rirapilled

yes i know this is from Lords of Chaos

my dms are open, and i'll share other socials in the dms!

I have been in the ☕️🌊🌊 community for around 5ish years now, I’ve had plenty of blogs that ended up getting termed.

My previous account was ‘dkpilled’, I was spread around a for a bit in summe ‘25 due to me requesting rira’s autopsy report, where unfortunately i was informed they never performed one.

I have always been interested in music subcultures, and researching them. I just never made the posts before. I’m deciding to spread my focus a bit more this summer though.

My tags are

#rirapilled yap - personal posts

#informational post - research posts

After moving to Lillehammer in 1990 at age 16, he joined the band Thorns as their drummer. 

He was a part of Thorns until 1992, when he moved to Oslo and joined the band Emperor.

Emperor Era

Faust became Emperor's permanent drummer in Autumn 1992, shortly after the release of Emperor’s demo “Wrath of the Tyrant” in May of the same year. They’d rehearse their positions in Notodden, Norway with Faust's arrival as their drummer allowing everyone to hone their skills. 

Faust performed on the 1993 demo also holding the name of “Emperor”. This was their first official release. This demo helped solidify them in the scene, and the sound and direction they would have moving forward.

Faust was also the drummer on Emperor’s full length debut album, “In the Nightside Eclipse” when recording took place in July 1993 at HM Studio in Oslo. It was released on February 21st 1994 by Candlelight Records. 

Faust on drums

In 1992, Faust got a job at Euronymous’s record shop named Helvete. Helvete was used as a meeting spot for the ‘inner circle’ of the black metal community there in Norway. 

Helvete, after its creation, quickly became a meeting place for those in the ‘inner circle’ of the black metal community, with figures like Faust, Varg Vikernes, Occultus and others. While this was technically not an official or formal group, the people who were considered a part of the circle are considered to be influential to the early second wave scene.

The 1992 Murder

On the night of  August 21st, 1992, Faust was walking home from a Pub in Lillehammer while visiting family. An older man named Magne Andreassen, while drunk, approached him and propositioned Faust for sex. This led to Faust agreeing to go to a secluded area in the park's wooded area. He then stabbed Andreassen 37 times. 

The next day he returned to Oslo where he told other members of the inner circle what happened, notably Euronymous and Varg Vikernes. 

Later that same year the three of them burned down Holmenkollen Chapel. 

Faust avoided capture until late 1993, after Varg's arrest for murdering Euronymous. After Varg was arrested, the police began investigating members of the Black Metal community which eventually led to the arrest of Faust in August 1993, where he then confessed to the killing and stated it was on impulse.

In 1994 Faust was on trial for the murder, where he was sentenced to 14 years for the murder which was standard for cases where there were no aggravating factors like multiple victims. 

Imprisonment Period

After sentencing in 1994, Faust was in prison up until 2003, being released 5 years early. While in prison Faust maintained contact with the black metal community and participated in multiple interviews.

He once stated “I have a lot of bad memories from the early times of my arrest of course like the custody, the trouble of accepting my situation and such…” -From: I Return to Darkness 'zine Issue #6 - FINLAND - Surma 1998 V.A.

Post-Prison Career

After his release in 2003, Faust made a return to music joining the band Scum as their drummer. In 2004, he co-founded the band Blood Tsunami which was thrash metal music, taking inspiration from 80s bands. 

Following this, he has joined a multitude of other bands, acting as a lyricist and drummer. In 2025, Faust reunited with Emperor, with them having a special performance at the ‘Beyond the Gates” festival, which is set to happen from July 29th - August 1st later this year. 

Despite his controversial life and past, Faust has remained in the music scene and kept connections with the black metal community. Kristian Espedal also known as Gaahl once stated Faust is the first person who supported him once he came out as gay. 

““[W]ithin metal, I think the metal community is one of the most open communities there is. I have never seen any disturbances there. Of course, they are linking things back to the early days with Dissection and Faust and Emperor. The first person to send me a message after the media caught up with me being gay, was Faust. He sent me a message of support. So people can imagine whatever they want, I don’t know anyone in the Norwegian black metal scene that is against gays. It’s an extremely liberal scene.” -Gaahl 2019

Information on Pelle’s early life has been made known through interviews and statements made by his brother and are available in more detail online.

Throughout Pelle’s early life he also suffered from Sleep Apnea, a condition which causes breathing interruptions in sleep. 

