![Dawn of the Black Hearts Cover Art by Mayhem Featuring Suicide Photo of Per Yngve Ohlin aka Dead Dawn of the Black Hearts Cover Art by Mayhem Featuring Suicide Photo of Per Yngve Ohlin aka Dead]()
Per Yngve Ohlin, nicknamed “Dead” was a Swedish vocalist for a Norwegian black metal band Mayhem. My brother was a big fan of Mayhem and always listened to Black and Death Metal. I was more into Trash and Power Metal, though I’m glad I lived in the time of great musicians, when singers could sing, guitarists could shred and live shows fucking rocked. I lived in the time when Norwegian Black Metal was what Black Metal was meant to be. Contemporary music is a fucking joke for the most part and I feel sorry for the young generation of rockers who will never know what it’s like to go see real Mayhem live.
Anyway, on April 8, 1991 Per Yngve Ohlin aka Dead committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with a shotgun. He first sliced his wrists and throat with a knife, but it didn’t kill him so he reached for the firearm of Euronymous (Øystein Aarseth) – his bandmate from Mayhem and blew his brains off with it.
Pelle’s Near Death Experience
I watched a documentary titled “Once Upon a Time in Norway” (find it towards the end of the post) and in it, Dead’s former bandmates and friends from other bands referred to him as “Pelle” so I may occasionally refer to him as such as well. In other words – Per Yngve Ohlin, Dead and Pelle are all names of the same person – former frontman of Norwegian Black Metal band Mayhem who shot himself to death with a shotgun.
When Pelle was 10 years old, he fell through the ice while skating outdoors and almost died. He often referred to this incident and credited it for his fascination with death and dying. His brother, however, years after Pelle’s death, in an exclusive interview with the producers of the Swedish metal book “Blod Eld Död” (Blood Fire Death) admitted that it wasn’t the skating accident which near killed him, but the ruptured spleen he suffered from after beating in school by bullies. After this beating, Pelle was clinically dead for a while but never really talked it. Instead, he always referred to his fall through the ice as his near death experience and credited it for his fascination with death.
Musical Career
Pelle moved to Norway in 1988, after 2 years with a Swedish death metal band Morbid. Mayhem’s then basist Jørn “Necrobutcher” Stubberud said Dead sent them a demo tape in a package with a crucified mouse.
During live shows, Dead wore corpse make up and clothes he’d kept buried until the day of the concert to have the look and smell of a grave. He was also rumored to have kept dead birds under his bed and to breath in the smell of a rotting crow he found and kept in a plastic bag in order to sing with the stench of death in his nostrils.
Pelle would also cut himself during live shows to keep the bloody image of Mayhem strong. Cutting however also transformed into his life off the stage and there were times when band members had to restrain him because he was hurting himself too much.
Dead’s Suicide
Dead and Euronymous lived in a remote house in the woods near Kråkstad. The band also used the same house to rehearse in. On April 8, 1991, while Dead was alone in the house, he sliced his wrists and his throat and then shot himself in the forehead with the shotgun. The suicide note he left only contained his apology for the mess his blood and brain were going to create inside the house:
Excuse all the blood, cheers.
Dawn of the Black Hearts
Dead was found, well… dead by Euronymous who had to climb inside through the window because Pelle locked the door to kill himself undisturbed. After getting in, Euronymous allegedly took a picture of Dead with brains spilled out on the table and the band used it as cover art for the bootleg live album Dawn of the Black Hearts which the band released in 1995.
Authenticity of the photo has been a subject to much speculation and it is not 100% known whether it’s real or not. Having been a Black Metal band, Mayhem often used fake gore images to associate themselves with death. In the photo, you can also notice that the knife, which Dead would have used prior to shooting himself in the head, lays on top of the shotgun.
This doesn’t mean the photo is not real, though. Euronymous, who was the first to see Dead dead said he moved a few things around before fetching the camera to snap the pic. Euronymous is no longer with us, having been stabbed to death by Mayhem’s former bass guitarist Varg Vikernes who served 20 years in jail for this murder and the notorious burning of churches in Norway, so we may never know whether the image is real or not for sure.
Fragments of Dead’s Skull
After finding Pelle dead, Euronymous allegedly collected pieces of Dead’s skull and mailed them to Mayhem’s close friends, also allegedly using the fragments he kept to make a necklace with.
Whether this is true or not only Euronymous knows for sure. And as I mentioned above, Euronymous was murdered by Varg Vikernes in 1993.
In an interview with the Rolling Stones magazine, Mayhem’s drummer Hellhammer (Jan Axel Blomberg) said the band also used the fragments from Pelle’s skull to make a stew with and he was the only one who did not eat it.
Music of Mayhem with Dead on Vocals
Can’t have a post about Per Yngve Ohlin and Mayhem without a bit of an ear candy for those who appreciate proper beats from the time when music fucking kicked ass. Here’s Mayhem’s tune Freezing Moon. Needless to say – Dead is on vocals. Fucking EPIC:
And a video eye candy from 1990 capturing Dead and Euronymous in spare time and during a rehearsal:
Once Upon A Time In Norway – The History of Mayhem
For those who care, here’s a 2007 documentary called Once Upon A Time In Norway. It touches on many aspects related to the beginnings of Black Metal, to Mayhem, to Per Yngve Ohlin, to the way thing were back then and to Varg Vikernes and his murder of Euronymous (Euronymous was found with as many as 30 stab wounds). Great documentary. It’s in Norwegian with English subtitles:
One more video in which former basist for Mayhem and a murderer of Mayhem’s guitarist Øystein Aarseth (Euronymous) – Varg Vikernes aka Count Grishnackh talks about Christianity. Varg Vikernes was sentenced to 20 years in prison for stabbing of Øystein Aarseth and burning of churches in Norway. He’s out of jail now, lives with his wife under a new name on a small farm in rural Norway and is proud to call himself a racist:
Gallery of Photos
Few photos of Per Yngve Ohlin, including the cover art for the Dawn of the Black Hearts album which allegedly features an authentic suicide photo of Dead. Many thanks to Best Gore senior member sataniko for beating me to post this at last:
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