Since Euronymous is back in the news again, this time in relation to the photos resurfacing showing him forcing Jon Kristiansen (Metalious) to eat dog food as part of a "hazing" ritual going on in the black metal circle, in addition to other allegations of controversy and mistreatment of other members (Dead notably), I thought it would be appropriate to share a few anecdotes that I never managed to publish until today.
Basically the infamous "Purina sandwiches" became a well known thing - a meme, some might even call it, although obviously the term didn't exist like we use it now - and other members of Mayhem would shout "BARK AT THE MOON!" each time they saw Kristiansen (Metalious, of Slayer Mag), in reference to Ozzy Osbourne. They even apparently had photos taken by either Hellhammer or Attila Csihar, that they used as blackmail to stop Metalious from writing clickbait slander - which he did a lot - in his Slayer Mag.
Whether these rumours are true or not I can't confirm, and this article isn't about these incidents anyway. They belong in the past.
How Necrobutcher and Glen Benton met with Euronymous
The fact that relations between Euronymous and Necrobutcher turned very sour in the 1990s is no secret. The cause? Pictures of Dead's corpse that Euronymous took after the former's suicide. He also allegedly ate part of his brains, and made a necklace with his bones.
Necrobutcher: "I Invited Euronymous to Join Mayhem..."
This behaviour disgusted Necrobutcher, to the point where he even said that had Varg Vikernes not killed Euronymous, he would have done so himself.
Necrobutcher: [On him and Manheim meeting Euronymous] We were in a band together for four years and then in the summer of '84 we moved to a mixed elementary school in the next village to where we grew up, called Ski. Euronymous was in the band scene in Ski an I met him when I asked him to show me the way to the rehearsal place. On the way there from the train station, we found out that we had the same taste in music and pretty much shared the same interest in splatter horror movies, electronic music and weird books ; so we thought we could start a band together. I invited Euronymous to our rehearsal place the next day and it turned out that we knew the same cover songs - some Black Sabbath, Motorhead, Venom. We were just jamming some of that music in the beginning before we made our own music.
Indeed many people think of Mayhem as a band founded by the trio of Euronymous, Necrobutcher and Manheim, but that view is incorrect. According to many sources, including the famous "Heavy Metal Master Class", it was Necrobutcher and Manheim who recruited Euronymous in 1984, albeit pretty soon after founding the band.
Glen Benton: "Euronymous Looked Like a ****** Clown!"
Another extreme metal article to have unusual, or at least unorthodox views, on Euronymous was Deicide's vocalist Glen Benton. From the start, it was clear Glen Benton thought of Euronymous as a poser and a clown. Euronymous, on the other hand, didn't have a problem with Deicide... only with Gorguts (and Swedish Death Metal), apparently. How would he react, knowing his nephew Heinrich played in a famous Swedish blackened death metal band (Morbid)? We will never know.
Glen Benton: This is how out of the loop I was. I met [Euronymous] and he kind reminded me of Swiggy from "Laverne and Shirley". Because I met him when I was a kid, too, at a baseball game. I met him and I was like : "Wow, f[u]ckin' Swiggy". Anyway, I meet the guy and he's carrying a mace, but it looks like he stole the table leg of his mom's kitchen table and put, like, nails through it and sh[i]t. And he was wearing this $1.99 cape that you'd buy at the dollar store during Halloween. They brought me backstage and they said : "Uranus (or whatever) from Mayhem is there and wants to meet you." So, I went out there and met him. And in his broken english, he said (in robotic, foreign accent) : -" I did not have problem with you, but this band Gorguts. They are not true death/black metal band."... And I was just sitting there with a big shit-eating grin on my face like : "Yeah, that's cool man." and I really didn't know the importance of the guy. To me he looked like another goofball fan.
It should be noted that Brian and Eric Hoffman (the Deicide guitarists) were both present for the meeting between Benton and Euronymous, and they had a slightly different story. They claimed Euronymous gave all three Deicide members a T-Shirt, and Glen Benton - who, according to the Hoffman brothers, knew very well who Euronymous was - accepted the gift gracefully, and was even making up stories about "burning 100s of churches" to impress Euronymous. Who is saying the truth? Once again, it seems we will never know.
Euronymous: "People Should be Scared of Real Death Metal!"
As a final tidbit, to conclude this post, I have a nice quote from Euronymous about black and death metal. As you should know, in the early days of the Norwegian "Inner Circle", the term "black metal" was barely used at all. Euronymous adopted it later. Before that he instead made a distinction between "True Death Metal" (like Mayhem, presumably) and "Fake Death Metal" (like Gorguts, apparently).
Euronymous: Real Death Metal should be something normal people are afraid of, not something mothers can listen to [...] Death Metal is for brutal people who are capable of killing, it's not for idiotic children who want to have funny hobby [sic] after school.
And Euronymous was right on the money about "brutal people who are capable of killing" as he was the one who personally invited Varg Vikernes of Burzum to play bass in Mayhem, as he was impressed by the young man's talent on his solo project Burzum (which was signed to Euronymous' label DeathLike Silence Productions). We all know how THAT story turned out.
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