History YMMV / Mayhem

* FaceOfTheBand: Dead and Euronymous, due to their untimely demises giving them a sort of evil mystique.

* BrokenBase - One of the biggest and most notorious examples in black metal. Dead vs. Maniac vs. Attila, Euronymous vs. Blasphemer vs. Teloch/Ghul, the avant-garde style vs. the old-school style, whether the band should even have continued after Euronymous' death, the list goes on and on and on.

* CommonKnowledge: Contrary to popular belief, Dead's suicide note was actually somewhat longer and more elaborate, than simply "Excuse all the blood", which merely opens it. Also, the actual phrase was just "Excuse the blood" ("Ursäkta blodet" in swedish original), NOT "Excuse ALL the blood" (which would be ""Ursäkta allt blodet.")

* EpicRiff - A lot of the time, most notably on ''De mysteriis Dom Sathanas''.

* VindicatedByHistory: ''Grand Declaration of War'' seems to be a case of this. When it came out in 2000 it was almost universally despised, but these days most online discussions of it garner far more praise than criticism.

* NeverLiveItDown: Like with [[Music/{{Burzum}} Varg Vikernes]], 90% of conversations about Mayhem will always be about their second official vocalist overkilling himself, their guitarist using ''a photo of said vocalist's dead body'' for a bootleg cover, and said guitarist being murdered by the aforementioned Varg Vikernes [[IsntItIronic who played bass on their debut album]] after a lengthy period of TroubledProduction. This even is a factor for BlackMetal's dark reputation, aside the church burnings.

** Arguments exist on how ''De mysteriis Dom Sathanas'' '''should have''' been. Some fans argue the album's fine as it is, however others feel there should have been a version with Dead on vocals ([[DrivenToSuicide despite it being too]] [[AuthorExistenceFailure late to do so]] for the band) or the album should have combined Dead and Attila's vocals ala how Music/{{Gorgoroth}} did with ''Antichrist''.

** How much of Derek and Melanie's rampage is driven by their own personalities and stresses, and how much are driven by the ID-17 virus?

** Even after [[spoiler:approval from the board]], Derek [[spoiler:still hesitates to kill Towers at the end. Due to every previous kill of his being in self-defence, could he be balking at actual first-degree murder? Or was it the virus's effects waning as the vaccine takes effect, with him realising what he is doing?]]

** The Reaper. A {{Jerkass}} SmugSnake just as bad as Towers and the rest of the leadership? Or an AffablyEvil PunchClockVillain just doing his job, only as bad as pre-infected Derek?

** Irene Smythe and Melanie. Why did Smythe refuse to sign her loan extension? Did she know that contracts signed during the quarantine wouldn't be valid and wanted to point it out (albeit condescendingly)? Did she have some prior history with Melanie?

** The Bull [[spoiler:emptying out his bullets in his gun to face Derek]]? Proof of him being [[spoiler:a BloodKnight and {{Sadist}} who wants to draw out the fight]]? Or evidence of him being [[spoiler:a NobleDemon willing to give Derek a chance, albeit slim, to live]]?

* EnsembleDarkhorse:
** Dead, all the way. Even if he wasn't featured on any ''material'' aside from rehearsals, ''Live at Leipzig'', and bootlegs, and his presence continues to exist within the band to this day.
** Necrobutcher can be seen as this too, since he tends to come off as the OnlySaneMan compared to everyone else in the band, past members and current members.

* EvilIsCool: Arguably part of the reason some fans like them.

* MoralEventHorizon: This is what many of Euronymous' friends and several of his own bandmates (namely Necrobutcher) saw his treatment of Dead as. Even before his suicide, Euronymous bullied him extensively and egged on all of his most troubling behaviors, and quite a few people took great issue with his behavior towards him. The suicide itself firmly cemented this sentiment, as quite a few people felt that Euronymous had engineered it by allowing a person who he knew was suicidal to be alone for an extended period of time in the hopes that he ''would'' kill himself so as to further their image, and Euronymous' attention-grabbing behavior after the suicide only deepened their feelings of disgust towards him, so much so that Necrobutcher left the band before returning ''after'' Euronymous had died.

