0:03

Metal is one of the most

0:06

extreme forms of music ever invented. Once

0:08

you're inside this tent, you quickly realize that

0:11

the deeper you go, the

0:13

more intense the music becomes as people compete

0:15

to see who can make the heaviest music

0:18

in the universe. There

0:20

are genres with names like Power

0:22

Metal, Speed Metal, Thrash, Pirate Metal,

0:24

Gothic Metal, Industrial Metal, and Metal

0:26

Core. You

0:28

will soon inevitably encounter Death

0:30

Metal, an American invention of the

0:32

1980s that features distorted

0:35

guitars tuned down low and drums that

0:37

sound like machine guns. Vocals

0:40

growl, time signatures abruptly

0:42

change, and if you

0:44

can make out the lyrics, you'll hear

0:46

themes of religion, philosophy, sci-fi, and more.

0:49

There are offshoots too, each with their own spin

0:51

on things. Members blackened

0:54

Death Doom, Deathgrind, Gorgrind,

0:56

Pornogrind, even something called

0:59

Melodic Black Death War Metal. Death

1:02

Metal has a Scandinavian cousin. It's

1:05

Black Metal. It's also

1:07

played fast and often doesn't follow

1:09

conventional song structure. Vocal

1:11

is shriek, recordings may be lo-fi,

1:14

members tend to adopt pseudonyms and use makeup

1:16

on stage. And again, if

1:18

you can make out the lyrics, you'll

1:20

hear tales of paganism, Satanist praise,

1:23

references to the occult, and anti-Christian

1:25

rage. And unlike other

1:28

Metal genres, followers of Black

1:30

Metal have been known to engage in acts

1:32

of violence, most infamously the

1:34

burning of churches. At

1:37

the heart of the Black Metal legend

1:39

is a true tale of suicide, murder,

1:42

and possibly even cannibalism.

1:46

What you're about to hear may seem

1:48

impossible to believe, but

1:50

it happened. I'm

1:53

Alan Cross, and men do I have

1:55

a story for you. This

1:57

is Uncharted, Crime in Mayhem and the Music in Distributed.

2:00

episode 10. I call this

2:02

episode Black Metal, North

2:04

Metal, Earth. That's

2:29

a Norwegian band called Mayhem, formed in the

2:31

small city of Langus in 1984, and they

2:34

will be the focus of this crazy

2:36

story of murder in the extreme. Let's

2:41

start with a little context. Heavy metal

2:43

was born in the late 1960s. It

2:45

quickly began to mutate and evolve into

2:47

many different subgenres, with some

2:49

adherents looking to push the heaviness as far

2:52

as possible. By the early

2:55

1980s, we had something that was being

2:57

called thrash metal, best exemplified by early

2:59

Metallica and Slayer. There

3:01

was also speed metal, which could be

3:03

described as a blend of metal and

3:05

hardcore punk rock. Think groups like

3:07

Motorhead and The Exploited. Thrash

3:10

and Speed channeled rage and aggression,

3:13

and directed it towards conservatism in

3:15

all its forms, politics,

3:17

religion, capitalism, and the overall

3:20

status quo. Thrash

3:22

was an invention of America, the

3:24

UK, Germany, and parts of Latin

3:26

America, drawing inspiration from Black

3:28

Sabbath, and groups in a class known as

3:30

the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. This

3:34

music was definitely extreme, and

3:37

very heavy. But

3:55

as heavy and intense as thrash and speed

3:57

were, some found ways to go

4:00

even heavier and more intense. And

4:03

what could be more intense and heavier than

4:05

death? Death

4:09

metal took speed and thrash to another

4:11

place. Things probably got

4:13

started in the late 1970s with an

4:16

extreme metal band from Newcastle called Venom.

