What did other black metal musicians think of the "godfather" of early Norwegian black metal, Øystein Aarseth aka Euronymous?
Euronymous was certainly a "larger than life" figure, always trying to provoke the public and get a reaction, much like a WWE heel. That these "reactions" directly translated into profits through his various label enterprises (Deathlike Silence, Posercorpse, Helvete, etc) is another subject altogether.
So, according to other black metal artists, how much of Euronymous' persona was "real" and how much was theatrics?
Euronymous played guitar on the two most notorious Mayhem releases (and the only two that matter, really): Deathcrush and De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, although he didn't write all the riffs on DMDS.
So let's start by review what the other musicians of Mayhem, specifically those present on DMDS, have to say about Euronymous.
Necrobutcher (bassist)
Necrobutcher (Jørn Stubberud), the bassist of Mayhem, had a complicated relationship with Euronymous. He mentioned that Euronymous and Dead (Per Yngve Ohlin) "got on each other's nerves a lot" and "weren't really friends at the end". The relation got more sinister towards the end, when Euronymous took pictures of Dead's corpse after the latter's suicide. This has led Necrobutcher to claim that "had [Varg Vikernes] not killed Euronymous, [he] would have done so [himself]".
Dead (vocalist)
A complicated relationship. According to some sources, they got into fights a lot. Despite that, they remained band mates for over 2 years.
Hellhammer (drummer)
Hellhammer (Jan Axel Blomberg), the drummer of Mayhem, recalled incidents where Euronymous and Dead had violent conflicts, such as Euronymous playing synth music that Dead hated, leading to Dead sleeping outside and coming back into the house with a "hunting knife".
Varg Vikernes (bassist and songwriter)
Varg Vikernes of the black metal band Burzum, who was convicted of "slaying [sic]" Euronymous, had a contentious relationship with him. Vikernes claimed that the extreme Satanic image Euronymous projected was largely a facade and that his real personality was different, that he was "effete" and liked to wear makeup. This is something that was confirmed by Glen Benton of Deicide, who had met Euronymous in 1991. Strangely enough, Varg Vikernes has also praised Euronymous' contributions to De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, an album where both men excelled at creating dark and dissonant black metal.
Ihsahn (guitarist and vocalist)
Ihsahn (Vegard Sverre Tveitan), the frontman of Emperor, stated that the extreme statements made by Euronymous and others were "very much to create fear among people" and that they "wanted to be in opposition to society". He doubts that Euronymous was ever a "real devil worshiper". This was confirmed by Satyr of Satyricon, who claimed that there were "about 30 people in the Norwegian Inner Circle, and none of [them] worshiped the devil or anything like that".
Gaahl (vocalist)
Gaahl (Kristian Espedal), the vocalist of Gorgoroth, has spoken about Euronymous in great lengths, notably in the book "Real Satanic Black Metal". He described Euronymous as a conflicted person, that "always tried to be the one that stands out".
Abbath (guitarist)
Abbath, the guitarist of Immortal, also had a tumultuous relation with Mayhem's frontman, but nevertheless praised his ability to "gather different people", probably meaning in the Norwegian Inner Circle. It should be noted that the friendship didn't extend both ways, and Euronymous always hated Immortal... prohibiting them from calling their music "Black Metal", which is why Immortal often advertised their albums as "Holocaust Metal" to avoid the censorship of Euronymous in the early 90s.
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