One critical point in his childhood has been made aware to the public, when he was 13 years old, he ruptured his spleen which caused internal bleeding, an injury so intense his heart stopped and he lost consciousness for multiple minutes until he was eventually resuscitated by paramedics.

Pelle himself claims this was from an ice skating accident but his brother, Anders, stated in a book, where he revealed that Pelle was severely bullied as a child. After one attack by the bullies so extreme he ruptured his spleen, which led to him being rushed to the hospital. 

This incident is what led to Pelle’s fascination and obsession with death and inspired his stage name, Dead. 

Teenage Years

As Pelle entered his teenage years, he grew interested in heavy metal and the music scene as a whole, with Venom, Bathory, and Sodom being some of his favorites. 

In 1986, when Pelle was 17 years old, he founded the Swedish death metal band Morbid, he recorded the debut demo album named ‘December Moon’ which was released in 1987. Pelle’s feelings towards Morbid were complex, he was passion driven, and had an artistic connect to the band, though with the loss of his guitarist, he decided to move on. 

Mayhem

In 1988, the Norwegian black metal band Mayhem needed a new vocalist after their previous one ‘Maniac’ left the band. This led to Pelle being interested and sending Euronymous and Necrobutcher a package, a crucified rat, and a tape with his vocals on it. While they lost the crucified rat, they made sure to save the tape with his contact information. Euronymous was impressed, this was exactly who he wanted as his vocalist. 

So, Pelle packed his belongings and moved to his sister country, Norway to join Mayhem as their newest vocalist.  

Dead and Euronymous

The Dead Persona

Pelle’s stage name throughout his musical career was ‘Dead’, a nickname chosen by himself due to his intense morbid fascination with death. During his time with Mayhem, he cultivated a persona, around darkness and being corpse-like. 

Mayhem as a whole held an image of being a part of the darkness, being anti-christian and satan worshipping. Dead helped drive this image as for him, the lines between his Dead persona and him as a person blurred.

Pelle suffered from depression for a big portion of his life, this was shown with his self harm, him both doing it in private, but as well as on stage. He’d cut himself during performances to put on a show of ‘evil’. It was stated by Emperor’s drummer Faust that after one performance Pelle injured himself so badly he was supposed to go to the hospital afterwards but didn't, leaving Pelle sick with blood loss.

Pelle would bury his stage clothes in the ground so they would develop a grave-like rot smell, so he could further his corpse-like appearance, Pelle wanted to be as similar to a corpse as he could. 

To further the look into being corpse-like, Pelle would wear corpse-paint, and he popularized it within their band. The origins of corpse paint are complicated and has mixed interpretations, but Dead did popularize it within the immediate scene and popularized the name of ‘Corpse-Paint’ 

Photos of Pelle during a recorded video and him wearing corpse paint

He would also self-isolate. This was made easier by the fact some of the members of Mayhem decided to live in a remote house in the woods. He would lock himself in his bedroom, and go days without speaking to anyone. 

Necrobutcher would state that the house situation could be tense, Euronymous and Dead often got on each other's nerves, they’d agitate each other. With one situation being stated by Hellhammer that Dead would sleep outside in the woods because Euronymous would blast music that he hated, and that Euronymous would go outside with their shotgun and shoot it into the air.

The Death of Pelle Ohlin

By April 1991, his persona of Dead became intertwined with who he was as a person even off of the stage. He continued to suffer from depression and ultimately on April 8th, 1991, Pelle killed himself in his bedroom while alone in the house. He left a suicide note which started with the line “Excuse the blood…” 

Euronymous returned home to find the door locked, and with that he had to get a ladder and climb inside through a window. This led to him finding Pelle’s body. Euronymous then left the house, going to a closeby store to buy a new disposable camera. He returned to the house, and posed Pelle’s body moving the objects around him and the way his body laid. He then took multiple pictures of him. After this, is when he decided to report the suicide.

One of the photos that was taken that day was used as the cover of Mayhem's bootleg live album named “Dawn of the Black Hearts” which was released in 1995. 

Pelle Ohlins Legacy

Following Pelle’s untimely death in April 1991, the black metal scene went through many very drastic changes in a very short amount of time. People who knew Euronymous have stated that Pelle’s death, and him finding his body affected him more than he showed, and that it led to him taking the ‘dark’ and ‘evil’ persona to a more personal level, beyond the show it was before. 