4:19

Other groups followed with names

4:21

like Possessed, Autopsy, Morbid Angel,

4:23

Abituary, and Necrophagia. Meanwhile,

4:26

in Scandinavia, Norway

4:28

specifically, another extreme scene

4:30

was developing, and it was

4:33

called Black Metal. Black

4:35

Metal shared a lot with the

4:37

other metal subgenres. Distorted guitars, intense

4:40

vocals, a drumming technique called

4:42

blast beats, and lyrical

4:44

attacks against all areas of society. Musical

4:48

influences came from Black Sabbath, Motorhead, and

4:50

the Sex Pistols. You can

4:52

even add Kiss to that list since many

4:54

Black Metal bands adopted wearing black and white

4:56

makeup on stage in a style known as

4:59

corpse paint. But

5:01

what set Black Metal apart from

5:03

its brethren was its all-encompassing extreme

5:05

hate for organized religion,

5:08

especially Christianity. The

5:11

scene's ideology was loaded with satanic

5:13

doctrines and convictions designed to spread

5:16

fear, suffering, and sorrow. In

5:18

fact, the original name for this music was

5:20

Satanic Metal. The

5:23

name Black Metal came from the title of

5:25

a 1982 album by Venom, and

5:27

by the mid-1980s, a lot

5:29

of bands had adopted this style. It

5:32

all became pretty apocalyptic. Death,

5:35

war, authoritarianism, various

5:37

global catastrophes, and natural disasters.

5:41

This was cut with elements of folklore

5:43

and mythology, pagan beliefs, the

5:45

distant past, deep introspection,

5:48

self-harm, and even suicide.

5:52

In the beginning, Black Metal bands rarely

5:54

played live. For them, the

5:56

most important thing was to capture their authenticity

5:59

on record. which was also where the

6:01

extremes of their sound could be preserved and

6:03

studied. Those who

6:05

did play live treated their concerts

6:08

as rituals with corpse paint makeup,

6:10

spiky black costumes, mock crucifixions, lots

6:12

of animal blood, and

6:14

even the heads and bodies of dead animals.

6:17

If the goal was to shock and appear demonic,

6:20

well, mission accomplished. This

6:23

leads us to the band at the center of our story.

6:26

Mayhem first came together in Norway in

6:28

1984. At

6:31

the heart of the group was guitarist Oystin

6:33

Arceth, who adopted the name Destructor

6:35

and later Euronimus. He

6:38

was joined by Jorn Stubberrud, otherwise

6:40

known as Necrobutcher, and drummer Katell

6:43

Mannheim. In

6:45

1987, Mayhem recorded an EP entitled

6:47

Death Crush, which quickly sold a

6:49

thousand copies. Pretty spectacular

6:51

for such a niche effort. It

6:54

did help that Euronimus ran an independent

6:57

record store in Oslo called Hell that

6:59

specialized in the most extreme music available.

7:02

It was a meeting place for black metal fans

7:04

who sometimes came by just to hang out in

7:07

the basement. The walls were

7:09

black and decorated with medieval weapons. There

7:12

was a tombstone in the window. Hell

7:14

was also the headquarters for a

7:17

label called Deathlike Silence Productions, which

7:19

released several records by like-minded bands.

7:22

A certain group of death metal musicians were also

7:24

drawn to Hell. Hanging out

7:26

there turned them into black metalers. They

7:29

called themselves the Black Metal Inner Circle,

7:31

or so the rumor went. This

7:34

was largely a made-up story by Euronimus

7:36

to bait the media. It was,

7:38

in short, kind of a joke. After

7:41

a couple of lineup changes, Mayhem ended

7:44

up with a new vocalist named

7:46

Pele-Ingve-Holin. He took the pseudonym

7:48

Dead. And this is

7:50

where black metal started to become really, really,

7:54

really dark. Dead

7:57

used to be in a Swedish band called Morbid.

8:00

He and they really were. Dead

8:03

had an obsession with death. That

8:06

may have begun when he was badly beaten by bullies

8:08

as a kid. He suffered a

8:10

ruptured spleen, internal bleeding, and other injuries

8:12

which left him clinically dead for a

8:14

time. When he recovered,

8:16

that's when he adopted the name dead. He

8:19

hoarded dead birds, geese

8:21

especially, which he kept under his bed.

8:25

He took a dead crow in a plastic bag

8:27

with him on tour, and before

8:29

going on stage, he'd open the bag and

8:31

take a deep sniff, saying

8:33

that he needed to perform with the stench of

8:35

death in his nostrils. He

8:38

wore t-shirts adorned with funeral announcements.

8:41

He was extremely introverted and

8:44

displayed all the symptoms of deep depression.