* TheScrappy:
** Hellhammer is '''immensely''' disliked by some due to suffering heavy SmallNameBigEgo and literally ''praising'' [[Music/{{Emperor}} Bård Faust]] for "killing that fucking faggot". [[note]]The drummer of Emperor, Bård Faust, was arrested and sent to prison for murdering a gay man, and never showing any remorse of it.[[/note]] Even people who respect his musical abilities tend to acknowledge that he's also a severe {{Jerkass}}.
** Euronymous is also widely disliked, thanks to his treatment of Dead and taking photos of his corpse and building Mayhem's image with it. Speaking of the band's image, his general edgelord persona rubbed and still rubs a lot of people the wrong way, to the point where even [[OnlySaneMan Necrobutcher]] claims that he was planning to kill him.

** Dead's suicide and the events that transpired afterwords ''will'' make you feel this as well as feel nothing but despair over what happened to him, not helped that Jørn (Necrobutcher) once stated in an interview that had he known what was happening with Pelle, he would have ''done something'', although some fans feel [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption Dead would have prevented him from doing it anyway]].
** Adding to that is Necrobutcher's horrified reaction to learning that Euronymous took a photo of Dead after finding him ''(well, it's in the name)''.

* TheWoobie: '''Yes. Even for this band.''', Dead qualifies. He suffered sleep apnea as a child ''and'' internal bleeding, which resulted with his obsession with death and the occult. Old band members that knew him (Fellow band member Hellhammer and Faust of Emperor) stated he didn't seem happy with life and Euronymous just kept adding and add more psychological problems and causing fights with him (at one point, Dead had to sleep ''freaking outside'' because Euronymous was tormenting him), until he finally killed himself. And what did Euronymous do? '''TAKE FRIGGIN' PICTURES OF HIS DEAD BODY'''. Despite his reputation as simply being a depressed, but still decent guy with a morbid fascination with darkness, all Dead is talked about for these days is his suicide and his bloodied corpse on ''Dawn of the Black Hearts''.
** Necrobutcher can be seen as this for some hardcore fans. Discussions range on how he has stated his worry and concern for Dead before his suicide, the weight it carried on him afterwards his death, and being disgusted at Euronymous exploiting Ohlin's death just to add to Mayhem's dark image, resulting in his departure until the band's reunion after Euronymous was dead. Some even think he could have prevented Dead's suicide, although [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption Dead would have prevented him from intervening]].

* EvilIsCool - Arguably part of the reason some fans like them.

* FaceOfTheBand - Dead and Euronymous, due to their untimely demises giving them a sort of evil mystique.
* GrowingTheBeard - Varg Vikernes claims that this happened when Hellhammer and Dead joined the band: "Until Hellhammer and Dead joined the band in 1989, Mayhem was a shitty, ‘fun’, hobby-band. If you read the lyrics on their ''Deathcrush'' album you’ll know what I mean". Others may have their own opinions on when this happened, though in any case ''DMDS'' is almost universally considered to be better than ''Deathcrush''.

* TheScrappy: Hellhammer is '''immensely''' disliked by some due to suffering heavy SmallNameBigEgo and literally ''praising'' [[Music/{{Emperor}} Bård Faust]] for "killing that fucking faggot". [[note]]The drummer of Emperor, Bård Faust, was arrested and sent to prison for murdering a gay man, and never showing any remorse of it.[[/note]] Even people who respect his musical abilities tend to acknowledge that he's also a severe {{Jerkass}}.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks - ''Grand Declaration of War'' and ''Chimera'' received this reaction from many of Mayhem's fans. However, the former at least is arguably becoming somewhat VindicatedByHistory as its stature among fans seems to be improving.

* Euronymous: The fact that his reaction to finding Pelle dead, is to snap a picture and use it as cover art, clearly speaks volume about the dude's mental state.

