It is the most infamous image in music history. Honestly, it’s not even close. When you talk about the Mayhem Dawn of the Black Hearts LP, you aren’t really talking about the music—at least not at first. You’re talking about a crime scene. Specifically, the 1991 suicide of vocalist Per "Dead" Ohlin, whose body was discovered by guitarist Euronymous. Instead of calling the police immediately, Euronymous took photos. One of those photos became the cover of a bootleg live album recorded in Sarpsborg, and black metal was never the same again.
It’s gruesome. It’s exploitative. It’s also the definitive document of the "True Norwegian Black Metal" era.
Most people getting into extreme metal today see the cover on a grainy YouTube thumbnail and think it’s a prop. It isn’t. That’s the reality of the Inner Circle. This isn't just a record; it's a piece of evidence from a time when the subculture was spiraling into genuine madness, arson, and murder.
What Really Happened with the Dawn of the Black Hearts Recording
The music itself often gets lost in the shadow of the artwork. This isn't a studio album. It’s a bootleg. The primary recording featured on the Mayhem Dawn of the Black Hearts LP comes from a live performance in Sarpsborg, Norway, on February 28, 1990.
If you’re looking for high-fidelity production, look elsewhere. This is raw. It sounds like it was recorded from the back of a cave using a device buried under a pile of rocks. But for collectors, that’s the point. This is the "classic" lineup: Dead on vocals, Euronymous on guitar, Necrobutcher on bass, and Hellhammer on drums. This specific quartet only exists on a handful of recordings, making the Sarpsborg set essential for anyone trying to understand what Mayhem actually sounded like before the chaos of De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas.
Dead’s performance is haunting. You can hear the desperation. He was a performer who used to carry a dead bird in a bag just to inhale the scent of decay before going on stage. He wanted to feel death. On this LP, you hear that obsession manifesting in real-time. The setlist is a gauntlet of early black metal anthems: "Deathcrush," "Freezing Moon," and "Funeral Fog."
The Bootleg History and the Bullhead Logo
The album was first released in 1995 by Mauricio "Bull Metal" Montoya, who ran Warmaster Records in Colombia. Montoya was a pen pal of Euronymous. After Euronymous was murdered by Varg Vikernes in 1993, Montoya released the Sarpsborg show with the infamous photo.
It was never an "official" Mayhem release sanctioned by the surviving members at the time. Necrobutcher has been vocal about his disgust regarding the cover. Yet, because of its notoriety, it has been repressed dozens of times. You’ll find versions with different tracklists, sometimes including the Pure Fucking Armageddon demo or songs from a show in Zeitz, Germany.
Collectors hunt for the original 1995 vinyl press. It’s a holy grail. If you see one with the "Warmaster Records" logo and the gold lettering, you’re looking at a piece of history that sells for thousands of dollars. Most copies floating around today are "bootlegs of a bootleg." They are unofficial presses made by fans or labels looking to cash in on the shock value.
Why the Image Matters (And Why It's Hard to Look At)
We have to be real here: the cover is the elephant in the room. Euronymous claimed he took the photo because he wanted to "honor" Dead’s commitment to the aesthetic of death. In reality, it was a marketing move—a way to prove that Mayhem was the "most evil" band in existence.
It worked.
The image solidified the band's legend. It transformed them from a niche underground act into the focal point of a global phenomenon. But it also cost them their humanity. The Mayhem Dawn of the Black Hearts LP serves as a grim reminder that the Norwegian scene wasn't just about theatrics or "spooky" costumes. There were real people behind those corpse-painted faces, and they were profoundly unwell.
Distinguishing Between Versions
If you’re trying to buy this, you’re going to get confused. Fast.
The most common version is the vinyl with the white background and the Sarpsborg tracks. However, some CD versions changed the cover to a picture of Euronymous or a different shot of the band because many countries banned the original artwork. In 2017, the album was "officially" acknowledged in a sense when it was released under the title Live in Sarpsborg with a photo of Dead performing live instead of the crime scene.
- Original 1995 Vinyl: Warmaster Records. 8 tracks. The "Grail."
- The 1991 Reissues: Often come on colored wax (blue, red, splatter). Mostly unofficial.
- The "Clean" Versions: Released by Peaceville or similar labels as Live in Sarpsborg. This is the one you buy if you want the music without the trauma.
The audio quality varies wildly between these. Some have been "remastered," which basically just means they turned the volume up and blew out the low end. Others are straight rips from the original Colombian vinyl.
The Musical Legacy of the Sarpsborg Set
Strip away the gore. Is the music actually good?
Yes. If you like black metal.
Euronymous was a pioneer of the "fuzz" guitar sound—that thin, buzzing, trebly tone that defines the genre. On this LP, his riffs are sharp and aggressive. Hellhammer’s drumming is, as always, lightyears ahead of his peers in the 90s. But Dead is the star. His vocals aren't the standard "shrieks" you hear in modern black metal. They are guttural, pained, and incredibly rhythmic.
Listening to "Freezing Moon" on this record is a different experience than the studio version. It feels dangerous. It feels like something is about to break.
Navigating the Ethics of Owning This Record
Buying a copy of the Mayhem Dawn of the Black Hearts LP is a moral gray area for many metalheads. By purchasing an unofficial bootleg with that cover, you aren't supporting the band. You’re often supporting a random person in a warehouse who is profiting off a suicide.
Necrobutcher, the band’s bassist, has stated in numerous interviews that he hates the record's existence. He famously said he wanted to kill Euronymous himself because of what he did with those photos. For fans who want to respect the band's wishes, the move is to buy the official live albums like Live in Leipzig or the aforementioned Live in Sarpsborg reissue.
Yet, the "Dawn" LP persists. It’s the ultimate forbidden fruit of the music world. It represents the "no-limit" era of the 90s where everything was extreme, and nothing was sacred.
Actionable Steps for Collectors and Fans
If you are determined to track down or understand this release, keep these points in mind:
- Check the Matrix Numbers: If you are buying an "original" copy, verify the etchings in the run-out groove of the vinyl. Real Warmaster presses have specific identifiers that distinguish them from the 2000s-era fakes.
- Support the Living: If you love Mayhem, buy their modern merch or official live box sets. The money from "Dawn" bootlegs never reaches the people who actually wrote the music.
- Understand the Context: Before displaying this record, know that it is genuinely disturbing to people outside the scene. It isn't "artistic" in the traditional sense; it is a document of a tragedy.
- Listen for the Performance: Focus on the Sarpsborg audio. It is one of the few times the world got to hear Dead and Euronymous play together in a live setting, and it remains a masterclass in atmosphere and raw aggression.
The Mayhem Dawn of the Black Hearts LP is the point of no return for black metal. It's the moment the music stopped being a hobby and became a life-and-death reality. Whether you view it as a disgusting exploitation or a vital piece of history, its impact on the extreme music landscape is undeniable. It remains the most heavy, most cursed, and most talked-about record in the history of the underground.