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Per Ohlin Research Paper

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Per “Dead” Ohlin The black metal genre has changed a lot throughout the years because of many influential musicians in the scene. One of the bands to change the scene entirely was Mayhem. One of Mayhem’s particular vocalists, Per Ohlin, did even more for the genre. Per “Dead” Ohlin started as a very reserved young man but he later grew up to be one of the most morbid and influential black metal musicians in the music industry, changing the genre entirely. Per Ohlin was born in Västerhaninge, Sweden on January 16, 1969 (Patterson 143). He suffered from several medical problems in his early years. By the age of 3, he suffered from sleep apnea, which caused him to be awake all too often. Later on, at the age of 10, he had a near death experience. …show more content…

Dead told his bandmates that he had visions of his blood being still. “Those around Dead seemed to think he was pretty intent on dying”(Casserole 1), as he was obsessed with death itself. Dead created what black metal musicians call “corpse paint” today. He wore paint on his face in shades of white, green, and black to make himself look more dead because he felt dead. He was also known to carry around decaying animals and bury his clothes before concerts to have the smell of death surround him (Patterson 141). He was truly a troubled individual, but his bandmates still thought he was a nice guy. "I honestly think Dead is mentally insane. Which other way can you describe a guy who does not eat, in order to get starving wounds? Or who has a T-shirt with funeral announcements on it?" as said by Øystein “Euronymous” Aarseth, another band member of Mayhem (FlabberghastedSonOfSatan 1). “I remember Aarseth was talking about him and said he did not have any humor. He did, but it was very obscure. Honestly, I don't think he was enjoying living in this world” said Faust of the black metal band Emperor (FlabberghastedSonOfSatan 1). Dead’s mental insanity did further the style of the band, none-the-less. He had the idea of placing pig heads bought from the local butchers on stakes during concerts, he cut himself and mutilated his body on stage, and his very existence depressed everyone that was around …show more content…

He started to mutilate himself more, gushing blood all over himself and the crowd. Per also started to get somewhat violent with the crowd in attempts to cleanse the room of ‘posers’. He started to throw around the pig heads during the concerts. A concert that began full of people would eventually be nearly empty because of the nature of the show (FlabberghastedSonOfSatan 1). Dead later tried to mutilate himself with his friends around, whom had to subdue him and patch his wounds often so he didn’t kill himself from blood loss. All of his friends became concerned about him and disliked his constant suicidal tendencies. All of his friends besides one Øystein “Euronymous” Aarseth. Aarseth became fascinated with Per’s actions. He even started to encourage him to kill himself. It is still unknown whether he did it out of pure evil or to make terrible jokes (Casserole 1). “By 1991, Dead, Euronymous and Hellhammer were living in a house in the woods near Kråkstad, which was used as a place for the band to rehearse. According to Hellhammer, Dead spent much of his time writing letters and drawing.” (FlabberghastedSonOfSatan 1). It ended up becoming obvious that there was tension between Dead and Euronymous. They fought constantly. One case included Dead sleeping outside in the cold because he disliked Euronymous’ synth music that he was playing. Euronymous

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