Yesterday, we presented the last translated interview of Euronymous, the founder and main guitarist of Mayhem, in which he declared "total war" against fake Swedish death metal "trendies". You can read the full Euronymous interview here.
In part 2 of the interview, the "godfather" of Norwegian Black Metal delves deeper into issues surrounding the Black Metal scene at the time... Dead's suicide, feuds with commercial death metal acts, the ideology behind the music and, of course, Varg Vikernes of Burzum, who was at the time imprisoned after the infamous "Satanic Terror" interview about the arson and alleged terrorism links (he was later released in March 1993).
He also provides more details about the upcoming release of "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas", as well as his irritation with bands like Cannibal Corpse, who are seen more as "party music" than something truly evil - a claim the band wouldn't deny.
Euronymous Claims "Evil" is the Driving Force of Black Metal
When asked what makes a band "black metal", Euronymous has a very straight answer:
[Evil] is just the way it is. I neither will or can define it. It is a basically hate to humankind. I have no friends, just the guys I'm allied with. If my girlfriend dies I won't cry, I will misuse the corpse.
Euronymous also has a well defined hierarchy of black metal: Burzum, Mayhem and Darkthrone at the top. Then come the bottom bitches: Helgrind, Emperor, Enslaved, Satyricon, etc.
It is three REAL Black Metal bands in Norway. That is MAYHEM, DARKTHRONE and BURZUM. BURZUM's mainman is COUNT GRISHNACKH, and the most of you surely have noticed that he is arrested, suspected for setting two churches afire and killing a gypsy. Besides these three we have the 'low bitch' – ENSLAVED, EMPEROR and ARCTURUS – and all the garbage bands which only time will show what stands for. Norwegian Black Metal isn't only good to be norwegian.
Not entirely sure what the last sentence was supposed to mean. Maybe that you don't need to be Norwegian to play black metal, but you at least need to make your music dark and meaningful.
Mayhem vs Cannibal Corpse
One of the most notorious takes from the interview, that has been the basis for the entire movie "Lords of Chaos". That Dead allegedly committed suicide because of baseball shoes (?) at his shows.
Here again, Euronymous weights in:
Dead wanted to make evil music for evil people, but the only people he saw were walking around in jogging suits, caps, baseball shoes and being into peace and love. He hated them so much, and saw no longer any reason to waste his time on them.
He also takes a jab at commercial death metal, in the form of the "poster child" of commercial Cannibal Corpse, and claims "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas" will be far beyond what anyone else has ever released at that point - and he was right about the last part.
We have finished the recordings of "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas" now, and we only have to mix it, and that will happen in a couple of days. We have worked on this album for six years, and it's full of brand new ideas. We could have put out a lot of shit like for example CANNIBAL CORPSE are doing, but we have taken our time because we want this album to be the BEST! People don't know what they are talking about, but they will see. And if we need five years to make the next album, we'll take the time we need. Listen to the album and will understand what I mean. This is NOT a typical mass release, we have worked HARD on it and have thrown away most of the riffs, and only the perfect are saved.
Whatever your opinion on Mayhem or Euronymous, at least we can all recognise that he was right about "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas". It is clearly the pinnacle of black metal, alongside very elite stuff like "Memories of Blood and Darkness", "Unholy War Metal" and "Hvis Lyset Tar Oss".
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