Dead (musician)

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Dead
Birth name Per Yngve Ohlin
Born January 16, 1969(1969-01-16)
Origin Sweden
Died April 8, 1991 (aged 22)
Genre(s) Black metal
Occupation(s) Musician
Instrument(s) Vocals
Associated acts Mayhem
Morbid

Per Yngve Ohlin (January 16, 1969 – April 8, 1991), better known by his stage name Dead, was a Swedish Black metal vocalist best known for his work with Norwegian black metal group Mayhem. He also acted as a lead singer of the Swedish death metal band Morbid on one demo tape entitled December Moon.

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[edit] Life and death

A quiet, introverted person, Dead was perhaps best known for his stage antics. He was known to bury his clothes weeks before a concert and to then dig them up again on the night of the event. This way he would have, as he put it, the "essence of death"; wearing dirty, rotten, worm infested clothing. During one tour with Mayhem he found a dead raven, which he collected and stored in a plastic bag. He would often smell the bird before performing, saying he needed to "smell death".

According to Bård "Faust" Eithun "He (Dead) wasn't a guy you could know very well. I think even the other guys in Mayhem didn't know him very well. He was hard to get close to. I met him two weeks before he died. I'd met him maybe six to eight times, all in all. He had lots of weird ideas. I remember Aarseth was talking about him and said he did not have any humour. He did, but it was very obscure. Honestly, I don't think he was enjoying living in this world."

On several occasions Dead cut himself onstage with broken glass and hunting knives while singing. During one show in Sarpsborg, Norway in 1990, he cut himself with a broken bottle so badly that he had to be taken to a hospital due to a loss of blood. Dead would starve himself for weeks before touring to give himself stomach ulcers, saying it gave him better vocals.

On April 8, 1991, fellow Mayhem band member, Øystein 'Euronymous' Aarseth, found Dead lifeless, with slit wrists, and a shotgun wound to the head. It has been rumored that the suicide note that was found with his corpse simply read "Excuse all the blood." (Hellhammer later elaborated that the note was a bit more detailed, including apologies for having to use the shotgun inside the house, but the knife was just too dull to finish the job.) Euronymous then quickly drove to Oslo and bought a disposable camera so that he could take pictures of the grisly scene (after re-arranging some of the items), which were later used (without permission) for a bootleg album entitled Dawn of the Black Hearts, containing recordings from the previously mentioned Sarpsborg, Norway gig from 1990, as well as four live songs Mayhem performed with their old vocalist Maniac in 1986. Aarseth was also said to have eaten parts of Dead's brain, and to have made necklaces out of fragments of his skull, although Aarseth himself dismissed the former of these claims in an interview. It is also rumored that pieces of his skull were mailed out to bands that Aarseth saw as "worthy", such as the Swiss band Samael. According to Mayhem drummer Hellhammer, Morgan S. Håkansson of Marduk still has some pieces of Dead's skull. Tony Särkkä of Abruptum also claims to have small pieces.

[edit] Discography

[edit] With Mayhem

[edit] With Morbid

[edit] External links


Mayhem
Necrobutcher | Hellhammer | Attila Csihar | Blasphemer
Manheim | Dead | Maniac | Occultus | Euronymous | Count Grishnackh | Blackthorn | Nordgaren
Discography
Studio albums: Deathcrush, 1987 | De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas , 1994 | Wolf's Lair Abyss, 1997 | Grand Declaration of War, 2000 | Chimera, 2004 | Ordo Ad Chao, 2007
Live and compilation releases: Live in Leipzig, 1993 | Out from the Dark, 1996 | Ancient Skin / Necrolust, 1987 | Necrolust / Total Warfare, 1999 | Mediolanum Capta Est, 1999 | European Legions, 2001 | Legions of War, 2003
Demos and bootlegs: Voice of a Tortured Skull, 1986 | Pure Fucking Armageddon , 1986 | Live Zeitz, 1990 | Dawn of the Black Hearts, 1991
Related articles
Burzum
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