8:47

Dead would often hide himself in his

8:49

bedroom for long stretches, sometimes engaging in

8:51

self-harm. He came out of

8:53

that bedroom. He'd sometimes cut himself

8:55

in front of other people so much that they'd

8:58

have to restrain him. Dead

9:00

got the gig with Mayhem when he sent them

9:02

a package containing a letter, a demo tape, and

9:06

a crucified mouse. Mayhem

9:09

did play live, and Dead was determined

9:11

to make each show as grotesque a

9:13

spectacle as possible. Yes, there

9:15

was the corpse paint makeup, because

9:18

he really did want to look like a dead

9:20

body. For added

9:22

effect, he would bury his stage clothes, leave

9:24

them in the dirt for a few days,

9:26

dig them up, and then use them

9:28

for a show. One time,

9:31

he asked his bandmates to bury him. On

9:35

stage, Dead would sometimes cut himself. A

9:37

hunting knife was preferred, but broken glass would

9:39

do. And wherever possible,

9:42

Dead would source out the head of a pig or a

9:44

sheep, impale it on a spike,

9:47

and plant it right there in front of the stage. Made

9:51

by people showing up to gigs pretending to be

9:53

all death metal, Dead would throw

9:55

those animal heads into the crowd. thrown

10:00

in your faces, then you can get out,"

10:02

he would say. So

10:05

yeah, there was something strange about

10:07

Dead. Those close to him

10:09

had the impression that Dead truly believed he

10:11

was a creature from another world. He

10:14

had a fascination with vampires and certain

10:16

diseases. He claimed that his

10:18

grandmother was a white witch and

10:20

sometimes tried casting spells of his own.

10:23

And when Dead spoke about his death, he

10:26

did it with real conviction. It's

10:30

possible he suffered from something called

10:32

Cotard Syndrome, a rare condition

10:34

where a person believes that their body is

10:36

not that of a living human being, but

10:39

instead is an actual corpse. He

10:42

did speak of visions of blood being frozen in

10:44

his veins. By

10:46

1990, Dead and Euronimus were sharing a

10:48

place. Then everyone moved out to

10:51

an old rented house in a forest so

10:53

they could write and rehearse material for what

10:55

would be their debut album. But

10:57

Dead and Euronimus weren't getting along on

10:59

a bunch of different levels. Dead

11:02

would often storm out of the house and

11:04

disappear into the forest when Euronimus played music

11:06

he didn't like. Euronimus

11:08

would then run after him with a

11:10

shotgun shooting in the air. At

11:13

one point, it said that Dead stabbed Euronimus

11:15

with a kitchen knife. And

11:17

it wasn't uncommon for Euronimus to get fed up and

11:20

say things like, if you want to be dead, just

11:22

kill yourself. So

11:25

we did. On

11:27

April 8, 1991,

11:29

Dead was dead. Left

11:32

alone in the house in the woods, he

11:34

committed suicide in the house, first

11:36

slitting his wrists and throw with a hunting knife,

11:39

and then taking a self-inflicted shotgun blast to

11:41

the forehead, allegedly using a

11:43

special shell he'd saved for the occasion.

11:46

Euronimus had actually sent him some ammunition

11:49

as a Christmas gift. It

11:51

was also alleged that Euronimus left him

11:53

alone on purpose, Knowing that Dead

11:56

was terribly depressed and hoping that he would

11:58

finally go ahead and take a selfie. Life.

12:01

Dad left a note. Here's.

12:03

How it read. Excuse the

12:06

blood, but I have slit my wrists

12:08

and neck. It was the

12:10

intention that I would die in the woods so

12:12

that it would take a few days before was possibly

12:14

found. I belong in the woods,

12:16

and I've always done so. No

12:18

one will understand the reason for this any. To.

12:21

Give some semblance of an explanation. I'm

12:24

not a human. This. Is just a dream

12:26

and soon I will awake. It

12:29

was too cold. And the blood was

12:31

coagulating all the time. Bus My

12:33

new nice is to don't. If. I

12:35

don't succeed in dying to the nice. I will blow

12:37

the crap out of my skull. Yet

12:39

I do not know. I didn't

12:42

come up with is now. But seventeen?

12:44

Years ago. He

12:46

left behind the lyrics to song he called

12:48

Life Eternal instructing the band do whatever they

12:50

wanted with them. So. Those lyrics

12:53

were. A dream of another

12:55

existence. You wish to die. A dream

12:57

of another world. You prefer death. To

13:00

release the saw one must die. Define.

13:03

Piece inside. You. Must get eternal.

13:06

I immortal. But am I human?

13:09

How beautiful wife is now when my time is

13:11

com. A human destiny, but

13:13

nothing human inside. What will

13:15

be left to me when I'm dead? There.

13:18

Was nothing when I lived. What

13:20

you found was eternal death. No.

13:22

One will ever miss you. And.

