satan rides the Media (1998)
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Campion, Chris (2005-02-20). "In the face of death". The Observer (Guardian Unlimited). http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,11710,1419364,00.html. Retrieved 2007-10-06. 
3. ^ Until the Light Takes Us (2009)
4. ^ "Web-exclusive interview: Darkthrone's Fenriz (Part 2)". Revolver. 14 January 2010.
5. ^ Dome, Michael (2007). Murder Music – Black Metal. Rockworld TV.
6. ^ ^{a b} Hellhammer interviewed by Dmitry Basik (June 1998)
7. ^ Lords of Chaos (1998): Hellhammer interview
8. ^ Sounds of Death magazine (1998): Hellhammer interview
9. ^ Unrestrained magazine #15: Necrobutcher interview
10. ^ MusicMight: Biography of Immortal
11. ^ Discogs: Erik Brødreskift
12. ^ [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=19441 Find A Grave: Erik "Grim" Brødreskift (1969-1999)
13. ^ Encyclopedia Metallum: Storm (musician)
14. ^ In May or June 1991, according to the Interview with Bård Eithun; Lords of Chaos (1998): 66
15. ^ ^{a b} "Øystein 'Euronymous' Aarseth". June 1992. http://www.angelfire.com/band/mayhem/euro2.html. Retrieved 2009-10-10. "Well, the original idea was to make a specialist shop for metal in general, but that's a long time ago. Normal metal isn't very popular any more, all the children are listening to "death" metal now. I`d rather be selling Judas Priest than Napalm Death, but at least now we can be specialized within "death" metal and make a shop where all the trend people know that they will find all the trend music. This will help us earning money so that we can order more EVIL records to the evil people. But no matter how shitty music we have to sell, we'll make a BLACK METAL look on the shop, we've had a couple of "actions" in churches lately, and the shop is going to look like a black church in the future. We`ve also thought about having total darkness inside, so that people would have to carry torches to be able to see the records." 
16. ^ Norwegian dictionary entry for "Helvete"
17. ^ Christe, Ian (2003). Sound of the Beast: the Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc.. p. 271. 
18. ^ 'Lords Of Chaos' Norwegian Black Metal Movie To Go Into Pre-Production - Nov. 5, 2005 Retrieved on September 10, 2007
19. ^ Hans Fjellestad Homepage, mentioning a screenplay "Lords of Chaos" as being in pre-production; Retrieved on September 11, 2007
20. ^ Vikernes, Varg (2004-08-13). "A personal review of Gavin Baddeley's book "Lucifer Rising: Sin, Devil Worship and Rock'n'Roll"". Burzum.org. http://www.burzum.org/eng/library/lucifer_rising_review.shtml. Retrieved 2007-01-31. 
21. ^ Lords of Chaos (1998): 67
22. ^ Ekeroth, p. 247.
23. ^ ^{a b c} Grude, Torstein (Director) (January 1, 1998). Satan rir Media (motion picture). Norway: Grude, Torstein. http://home.no/metalra/reviews/videos/satan_rides_the_media.html. 
24. ^ Lords of Chaos (1998): 89
25. ^ ^{a b c d e} Martin Ledang, Pål Aasdal (2008). Once Upon a Time in Norway.
26. ^ ^{a b} Lords of Chaos (1998), page 79
27. ^ Dunn, Sam (2005). Metal: A Headbanger's Journey.
28. ^ ^{a b c d e} Lords of Chaos (1998): 79
29. ^ ^{a b c} Lords of Chaos (1998): 78
30. ^ Lords of Chaos (1998): 113, 269
31. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} Church of Norway (Den Norske Kirke) - History (Historie) - 1994
32. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Church of Norway (Den Norske Kirke) - History (Historie) - 1995
33. ^ Steinke, Darcey. "Satan's Cheerleaders" SPIN Magazine, February 1996.
34. ^ Mayhem Biography on Yahoo! Music
35. ^ ^{a b c d} Varg Vikernes - A Burzum Story: Part II - Euronymous
36. ^ Police nab 'The Count' after he fled jail - Aftenposten.no
37. ^ Zebub, Bill (2007). Black Metal: A Documentary.

External links

• "In the Face of Death" - article about the early Norwegian black metal scene, focusing on Mayhem (2005)