Emperor’s drummer, Faust once stated "[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….”

Occultus, who took over as Mayhem's vocalist for a short period after Pelle’s passing stated “"He [Dead] didn't see himself as human; he saw himself as a creature from another world. He said he had many visions that his blood has frozen in his veins, that he was dead. That is the reason he took that name. He knew he would die." 

Many fans or people who knew who attempted to sensationalize his death, which in the decades following his death, has led to much misinformation and rampant theories we cannot confirm. 

Mayhem is considered one of the founding bands of the early Norwegian black metal scene with Euronymous growing an almost cult-like following for his contributions to the scene and his anti-christian beliefs. Euronymous considered himself a Theistic Satanist and was anti-church and establishment. 

Photo of Euronymous and Necrobutcher

In 1988 Mayhem gained themselves a new vocalist of the name Per Yngve "Pelle" Ohlin, who chose to go by the name ‘Dead’. Dead was a part of the Swedish band Morbid before leaving Sweden to go to Norway to join Mayhem. Dead was severely depressed and this was used to the advantage of the band, on multiple occasions Dead would harm himself on stage during performances with one time the Emperor drummer Faust claimed he had to be rushed to the hospital after a show. This was used to further the dark image the band held and portrayed. 

Pelle Ohlin

On April 8th 1991, Pelle Ohlin killed himself in his bedroom, leaving a suicide note which had a line “Excuse the blood…”. Euronymous had to use a ladder and climb inside through a window to get into the house, where he discovered Pelle's body. Euronymous then left to go to a local shop to buy a disposable camera, then returning to the house to pose the body and take photos of it with the newly bought camera. After this is when he decided to report the suicide. 

The photo of Pelle’s posed body was later used as cover art for the bootleg live album named “the Dawn of The Black Hearts” which was released in 1995. 

Euronymous used Pelle’s suicide as a way to darken the look of the black metal scene, stating that he had killed himself due to black metal becoming “too mainstream”, and it is stated that the scene had seemed to change after Pelle’s death. 

The Shift -

Following Pelle’s death, a month or two later in May-June 1991, Euronymous opened his records shop named Helvete which is Norwegian for ‘Hell’. This records shop became a central point in the “inner circle” community and the shop's basement became a meeting place. The mystique of the shop created an idolization of Euronymous, people became more invested into his ideas and beliefs. 

Alongside the opening of Helvete, Euronymous started his own Records Label under the name ‘Deathlike Silence Productions” and through this he met a man named Varg Vikernes who was the founder of the band Burzum.

Photo of Helvete

Euronymous worked with Varg under his label to release Varg's album in March 1992, to release the album, Euronymous had to take out a loan which Varg had financed. This was one of the contributing factors in the rising tension between the two as Varg was never repaid for the money he spent. 

The two held a rivalry, as their personalities clashed. Euronymous held the persona of being the “darkest” or “most extreme” person in the black metal scene, though Varg was doing criminal acts himself, and would criticize Euronymous for just holding an image instead of acting as he did. 

During this time in Norway, church burnings and arson attacks only worsened, and this was attributed to the black metal scene, with Varg being convicted of church arson. And on August 21st 1992, Emperor’s drummist, Faust killed a man in a park after being propositioned for sex.

The rift between the two only worsened.

The Murder -

On August 10th, 1993, Varg Vikernes traveled to Euronymous's apartment in Oslo. Varg claimed he traveled there to return a signed contract to Euronymous; something that was meant to solve a part of their financial issues.

There are conflicting reports of what happened that night at Euronymous’s apartment, and with Euronymous deceased we will never know the 100% true story, though what we do know as fact is;

On the night of August 10th, 1993, at around 3am, Varg and Snorre (Blackthorn) traveled to Euronymous’s apartment together. While the two stories conflict with on if both of them went inside or if only Varg did, both were present at the scene. Varg entered the apartment, and while the details are unclear it led to Varg Vikernes stabbing Euronymous 23 times in the head, neck, and back, with Euronymous’s body being found in the stairway of the apartment complex with it being found later that morning. 

Euronymous Apartment

Varg Vikernes was arrested on August 19th, 1993 for the murder of Euronymous, and he claimed the entire situation was self defense. He made claims that Euronymous attacked him, was long planning to attack and kill him, and that he ultimately had no other choice in the matter that night.

Varg Vikernes getting arrested and newspaper clippings