13:25

Yes may have did records

13:27

the sauce. He

13:42

was you run of us who found dead set.

13:45

So. What'd. He do. Instead

13:48

of calling, the police immediately went to

13:50

the store and bought a disposable camera

13:52

so he could take some pictures. Even.

13:55

Rearranged a few things so the shots

13:57

were just wait. One. Of

13:59

those. Photos ended up as the cover artwork for

14:02

a bootleg live album called Dawn of the

14:04

Black Hearts. Niekro. Butcher,

14:06

the bass player didn't hear about the

14:08

suicide until the next day. And

14:11

here so he recalled how the news was

14:13

delivered. You run. I'm

14:15

a says dead is done something really cool.

14:17

He killed himself. I. Thought if

14:19

you lost it would be cool. He.

14:21

Says relax. I have photos of

14:23

everything. I was in shock and

14:26

grief. He. Was just thinking how

14:28

to exploited. And

14:30

exploited he did. First,

14:32

he claimed the dead killed himself because

14:34

he was distressed. the blackmail have become

14:36

too trendy and commercialized Skill: I'd rumors

14:38

spread that he fashion necklaces made from

14:41

the shattered bits of dead skull that

14:43

he wore and gave to a couple

14:45

of friends. I can tell

14:47

you that he put a bone fragment up for

14:49

sale and twenty eighteen claiming that it came from

14:52

dead. And will shocking of

14:54

all was the rumor. He gathered

14:56

up bits of Dad's brain matter. Made

14:59

us do. And eight

15:01

it is is true. This is

15:03

false. To tell.

15:06

But. If you run him as was looking to

15:08

turn may him into the most evil band of

15:10

all time. The to bring a job.

15:13

All this was too much for Niekro Butcher,

15:15

and he left the band silently harboring size

15:17

that he had to kill your on him.

15:19

As for how he treated dead. And

15:22

what happened after. He. Ever got

15:24

the chance because someone beat him to it. Just

15:27

as he was planning on hunting iran

15:29

amiss down. That's. Coming up.

15:39

Back. And Twenty Twenty vs. the I

15:41

claim to have stopped a wild plot

15:44

to kidnap the Governor of Michigan. Thank

15:46

you to The Fearless as the agents

15:48

freeing these sick and deprived meant. key

15:52

to the investigations and as the i

15:54

informants who's recordings have never been hurt

15:56

by the puck until now this is

15:58

about for an rifles and squeezing

16:00

off trigger. From campsite

16:02

media and Sony Music Entertainment,

16:05

it's Chameleon, The Michigan Plot.

16:07

Out now, wherever you get your

16:09

podcasts. After

16:14

the death of Dead and the apparent subsequent

16:17

desecration of his remains and memory, Mayhem

16:19

continued as a duo with Hieronymus

16:22

and drummer Ketyal Mannheim. They

16:24

were joined for a brief time by a

16:26

vocalist and bassist who went by the name

16:29

Occultus, but once he started getting death threats

16:31

from Hieronymus, he

16:33

quit. In 1992, Mayhem started

16:35

again on their debut album, something that

16:37

they began writing in 1987. Three

16:40

guest musicians were called in. Attila

16:43

Cesar, from a Hungarian black metal band

16:45

called Termanter, Snor W.

16:47

Roush, also known as Blackthorn,

16:50

and Varg Vikernes, from the band

16:52

Burzum. He also used the

16:55

stage name Count Grishnak. Now

16:57

let's talk about this for a second. Varg

17:00

Vikernes came from a well-off

17:02

family in Bergen, Norway. The

17:05

family moved to Iraq for a while when

17:07

his father picked up a contract to work

17:09

for Saddam Hussein's government on a computer program.

17:12

The family seemed to develop some racist

17:14

views, something that rubbed off on Varg.

17:17

He claims to be a distant relative

17:19

of Vidcon Quisling, a Norwegian who collaborated

17:21

with the Nazis during World War II.

17:24

He was also fascinated by neo-Nanti culture.

17:27

He got deep into the fantasy worlds of J.

17:30

R. R. Tolkien. When he

17:32

got into music, he chose the stage

17:34

name Grishnak because that's the name of an orc

17:36

in the novel The Two Towers. This

17:39

extended to the name of his band, Burzum,

17:41

which is taken from a passage in The Lord of the

17:43

Rings. Burzum recorded

17:45

several albums in the early 1990s

17:48

before Varg joined Mayhem in 1992. And on

17:52

the side, he burned down churches. On

17:55

June 6, 1992, a Norwegian church with. Didn't

18:00

back to the twelfth century was set on

18:02

fire. Of all year,

18:04

a bruising eve he called ask appears with

18:06

a photo of the burned out building on

18:08

the cover. He

18:11

became packaged with a cigarette

18:13

lighter. Your

18:32

son. continue through Ninety Ninety Two.

