You've probably seen it. Even if you aren't a metalhead, you might have stumbled across that grainy, washed-out photo of a young man slumped against a wall, a shotgun resting across his lap. It’s the Mayhem album cover for the bootleg The Dawn of the Black Hearts. Honestly, calling it "controversial" feels like a massive understatement. It’s arguably the most extreme artifact in music history because it isn't a prop, a clever bit of makeup, or a staged "shock rock" stunt.
It is a real photo of a dead human being.
Specifically, it’s Per Yngve Ohlin, known to the world as Dead, the vocalist for the Norwegian black metal band Mayhem. On April 8, 1991, he took his own life. When his bandmate, guitarist Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth, found the body, he didn't call the police right away. Instead, he went to a local shop, bought a disposable camera, and came back to arrange the scene for a photograph.
The Day That Changed Black Metal Forever
The story is bleak. Dead was a 22-year-old Swedish musician who was, by all accounts, obsessed with the concept of death. He used to bury his stage clothes in the ground to get a "grave scent" and reportedly kept a dead bird in a bag so he could inhale the smell of decay before going on stage. He was the first to bring "corpse paint" into the Norwegian scene—not for theatricality like Kiss, but to actually look like a rotting cadaver.
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He lived in a house in the woods near Kråkstad, Norway, with Euronymous and the rest of the band. On that April day, he was alone. He slit his wrists and throat before shooting himself in the forehead with a shotgun.
When Euronymous returned to the house, he had to climb through a window because the doors were locked. Seeing his friend dead, his reaction wasn't grief in the traditional sense. It was opportunity. He moved a knife to sit on top of the shotgun to make the "composition" more striking. He took several photos.
Why the Mayhem Album Cover Isn't "Official"
It’s a common misconception that the band put this out as their debut studio album. They didn't. The Dawn of the Black Hearts is a bootleg.
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Euronymous sent those photos to various people in the metal underground to prove how "true" and "evil" Mayhem was. One of those people was Mauricio "Bull Metal" Montoya, a pen pal of Euronymous who ran Warmaster Records in Colombia.
After Euronymous himself was murdered in 1993, Bull Metal decided to release a live recording of a Mayhem show from 1990 (the famous Sarpsborg gig). He used one of the suicide photos as the cover. Only 300 copies of the original vinyl were pressed in 1995. Because it was a low-budget, semi-legal release from South America, the quality was rough, but the legend was instantaneous.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Image
A lot of people think the band still profits from this or that it's their "main" album. In reality, the surviving members of Mayhem—like bassist Necrobutcher—have been vocal about how much they hate the cover. Necrobutcher actually said he wanted to kill Euronymous himself because of how he treated Dead’s death as a marketing tool.
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- The Original Pressing: It has golden lettering. If you find one with white or red text, it's a later (and likely lower value) bootleg.
- The "Necklaces": There is a persistent rumor that Euronymous took pieces of Dead's skull and made necklaces for "worthy" musicians. This isn't just a rumor; it’s been confirmed by several scene veterans, including Hellhammer and Metalion.
- The Destruction of the Photos: Euronymous's father eventually found the remaining photos and destroyed them after his son's death. The image on the bootleg survived only because it had already been mailed out.
The Impact on the 2026 Collector’s Market
Even today, owning a copy of the Mayhem album cover is a legal and ethical minefield. Many countries have strict laws regarding the distribution of "snuff-adjacent" imagery or the desecration of the deceased. Most major marketplaces like eBay or Discogs routinely ban the sale of the original version.
However, the 2017 official reissue, titled Live in Sarpsborg, replaced the gruesome photo with a picture of Necrobutcher. This is the version you’ll find on Spotify or at your local record store. It’s the "sanitized" way to hear the music, which is actually a pretty incredible document of the band's peak power.
Actionable Steps for Music Historians and Collectors
If you are interested in the history of black metal or looking to understand this specific era of music, here is how to navigate it without supporting the exploitation of the original image:
- Seek Official Reissues: Look for the Peaceville Records releases. They use high-quality masters and avoid the exploitative imagery of the 90s bootlegs.
- Read Primary Sources: If you want the real story, read Lords of Chaos by Michael Moynihan or watch the documentary Until the Light Takes Us. Just be aware that some participants in those books/films like to exaggerate for "kvlt" status.
- Understand the Legal Risks: Attempting to import an original Warmaster Records pressing can result in customs seizures in certain European countries due to the graphic nature of the content.
- Acknowledge the Human Element: Remember that "Dead" was Per Ohlin—a real person who suffered from severe mental health issues. The cover is a documentation of a tragedy, not just a "cool" piece of metal history.
The Mayhem album cover remains a grim reminder of a time when the lines between art and reality in the Norwegian underground didn't just blur—they were completely erased.