Only a handful of drummers have made their mark when it comes to black metal, Grim being one of them. Although underrated, he played in a number of groundbreaking black metal acts such as Gorgoroth, Immortal and Borknagar. But in each of the bands he played, his role was either as a sessionist or short lived nonetheless. In spite of having played in such well established bands, he got very little recognition. So to put it into words, Grim was an embodiment of subtle brilliance.
Erik Brødreskift a.k.a Grim was born on 23 December, 1969 in Bergen, Norway. His earliest piece of work as a drummer was in a Norwegian death/thrash metal band named Emptor where he recorded a 5 tracked demo in 1988. Emptor split up in 1990 and it was not until late 1993, Grim again came to rise when he was featured on the album cover of Immortal's second album Pure Holocaust. Although Abbath did the job behind the drums in the album, he is credited for the work. His fugacious stay in Immortal was limited to only two European tours, before the other members of the band decided to let him go. He then joined another black metal band Borknagar, where he briefly played for 3 years and contributed in 3 studio albums during his stay. The Olden Domain, the band's second album, received rave reviews and helped the band reach its peak of popularity in the Norwegian black metal scene. During this period, he also played in Orth (later changed to Arvas) as a session drummer, particularly in the never released album Nocturno Inferno. Similarly, during 1996-1997, he played in Gorgoroth contributing drum tracks for The Last Tormentor(EP) and Under the Sign of Hell in 1996 and 1997 respectively.
L-R: Abbath, Grim and Demonaz
On October 4th 1999, Grim commited suicide by drug overdose. This was another great loss to the Norwegian black metal community next to the deaths of Dead and Euronymous. His quiet passing and his biography are both obscure, but his excellancy as a drummer is still reflected and "immortal" in records he has left with us. His body was buried at the Bergen Church Cemetery in Hordaland County, Norway.
Several bands have honored the lost legend through their music. "Erik, may you rape the angels", a song by Nargaroth is dedicated to Erik. Hole in the sky, an annual metal festival in Bergen is held in his name and organized by his memory fund. Immortal have headlined the show for a number of times. Also, Gorgoroth's fifth studio album "Incipit Satan" is dedicated to him.
Tomas Ace Forsberg a.k.a Quorthon was a Swedish musician who founded the pioneering extreme metal band Bathory. He was formerly called Ace Shot and Black Spade before settling down to the name Quorthon. He composed music and wrote lyrics on all of Bathory's records. He served as a guitarist and front-man in Bathory for a long period of time before taking control of Bathory's entire music. He also released 3 solo albums in which he experimented with different sounds, displaying his versatility and unveiling a whole new side of him. He is worshiped by extreme musicians, most importantly for revolutionizing the sound of black metal which helped the genre to prosper. Also because Bathory along with bands like Heavy load and Manowar coined a new sub-genre called Viking metal, a genre constituting elements of black and folk metal.
Quorthon was born on February 17, 1966 in Sweden. He formed Bathory in 1983 in the suburb of Vallingby. Bathory was named after the ill-famed Hungarian countess, Elizabeth Bathory. Bathory's successful run began when they were included in the compilation album by Scandinavian metal bands through Tyfon Grammofon as a last minute replacement. Unexpectedly, they drew a lot of attention and won the hearts of many listeners. So as fan favorites, the record label asked them to record a full-length album. Quorthon recruited Rickard Bergman and Stefen Larsson as Bathory's bassist and drummer respectively to replace former members Fredrik Melander and Jonas Akerlund who had already moved away. They released their debut album "Bathory" in October 1984. By that time, Bathory had been doing live shows sporadically but Quorthon completely stopped playing live after a few because he didn't feel it right. Bathory released altogether 12 full-length albums before Quorthon's departure including a number of compilation albums.
Quorthon, before releasing his solo albums, had gained an ominous image which he puts as "the baby-eating, blood-drinking God of the bat cave". But it became evident through his solo albums and interviews that he was indeed nothing like people pictured him before. He loved reading books, painting and riding his Harley. To not much astonishment, he was anti-social and as he puts, didn't give a fuck about society. He had an open-minded taste in music and his ears weren't limited to just extreme genres.
Everything Quorthon touched turned into gold, whether it was black metal or viking metal. A lot of black, folk and viking metal bands sight Bathory as their main inspiration and the reasons for that are many. Most notable black metal bands like Mayhem, Darkthrone, Immortal, Burzum, Horna, etc were influenced by the sound of Bathory. Second wave black metal in particular has much to do with Bathory's sound and image. Bathory was an original act throughout its existense, Quorthon being the brain behind all the deeds. Whether it was that raw, low production sound or that mythical, epic viking sound, Bathory inspired extreme music in both ways.
On June 7 2004, Quorthon died in his apartment due to heart failure. It was speculated that he had been battling with heart problems for years then. He was such an intelligent, multi- talented musician with gifted music skills. He will forever be remembered as black metal would've been soulless without Bathory.
A tribute album named "In conspiracy with Satan- A tribute to Bathory" was released through No Fashion records in 1998 to honour the works of Quorthon in Bathory. The 15 tracked album consists of bands like Marduk, Lord Belial, Opthalamia, Dark Funeral, Emperor, Satyricon and many more. In Memory of Quorthon, which contained a box set of 3 CDs, a DVD, a poster and a 174 page booklet was released in 2006 by "Boss" Forsberg which featured Bathory's history, discography and background from the first recordings.
Euronymous was the guitarist and co-founder of the Norwegian black metal band Mayhem. He was also the owner of Deathlike Silence Productions, an extreme metal record label and Helvete, a record shop in Oslo. Euronymous, with Mayhem standardized the sound and culture of black metal, for which he is revered by extreme musicians till this date. Euronymous is infamous for his deviant personality and many notorious activities that he has carried out throughout his short lifespan.