18:34

seven more churches were satellite glee,

18:36

one on Christmas Eve that year,

18:38

and another in which a firefighter

18:40

was killed. Media. Attention

18:43

was intense. In

18:45

January, Ninety Ninety Three. One. Of

18:47

Norway's biggest newspapers got a scoop. To.

18:50

A Bigger Nuns friends claim to have interviewed

18:52

him and brought the story to the paper.

18:55

In this interview. Bar. Claim to

18:57

have been involved in some of the church

18:59

burnings as well as once killing a man

19:01

in Lillehammer. A couple of journalists

19:04

paid a visit with a warning. If

19:06

the cops are called you will be shot. During.

19:09

That interview. The. Grenades only identified

19:11

himself as count Gross act. More.

19:14

Details about the church Springs were revealed. And.

19:17

He made a promise that the attacks would continue.

19:20

Bigger nuns and his buddies, that's They were

19:22

having a laugh so they exaggerated things as

19:25

much as they possibly could. Swim.

19:27

The story was published in that paper

19:29

on January twentieth. Ninety Ninety Three. Blackmail.

19:33

Got It's first major mainstream

19:35

exposure. For. Guineans was

19:37

arrested. Police found him through an

19:39

address that have been printed on a fire for

19:41

Burson Show. He was convicted

19:43

on several counts. Beginnings.

19:46

Refused to admit anything only to

19:48

say that the burnings we're not

19:50

Satanic, but revenge for christians desecrated

19:52

ancient by Jean Grey's. See.

19:55

also said that the interview was a planned

19:58

operation by him and you're on amiss with

20:00

the purpose of scaring people, promoting

20:02

black metal, and promoting their music. Vigernes

20:06

was in jail for a couple of months before being

20:08

released in March 1993. Meanwhile,

20:11

Euronimus closed up his record shop, which by

20:13

then had become the focal point of the

20:16

Norwegian death metal scene, meaning that

20:18

it was always being watched by the police and the

20:20

media following the stories of the

20:22

destroyed churches. Vigernes

20:24

hated Euronimus for that, saying that he

20:27

should leave the store open to capitalize

20:29

on all the publicity. I

20:31

ended up spending six weeks in jail for nothing, he

20:33

said. Shortly

20:35

after, a special church arson police unit was

20:38

set up at a hotel in Bergen. One

20:41

day, after his release from prison, Vigernes

20:44

forced his way inside the room

20:46

dressed in chain mail armor, carrying

20:49

two large knives and

20:51

flanked by a couple of bodyguards. He

20:53

demanded that these unfounded investigations into

20:55

black metal be stopped. He

20:58

gave everyone a Roman salute and

21:00

then vanished. Meanwhile,

21:02

work on the mayhem album continued.

21:05

It was to be called the

21:07

mysterious Dom Satanas. On

21:10

the cover was an image of

21:12

Nodaro's Cathedral, a famous Norwegian church in

21:14

Trondheim that had been built in 1070.

21:18

Euronimus' plan was to celebrate the release of

21:20

the album by blowing up that

21:22

church that had been around for a

21:24

thousand years. The

21:26

cathedral was never blown up because

21:28

Euronimus was murdered.

21:32

By who? Varg

21:34

Vigernes, one of the guys hired to

21:36

record the album. Around

21:56

the time the record store was closed,

21:59

tensions began to occur. explode between Euronimos

22:01

and Vikranes. A

22:04

power struggle had developed within Mayhem, and

22:07

it appeared that Euronimos owed Vikranes a

22:09

decent amount of royalties. The

22:12

date was August 10, 1993. Euronimos

22:15

and Vikranes were always fighting about something,

22:17

and things were not getting any better.

