The 1993 murder of Norwegian black metal "inner circle" leader Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth by Mayhem band mate, Burzum's Varg Vikernes, is one of the most notorious crimes in the history of metal.
The incident put the underground sub genre of black metal on the map and was dramatised in the much talked about, and widely panned, Hollywood film Lord of Chaos, earlier this year.
However, it turns out church burner Varg wasn't the only scene member to plot to murder Euronymous... bassist Jørn 'Necrobutcher' Stubberud, one of two original members still touring and recording as Mayhem, has admitted to Consequence of Sound's Heavy Consequence that he was plotting to kill his ex-band mate too.
Speaking about band's upcoming album Daemon, ahead of Mayhem's 25th anniversary of De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, Necrobutcher looked back on those early days and how he was kicked out of the band and replaced by Varg just as they were recording their debut seminal album.
The bassist revealed he had felt a lot of resentment towards Euronymous, following the tragic suicide of vocalist, Dead, during the writing of the album in 1991.
"Our buddy Per Ohlin decided to take his own life. I felt very sad about that, and I was kind of struck by [..] sorrow, for a long time. Still, actually, feel sorrow about that. But the first year was particularly bad, especially since my friend [pause] friend Euronymous took fucking photos of his corpse.
"So that didn't help much with the grief, I felt. I felt like I needed to go over and kill that Øystein 'Euronymous' backstabber. But it's funny with the bad karma there. Because he went behind my back, called Vikernes and got him to play bass on the album... and then that was kinda bad karma I guess, because we all know what happened to him."
Necrobutcher goes on to claim he was on his way to kill Euronymous himself when he discovered he had already been murdered:
“OK, I can just tell it right now, because I’ve been holding it in for many years, but actually I was on my way down to kill him myself. And when it happened, I just saw the morning paper, thinking ‘Fuck, I gotta get home to my place and get out all the weapons and drugs and shit I had in my house, because they’re coming to my house because I’m probably going to be the number one suspect for this.’
"But little did I know that the Norwegian police already knew that Count Grishnackh [Varg] was going down also to kill him. Because they bugged his phone, and he actually talked about this killing before he went for Bergen so the cops already knew that he was coming, so they probably were thinking to themselves, ‘We didn’t nail this guy for the church burnings, so let’s nail him for murder, and get rid of this fucking guy in Oslo at the same time.’ So that’s basically what happened.”
Check out the full interview below:
Mayhem’s upcoming studio album Daemon, will arrive on October 25 through Century Media. The Norwegian outfit will head out on tour with special guests Gaahls Wyrd and Gost across Europe later this year.
Mayhem 2019 European tour dates
Oct 31: Nijmegen Doornroosje, Netherlands
Nov 01: Leiden Gebr De Nobel, Netherlands
Nov 02: Leeds Damnation Festival, UK
Nov 03: Dublin Academy, Ireland
Nov 04: London The Electric Ballroom, UK
Nov 05: Paris La Machine Du Moulin Rouge, France
Nov 06: Rennes L’etage, France
Nov 07: Lyon CCD, France
Nov 08: Toulouse Le Metronum, France
Nov 09: Barcelona Salamandra, Spain
Nov 10: Madrid Mon Madrid, Spain
Nov 12: Milan Magazzini Generali, Italy
Nov 13: Génova PTR, Switzerland
Nov 14: Vienna Szene, Austria
Nov 15: Prague Meet Factory, Czech Republic
Nov 16: Berlin Astra, Germany
Nov 17: Lille Tyrant Fest, France
Nov 19: Kassel Musik Theater 130BPM, Germany
Nov 20: Wetzikon Hall Of Fame, Switzerland
Nov 21: Mannheim MS Connextion Complex, Germany
Nov 22: Oberhausen Turbinehalle, Germany
Nov 23: Vosselaar Biebob, Belgium
Nov 24: Copenhagen Pumpehuset, Denmark
Nov 26: Tampere Pakkahuone, Finland
Nov 27: Helsinki Tavastia, Finland
Nov 29: Stockholm Fryshuset Klubben, Sweden
Nov 30: Gothenburg Pustervik, Sweden
