The Ten Most Metal Deaths of Metal Musicians

May 10, 2013 at 11:21 am

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Per "Dead" Ohlin and Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth -- both of the band Mayhem -- occupying the tops slots of our list.
Per "Dead" Ohlin and Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth -- both of the band Mayhem -- occupying the tops slots of our list.

2. Per "Dead" Ohlin / Mayhem

Stanger than the obvious irony caused by this Mayhem vocalist's chosen stage name is the reason this name was chosen: As a young man, Dead had his spleen rupture after being beaten by bullies in school and was clinically not alive for some time before being resuscitated. So this guy is the first on our list to die twice. As the singer for one of the world's most notoriously fucking crazy black metal bands, Mayhem, it is no surprise that Dead decided to take his own life by cutting his wrists and throat and blasting himself in the face with a shotgun. There is speculation that this had even been encouraged by his band mates for the sake of the band's black metal image -- better a corpse than a poser, I guess. Upon discovering Dead's bloody corpse, his bandmates quickly grabbed a camera and took a photo that became a Mayhem album cover. There are also rumors that the remaining members made a stew from chunks of Dead's splattered brains and made necklaces from bits of his skull.

1. Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth / Mayhem

One of the most notorious crimes in the history of metal once again centers on Norway's infamous Mayhem. In possibly the most well-known black metal true crime story of all time, Mayhem co-founder and vocalist Euronymous got into a confrontation in his home with new bassist and Burzum mastermind Varg Vikernes (aka Count Grishnackh) in August of 1993. The dispute left Euronymous dead, with two stab wounds to the head, five to the neck, and sixteen to the back. After his conviction of the murder, as well as at least three church burnings in Norway, Vikernes served fifteen years in prison and was released in early 2009. Neither the bass nor vocals were re-recorded for the release of Mayhem's Mysteriis Dom Sathanas album. As drummer Hellhammer stated, "I thought it was appropriate that the murderer and victim were on the same record." Burzum and Mayhem both continue to release new music to this day.

See also: - Ten Bands You Never Would Have Thought Used to Be Good - The Ten Biggest Concert Buzzkills: An Illustrated Guide - The 15 Most Ridiculous Band Promo Photos Ever - The Ten Worst Music Tattoos Ever

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