22:21

On that day, he and Blackthorn

22:23

drove over 500 kilometers from

22:25

Bergen to Euronimos' apartment in Oslo,

22:27

allegedly to sort out details over

22:29

a contract. When

22:32

they arrived, Euronimos went upstairs to the

22:34

fourth floor, while Blackthorn waited downstairs in

22:36

the stairwell, smoking a cigarette. Vikranes'

22:39

account of events, of what happened,

22:42

went like this. When

22:44

he knocked on the door of the apartment, Vikranes

22:47

handed Euronimos his copy of the

22:49

contract. For some reason,

22:51

Euronimos panicked and immediately kicked Vikranes in

22:54

the chest. He then ran

22:56

to the kitchen to get a knife. In

22:58

the struggle, Euronimos was stabbed to death.

23:02

At some point, there was a fight

23:04

because Vikranes stabbed Euronimos 23

23:06

times, 2 to the head, 5

23:10

to the neck, and 16 times

23:12

in the back. His

23:15

body was found outside the apartment in

23:17

a first floor stairwell. Remember,

23:20

he lived on the fourth floor. According

23:23

to Vikranes, Euronimos had lured him

23:25

to the apartment and had planned

23:27

to incapacitate him with an electroshock

23:29

device and then torture

23:31

him to death while videotaping everything.

23:34

This, according to Vikranes, is what Euronimos

23:36

had told some friends. Euronimos

23:41

also allegedly wanted to regain some of

23:43

the badass reputation that he felt had

23:45

been taken from him by Faust, a

23:47

drummer in another black metal band called

23:50

Emperor. Faust had

23:52

become infamous for killing a man in

23:54

Lillehammer. The victim,

23:56

Magna Andreson, was stabbed 37 times

23:58

and the and repeatedly kicked

24:00

in the head. Uranus

24:02

allegedly felt he needed to

24:05

one-up that. So when he

24:07

was ambushed at the apartment, Vikernes

24:09

said he had no choice but to act

24:11

in self-defense. But

24:13

Blackthorn later said that Vikernes made

24:16

the trip to kill Uranus and that

24:18

he was pressured into coming along. He'd

24:21

already been having mental health issues and had

24:23

almost been committed earlier that summer and wasn't

24:26

exactly in the best frame of mind, something

24:28

that may have colored his testimony. As

24:31

for all the wounds on Uranus's body, well, Vikernes

24:34

had a explanation for that. They

24:37

were caused by some broken glass he'd fallen

24:39

through during the fight. The

24:41

one wound he didn't dispute inflicting was a

24:43

stab to the head that was so deep

24:46

the knife stayed in Uranus's skull.

24:50

Vikernes and Blackthorn fled, driving back

24:52

to Bergen. They stopped at a

24:54

leg to get rid of Vikernes's bloody clothes. A

24:57

few days later, on August 19th, 1993, Vikernes

25:00

was arrested. At his home, they

25:03

found 150 kilos of explosives and

25:07

more than 3,000 rounds of ammunition. The

25:10

claim was that he planned to blow

25:12

up the headquarters of Blitzhaus, a radical

25:14

punk leftist anarchist anti-fascist group in Oslo.

25:18

One theory was that Vikernes needed to

25:20

kill Uranus first because he would have

25:22

opposed such an attack on the

25:24

punks. Vikernes denied all

25:26

of this, saying that he was merely

25:29

a doomsday prepper, stockpiling material for the

25:31

inevitable day when Norway would come under

25:33

attack. Vikernes's

25:35

murder trial began on May 2nd, 1994. He

25:39

stayed mostly silent. Other death

25:41

metal compatriots, including Blackthorn and Faust, the drummer

25:43

who stabbed that man to death in a

25:45

little hammer, were also put on trial. They

25:48

confessed. That

25:50

disgusted Vikernes. He

25:53

was determined to stick with the Black Metal Code. The

25:56

trial captivated the country and beyond. Vikernes

25:59

was arrested. portrayed as evil incarnate.