* Necrobutcher's horrified reaction to learning that Euronymous took a photo of Dead after finding him ''(well, it's in the name)''.

** The Reaper. A {{Jerkass}} SmugSnake just as bad as Towers? Or an AffablyEvil PunchClockVillain just doing his job, only as bad as pre-infected Derek?

** When the Reaper attacks Derek after handing him the keycard, was it to protect himself from the firm's wrath? Out of fear Derek would still kill him after he handed him the card? Or was it out of plain hatred of Derek? Or simply the virus' effect?
** When Towers fumes after Derek and Melanie show off how the Siren is dead, [[spoiler:and later pisses on Ewan's corpse to taunt Derek]], was it an EvenEvilHasLovedOnes moment with him genuinely furious that they killed his implied lover? Or panic that they are getting close to him by killing her?
** The Bull [[spoiler:emptying out his bullets in his gun to face Derek]]? Proof of him being [[spoiler:a BloodKnight and {{Sadist}} who wants to ]]? Or evidence of him being [[spoiler:a NobleDemon willing to give Derek a chance, albeit slim, to live]]?

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: When the Reaper attacks Derek after handing him the keycard, was it to protect himself from the firm's wrath? Out of fear Derek would still kill him after he handed him the card? Or was it out of plain hatred of Derek? Or simply the virus' effect?

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: When the Reaper attacks Derek, was it to protect himself from the firm's wrath should he lose it? Out of fear Derek would still kill him after he handed him the card? Or was it out of plain hatred of Derek?

* TheWoobie: '''Yes. Even for this band.'''. Arguably Dead. He suffered sleep apnea as a child ''and'' internal bleeding, which resulted with his obsession with death and the occult. Old band members that knew him (Fellow band member Hellhammer and Faust of Emperor) stated he didn't seem happy with life and Euronymous just kept adding and add more psychological problems and causing fights with him (at one point, Dead had to sleep ''freaking outside'' because Euronymous was tormenting him), until he finally killed himself. And what did Euronymous do? '''TAKE FRIGGIN' PICTURES OF HIS DEAD BODY'''. Despite his reputation as simply being a depressed, but still decent guy with a morbid fascination with darkness, all Dead is talked about for these days is his suicide and his bloodied corpse on ''Dawn of the Black Hearts''.

* MoralEventHorizon: This is what many of Euronymous' friends and several of his own bandmates (namely Necrobutcher) saw his treatment of Dead as. Even before his suicide, Euronymous bullied him extensively and egged on all of his most troubling behaviors, and quite a few people took great issue with his behavior towards him. The suicide itself firmly cemented this sentiment, as quite a few people felt that Euronymous had engineered it by allowing a person who he knew was suicidal to be alone for an extended period of time in the hopes that he ''would'' kill himself so as to further their image, and Euronymous' attention-grabbing behavior after the suicide only deepened their feelings of disgust towards him, so much so that Necrobutcher left the band before returning ''after'' Euronymous had died.

** The overall atmosphere of ''De mysteriis dom santhas'', with Attila's cryptic-like vocals, the borderline insanity of Dead's lyrics, and the fact this album features Euronymous and Varg despit the fact Varg ''murdered'' Euronymous and it technically being the last album the band made before it's resurrection by Hellhammer afterwards is...unnerving to say the least.

* TheScrappy: Hellhammer is '''immensely''' disliked by some due to suffering heavy SmallNameBigEgo and literally ''praising'' [[Music/{{Emperor}} Bård Faust]] for "killing that fucking faggot". [[note]]The drummer of Emperor, Bård Faust, was arrested and sent to prison for murdering a gay man, resulting in a split within the black metal community.[[/note]] Even people who respect his musical abilities tend to acknowledge that he's also a severe {{Jerkass}}.

* BecomingTheMask - Arguably what happened with Euronymous.
** Inverted with [[MeaningfulName Dead]]. [[DrivenToSuicide No surprises as to what happened to him]]. The mask became the man.