Black Hearts

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Lore & Background

The bootleg is a recording of a live show that took place on 28 February 1990 in Sarpsborg, Norway. Metalion, an early figure in the scene who helped to organise this show, claimed that there were around 300 people in attendance and the members of Darkthrone and Immortal were present as well. The title originates from a line of lyrics Fenriz of Darkthrone wrote for the band. The album is infamous and controversial for bearing a photograph of vocalist Dead (Per Yngve Ohlin), shortly after his suicide on 8 April 1991. The photograph was taken by guitarist Euronymous (Øystein Aarseth), shortly after he entered the house the band shared and discovered the body. Bull Metal, a penpal of Euronymous and owner of Warmaster Records, was sent a copy of one of the photos Euronymous had taken of Dead's corpse which ended up becoming the cover image. Euronymous had taken additional pictures of Dead's body in different positions (one of them with Dead "sitting half up, with the shotgun on his knee" not used as cover), but these photos were found and destroyed by Euronymous's father after he was murdered in 1993, which was two years before The Dawn of the Black Hearts was released.

In Their Own Story

According to Metalion, the bootleg was made and released by an individual from South America. It has been claimed that this was Mauricio "Bull Metal" Montoya from the Colombian metal scene, who is further claimed to have been a pen-pal of Euronymous at the time. The latter is said to have given Bull Metal the photographs, which were used for the first printings of the bootleg in South America. All of these claims are unsubstantiated. Metal music historian Dayal Patterson has referred to the record as "perhaps the most bootlegged black metal release of all time." The bootleg was the gateway to discovering Dead-era Mayhem for a number of later black metal musicians, such as Black Emperor of Colombia's Supremacía Satánica, D of Indonesia's Warkvlt, and Semjaza of Greece's Thy Darkened Shade. The Dawn of the Black Hearts was officially reissued in 2017 on vinyl under the name Live in Sarpsborg, using a photo of Necrobutcher as a new cover. This 2017 release uses improved audio from a separate master source recording of the concert.

Reader's Guide

The original track listing features songs recorded in 1990 with Dead as vocalist and Hellhammer as drummer. Extra songs included on many reissues were recorded in 1985 with Messiah as vocalist and Manheim as drummer. The lineup on the original release consists of Dead (Per Yngve Ohlin) on vocals, Euronymous (Øystein Aarseth) on guitar, Necrobutcher (Jørn Stubberud) on bass, and Hellhammer (Jan Axel Blomberg) on drums. The re-release bonus tracks lineup features Messiah (Eirik Nordheim) on vocals, Euronymous on guitar, Necrobutcher on bass, and Manheim (Kjetil Manheim) on drums. The album is listed on discogs.com and on the official Mayhem website.

Did You Know?

• The title originates from a line of lyrics Fenriz of Darkthrone wrote for the band.
• Metalion claimed there were around 300 people in attendance at the 28 February 1990 show in Sarpsborg, Norway.
• Euronymous took additional pictures of Dead's body in different positions, including one with Dead 'sitting half up, with the shotgun on his knee,' but these were found and destroyed by Euronymous's father after he was murdered in 1993.
• The bootleg was released two years after Euronymous's murder in 1993.
• The 2017 official reissue was titled Live in Sarpsborg and used a photo of Necrobutcher as a new cover.