26:02

Police may have bugged his phone and

26:04

knew that when he went to Bergen, he was there

26:07

to kill Euronimos. A

26:09

theory was floated that a third person

26:11

was involved, someone who was instructed to

26:13

stay at Vikernes' place in Bergen, making

26:16

ATM withdrawals, renting videos, and otherwise

26:18

making it look like he was

26:20

at home, not in Oslo, killing

26:22

Euronimos. On

26:24

May 16, 1994, Vikernes was sentenced

26:26

to 21 years in prison,

26:29

which was the maximum penalty in Norway. He

26:32

was convicted of Euronimos' death, the burning

26:34

of three churches, attempted arson on

26:36

a fourth, and theft and storage of 150

26:38

kilos of explosives. On

26:42

that same day, two churches were

26:44

set on fire in solidarity and support

26:47

by persons unknown. Blockthorn

26:49

was charged with being an accessory and sentenced

26:51

to eight years in jail. That

26:54

same month, Mayhem's one and

26:56

only album, The Mysterious Dumb

26:58

Syntheta, was released featuring

27:00

Euronimos on guitar and

27:03

Vikernes on bass. Now,

27:05

though, Mayhem was down to just two members, and

27:07

the group broke up. So,

27:10

dead is dead, Euronimos is

27:12

dead, Vikernes is in jail,

27:15

Blockthorn is in prison, Mayhem has

27:17

broken up, and more than two dozen

27:19

churches in several countries were burned in

27:21

solidarity. End of the

27:23

story, right? Not

27:25

a chance. There's more to come.

27:38

With Mayhem out of the picture and

27:40

Varg, Vikernes in jail, the heat around

27:42

Black Metal began to subside. The

27:45

church burnings associated with the scene continued until late

27:47

1995 and then suddenly

27:49

stopped. The

27:51

music continued, though. Necro

27:53

Butcher, Mayhem drummer Hellhammer, and several other

27:56

death metal vets, including a singer who

27:58

went by the name of Blasphere. Humor

28:00

We for me, I'm releasing any

28:02

P and Eighty Ninety Seven. They

28:04

refuted Satanism but had no trouble

28:07

with neo Nazi philosophies. And

28:09

album entitled Grand Declaration of War

28:11

was released in two thousand. Three

28:14

years later, a fan suffered a

28:16

fractured skull. When. He

28:18

was hit by a severed sheep's head that

28:20

was thrown from the stage. Although

28:23

there was internal turmoil and lineup issues

28:25

may have ended up winning the Norwegian

28:27

equivalent of a Grammy award for best

28:29

Metal album in two thousand seven. May

28:33

and continues today as a five

28:35

piece. With six studio albums, nine

28:37

live albums, and for He Pees

28:39

In Twenty Twenty One, they were

28:41

inducted into the Norwegian Music for

28:43

Popular music. the only black metal

28:45

band to ever make it. Through

28:48

Still a record store in the site

28:50

of Hell, it's called Nosebleed Records. Most

28:52

of the original artifacts are still on

28:54

display in the store for most itself

28:56

as a block middle museum. Blocks.

29:00

Or and was released from prison and

29:02

began releasing new music. He still occasionally

29:04

performs as part of a band called

29:06

Thorns. Internet

29:25

served his time in five

29:27

different prisons, during which time.

29:30

He. Launched a group called the

29:32

Norwegian Heathen Front, a pagan neo

29:34

nazi organization. He. Also came

29:36

into contact with other extremist groups. are

29:38

quite nancy in their beliefs. On

29:41

April Eighth. Nineteen Ninety Seven. Five.

29:43

Neo Nazis. One. A former

29:45

fellow prisoner who had escaped. Were.

29:48

Arrested and charged with planning attacks and

29:50

several political and religious leaders in the

29:52

country. Part. Of their plan was

29:54

to break between as out of jail. Me

29:57

well for going to Made Music from prison. Releasing

30:00

two albums of since based semi

30:02

folks ambient mail. He

30:05

also wrote a series of books

30:07

espousing his political views, various pagan

30:09

series and something he called "esoteric

30:11

Nancy as" One. Of those

30:13

books were sold the When Nancy organization called

30:15

seat in Front. When.

30:18

He was transferred to a low security prison in

30:20

two thousand and three. The. Current is made

30:22

a run for it. Carjacking. A family

30:24

of three as part of his getaway. When

30:27

he was found, the car was filled

30:29

with knives, a gas mask camouflage, a

30:31

Gps unit, maps, a compass, a laptop,

30:33

and a mobile phone. He

30:35

was later found with a rifle and a handgun. More

30:38

time was added to his sins. But

30:41

then in early Two Thousand Nine, he

30:43

was released, serving almost fifteen years of

30:45

his twenty one year sentence. He.

30:47

Reactivated Burson. And released

30:49

three albums in quick succession before he

30:51

was retiring the name. There's.

30:54

Been more ambient style music along

30:56

with a film untitled Forebears produced

30:58

with his wife. Which. Is

31:00

based on the worship of bears

31:02

during the time of Neanderthals. Includes

31:04

references to the Egyptian Book at

31:06

the Dead. And.