Øystein Aarseth was born on 22 March 1968 in Egersund, Norway. Formerly, he went by the infernal name "Destructor" but later changed it to Euronymous which was derived from a demon in the Greek mythology named Eurynomos. He along with bassist Necrobutcher and drummer Manheim formed Mayhem in 1984 drawing inspirations from bands like Venom, Slayer, Bathory, Celtic Frost and Motorhead. In the early days, they used session vocalists Maniac and Messiah for live shows whereas Euronymous and Necrobutcher both occupied mic space during their rehearsals. The band released their very first demo "Pure Fucking Armageddon" in 1986 with the line up consisting of Maniac, Euronymous, Necrobutcher and Messiah. In late 1987, when Maniac and Messiah left Mayhem, Sweden based death metal band Morbid frontman Dead and Hellhammer joined the force to create mayhem all over Norway, literally.
Euronymous lived in the woods near Kråkstad with Dead and Hellhammer where the trio used to rehearse as well. Euronymous and Dead used to rarely be on the same wavelength and get on each other's nerves frequently. A small dispute between the two would sometimes turn into a brutal brawl where one of them would get hurt. Dead once stabbed Euronymous with a knife during one of their uncontrolled scuffles. In 1991, vocalist Dead commited suicide while he was alone in the house by blowing his head with a shotgun. Euronymous, instead of informing the police, bought a camera from a nearby shop and shot photographs of his corpse which would later feature on the cover of Mayhem's bootleg live album "Dawn of the black hearts". A rumour spreaded that he made a stew out of Dead's brain and tried to eat them. Also, he collected pieces of Dead's skull and bestowed to musicians he believed were worthy of. As told by Necrobutcher, Euronymous did this in order to combat the astonishment and grief caused by his friend's death.
Deathlike Silence Productions logo
After this gruesome incident, Necrobutcher left Mayhem and Varg Vikernes from Old Funeral(then) filled in his spot. After the opening of Helvete, a group of black metal musicians including Faust from Emperor, Varg and Blackthorn from Thorns used to gather in the shop forming a stable or cult-like group called the Black Circle. However, several musicians of the group have denied the existense of the name, calling it a name that Euronymous invented just for a sinister sounding reputation. With the establishment of Deathlike Silence Productions, Euronymous recorded for bands like Burzum, Abruptum, Merciless, Enslaved, Sigh and Mayhem itself. His record label ran by the motto: "No mosh, no fun, no trend, no core."
By that time, Euronymous was single handedly taking control of the scene. He wanted all the black musicians to smear corpse paint on their face and sport a look with spikes and leather jackets. He despised trends and people who followed them. He laid the foundation for the scene and brainwashed musicians into making the most evil and extreme music attainable. With Helvete and DSP, he had full control of things and directed the scene the way he desired.
Euronymous projected an evil image doing and promoting insane ideas to create fear among the masses. He had a different take on Death and Black metal. According to him, death musicians should worship death and be extreme, not only by manifesting them through their music but by resembling a similar image in real life. Else he would label them as life metal bands or hobby bands. Whereas Black metal should be satanic and something normal people would dread to listen. Although rumors has it that he had sent death threats to the Finnish black metal band Impaled Nazarene, Euronymous himself stated the hearsay to be untrue. He was against individualism and wanted people to act and be slaves. He was also inclined to politics and called himself a communist being a member of the Norwegian communist youth group Red Ungdom. According to drummer Frost(1349/Satyricon), this is where he gained leadership skills to lead the Norwegian black metal scene to the direction he wanted. But he never exhibited his political knowledge on Mayhem's music.
Euronymous used to sight Varg as a fresh, like-minded talent and released 2 Burzum albums through DSP. Varg filled in Necrobutcher's place as a bassist and contributed in the album "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas". There was a personal vendetta going on between Euronymous and Varg during the early 1993. Mainly, due to the recent church burning incident, Euronymous and Varg were battling it out to determine who the most evil one was. Also, it is speculated that it was due to a financial dispute between them two, involving Burzum and DSP. On 10th August 1993, Varg and Blackthorn drove to Euronymous's apartment in Oslo where Varg stabbed Euronymous with an excuse of signing a contract. He brutally stabbed Euronymous 23 times after chasing him down the stairs outside the apartment. Blackthorn had no idea about Varg's plans of murdering Euronymous and in an interview, Varg stated that Blackthorn was terribly scared about Euronymous's death. Varg was arrested on 19th August, 1993 for his actions. When asked about the murder, he explains that it was only self-defense as Euronymous himself tried to kill him many times before. He says that he slayed him before Euronymous could. But many musicians in the scene doubted his story. Varg was sentenced to 21 years in jail.
The murder was a big loss to black metal and especially the Norwegian black metal scene as they lost a leader who could have led the scene to extreme heights. Many weren't surprised or sad on his loss because they thought he had it coming. But without him, black metal would have never been so sinister or gained such a reputation as it has now. He was a musical genius and a perfectionist. Personally, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is my favourite black metal album. The guitar riffs in this album is unmatched and every time I listen to it, it keeps me wondering about the brilliancy of the album.
Euronymous is the god father of black metal, no arguing that. He will certainly be missed. Many tribute albums and songs have been made to pay homage to the black metal legend. "The day Burzum killed Mayhem", a song by black metal band Nargaroth depicts the whole incident of Euronymous's murder.
Born on: 22 March, 1968
Birthplace: Egersund, Norway
Band(s) involved: Mayhem; he contributed a guitar solo to Burzum's song "War" from its self titled album
