NECROBUTCHER On MAYHEM's Longevity: 'I Felt So Strongly For This Project My Whole Life'

Bassist Jørn "Necrobutcher" Stubberud of Norwegian black metallers MAYHEM spoke to Mexico's Metal Memes Mx about the band's just-launched 40th-anniversary tour of Latin America. Asked if he thought, when MAYHEM was first formed in 1984, that the band would still be around 40 years later, Stubberud replied: (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yes. And the reason why I can say that very quickly, without even thinking about it, is that I think, as in most things, to put it in perspective so people understand that, if you find something that you believe a lot in, and so you think this is it. And then just with that, you already believe that this is gonna be so great that it's gonna last forever. So, I think that you even need this kind of way of thinking to be able to succeed. You tell yourself, 'This is fucking great. This is gonna go fucking straight up there. We're gonna make it. This is good music.'"

He continued: "I told in many interviews over the years that me and Manheim, the guy I started the band with, we had different bands before we met Øystein [Aarseth, a.k.a. Euronymous]. And I think Øystein was our fifth guitarist at that time, when he came along in 1984. And so when he plugged in and we started jamming with us, he knew some of the same cover songs. We did some VENOM covers. We did some MOTÖRHEAD covers. I think we did a JUDAS PRIEST cover, and we knew some BLACK SABBATH. So we kind of knew the same cover tracks. So when we started to jam on that, I immediately felt — and I never forgot it — the feeling of euphoria. It was, like, This is it. This is what we were looking for.' And I always felt that, and I felt so strongly for this project my whole life. This is my life's work. This is the essence of all my work, my whole life. So, I always believed in it."

Necrobutcher went on to clarify that MAYHEM has never achieved the kind of commercial success that would allow him and his bandmates to stop working. "We are not METALLICA — we are still an underground band — so it's not like achieved everything and now I can retire," he explained. "It's not that kind of achievement. It's more like we made it and we are doing what we are supposed to do. We are now playing live concerts 'cause we are live musicians. We are not studio musicians. We are that, too, but most and foremost, we are a live band and we have been since 1984. And I don't see any reason to stop."

Asked if he would like to see MAYHEM continue as a band even after he is no longer involved in the group, Necrobutcher said: "I think, personally, that there should at least be one original member. Otherwise, it could be watered out, and then maybe it will lose the essence of it.

"I don't see us continuing without, let's say, the old members that are in the band today, and I don't think, let's say, if anything would happen to me, Hellhammer [MAYHEM drummer Jan Axel Blomberg] or Attila [Csihar, MAYHEM singer], we might say, 'Okay, we'll call it quits.' But here's the thing. We're still able to do it. And I'm 57 now. I'm the oldest in the band, so everybody was born two years or more, younger than me, but they are getting there at some point. But here is my philosophy. We go on as long as we can because you never know when you're forced to stop… You never know what's gonna happen. And this is my perspective, and I haven't thought about it, but since you just asked the question, I would think if the core members, something happened to them that they were not able to do it anymore, maybe then we will say that we have met the end of the line. Now, MAYHEM will live on anyway, but there wouldn't be any touring, there wouldn't be any recording of new albums. But the will be there as long as people are interested in listening."

MAYHEM will release its seventh studio album, "Liturgy Of Death", on February 6, 2026 via Century Media.

"Liturgy Of Death" is the follow-up to MAYHEM's sixth studio album, "Daemon", which came out in October 2019 via Century Media. A live album, "Daemonic Rites", arrived in September 2023.

MAYHEM's current lineup consists of Necrobutcher (bass),Hellhammer (drums),Attila Csihar (vocals),Teloch (guitars) and Ghul (guitars).

MAYHEM will embark on the "Death Over Europe" European headlining tour in February 2026. Support on the trek will come from MARDUK and IMMOLATION.

In the fall of 2024, MAYHEM canceled its previously announced North American 40th-anniversary tour "due to a member of the band having a medical emergency that requires immediate surgery."

The North American dates were scheduled to kick off on November 12, 2024 in Montreal, with stops in Toronto; Queens, New York; Chicago; and Los Angeles before and wrapping up November 23, 2024 in Denver.

MAYHEM launched a short European tour on December 4, 2024 in Paris, France. An Australian tour followed in January.

When MAYHEM's North American tour was first announced in August 2024, the band said that its 40th-anniversary show would be "a once-in-a-lifetime experience for fans, featuring a setlist that spans their illustrious career, from their groundbreaking debut album, 'Deathcrush', to present day."