31:09

Twenty Eleven. A far right extremists

31:11

named Anders Brevik carrier a mass

31:13

murder attack that killed seventy seven

31:15

people. In. Two locations in Norway

31:17

with a car bomb and a shooting

31:19

spree. He left behind

31:22

a manifesto. Began. As was

31:24

one of the people who received that

31:26

document before the attacks were launched. Thickness.

31:29

Condemned Everything but also wrote a sympathetic

31:32

blog post. Claiming. That the

31:34

attacks raul part of some Jewish

31:36

conspiracy. He. Was investigated by

31:38

authorities and fans but not charged with

31:40

anything. But then into

31:42

any sixteen, he and his wife were arrested

31:44

on suspicion of planning to launch some kind

31:46

of terrorist attack. They. Were released

31:48

for lack of evidence. But. Business

31:51

was charged with inciting hate towards

31:53

Muslims and Jews. He was

31:55

convicted and find eight thousand euros. meanwhile

31:59

his youtube channel called Thulean Perspective,

32:01

a place where he offered his

32:03

views and theories, attracted

32:05

a quarter million subscribers. Lots

32:08

of racial hatred there. YouTube took it

32:10

down in June 2018. Vikranes

32:13

reactivated Bursum for two more albums

32:15

starting in 2020 with the Thulean

32:17

Mysteries. It was followed up in

32:19

2023 with the reincarnation of

32:22

Odin. Varkvikranes

32:36

still lives in Norway and has a new

32:38

legal name, Louis Caché. That

32:41

makes it easier to deal with the public and legal things,

32:44

but he still goes by Varkvikranes in

32:46

his personal dealings. There's

32:48

at least one book on the whole

32:50

dead, Euronymous, Count Grishnak, Mayhem, Bursum story

32:53

called Lord of Chaos, although

32:55

the author was sympathetic to

32:57

Vikranes's political views. It

33:00

was made into a movie in 2018, which

33:02

is pretty gruesome. It had

33:04

to be if it was going to tell this story. Meanwhile

33:07

the Black Metal scene continues with a disturbing

33:09

number of acts, some not all,

33:12

spouting racist ideologies connected to the

33:14

rise of something called National Socialist

33:16

Black Metal. There's

33:18

also something called Red and Black Metal,

33:20

which has Marxist and communist principles. Interestingly

33:25

some anti-Muslim and anti-religious Black Metal

33:27

bands have been born in the

33:29

Middle East. There's even

33:31

a subscene called Mesopotamian Black

33:34

Metal. Most

33:36

however have gone deep into mythology and

33:38

fantasy, creating a multitude of

33:40

subgenres. Ambient Black Metal,

33:42

Black Doom, Depressive Suicide Black Metal,

33:45

it's actually its name, Black

33:47

and Roll, Black Gaze, and Symphonic Black

33:49

Metal. All of it's pretty intense,

33:52

but not all of it is racist or

33:54

hateful. Varg Vikranes

33:56

has gone down in history as the most

33:58

notorious, most extreme, and perhaps the most

34:01

dangerous metal musician of all time.

34:04

Will there be more like him? We'll

34:06

see. You

34:12

can catch up on all episodes of Uncharted by downloading

34:14

them from your favorite podcast platform. Please rate and review

34:16

if you get a chance. If you

34:18

have any questions or comments, shoot me an email,

34:21

Alan and alancross.ca. We

34:23

can also meet up on all the

34:25

social media sites, along with my website,

34:27

adrenalinewithmusicalthings.com. It's updated with music

34:29

news and recommendations every day. And there's a

34:31

free daily newsletter that you should get. And

34:34

please check out my other podcast, The Ongoing

34:36

History of New Music. There are hundreds and

34:38

hundreds of episodes that you can enjoy

34:40

all for free. Join

34:42

me next time for more stories of crime and mayhem from

34:44

the world of music. Technical productions

34:47

by Rob Johnston. I'm Alan Cross. Hi.

34:50

Her name is Elspeth. Elspeth, I feel you. You

34:52

know her as the offbeat, but brilliant defense attorney from

34:55

the Good Life and the Good Fight.

34:57

You've been a very busy little bee. Buzz-buzz. Now,

34:59

she's in New York with the NYPD. This

35:01

is very different. Better. But still

35:04

using her unconventional ways to find the truth. You're

35:07

trying to make me feel better. I'm not going

35:09

to be a good guy. I'm not

35:11

going to be a good guy. I'm

35:13

not going to be a good guy. I'm not going to

35:16

be a good guy. You're

35:18

trying to make me feel better.