Helvete and The 'Black Circle'
During May–June 1991, Euronymous opened a record shop which he called Helvete. The term Helvete is Norwegian for "Hell", and comes from the Norse hels víti, meaning "Hel's punishment". The shop was at Schweigaards gate 56 in Oslo. Norwegian black metal musicians often met in the shop’s basement, including the members of Mayhem, the members of Emperor, Varg Vikernes of Burzum, and Snorre 'Blackthorn' Ruch of Thorns. Euronymous also founded an independent record label called Deathlike Silence Productions, which was based at Helvete. It released albums by Norwegian bands Mayhem and Burzum, and Swedish bands Merciless and Abruptum. Euronymous, Varg, and Emperor guitarist Tomas 'Samoth' Haugen all lived in the shop at one point. Emperor drummer Bård 'Faust' Eithun also lived and worked there. The shop’s walls were painted black and bedecked with medieval weapons, posters of bands, and picture discs, while its window featured a polystyrene tombstone. The shop was shut down in January 1993.
Shop-owner Euronymous was "the central figure involved in the formation of the Norwegian black metal scene", which he "almost single-handedly founded". He also influenced its ideology, which was described by Benjamin Hedge Olson as "hard-line, misanthropic devil worship". Euronymous believed that LaVeyan Satanism was no real Satanism, and only bands who were Theistic Satanists could be called "black metal" and this belief was adopted by other important members of the Norwegian scene, like Faust of Emperor. At the time, bands with a style similar to Norwegian black metal, but without Satanic lyrics, tended to use other terms for their music. In retrospect, Metalion wrote: "In the past, people just wrote about Satan, but now people meant it. I believe it was serious—maybe not all the Satanism, but definitely the approach to the music and the lifestyle. It was certainly more destructive than metal had been in the past". Tenebris from the Misanthropic Luciferian Order, a Swedish Satanic order, wrote that the Norwegian scene "meant a lot as long as it lasted. Back then, in 1991, things mainly concerned black metal and ideological Satanism (not so much practical Satanism, but anyway...) It grew quickly to to become a sort of black metal army and kind of stood and fell with Euronymous and his shop. Therefore, it vanished with his death in '93 Sadly enough, many people involved at the time betrayed their ideals and lost their interest when things fell apart. Like it was nothing more than a hype of temporary nature".
Those who gathered at Helvete have been referred to as "The Black Circle" or "Black Metal Inner Circle". Faust claims that the name was invented by Euronymous. The name is sometimes widened to inhold the whole Norwegian black metal scene. However, such a term is highly disputable. Not only would it imply that the group was some kind of cult, the accounts about it differ greatly. The books Lucifer Rising: Sin, Devil Worship and Rock and Roll and Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground both claim the existence of "The Black Circle". For example, an online announcement for a film based on Lords of Chaos reads:
In an escalating unholy war, black metal bands and their obsessive fans have left a grim legacy of suicide, murder and terrorism spreading from Norway to Germany, Russia, America and beyond. The feature film will focus on the relationship between legendary figures Varg Vikernes and Euronymous and the rest of the 'Black Circle' as they wage war against the powers that be in their native country.
However, in his review of Lucifer Rising, Varg Vikernes denied its existence, claiming:
First of all the so-called 'Black Circle' was something Euronymous made up because he wanted to make people believe there was such a thing, but it was nonsense and never existed. The media on the other hand believed it existed for a while, but quickly stopped talking about it when they understood it was a fake rumor.
Likewise, when asked in Lords of Chaos "What was the Black Circle?", Bård 'Faust' Eithun answered:
It’s just a name that was invented for the people who hung around the shop there wasn’t anything like members and membership cards and official meetings.
The opening of Helvete led to the black metal style spreading among Norwegian bands. As Daniel Ekeroth wrote in 2008,
Within just a few months, many young musicians had become obsessed with Euronymous and his ideas, and soon a lot of Norwegian death metal bands transformed into black metal bands. Amputation became Immortal, Thou Shalt Suffer turned into Emperor, and Darkthrone swapped their Swedish-inspired death metal for primitive black metal. Most notoriously, Old Funeral’s guitar player Kristian Vikernes had already left the band to form his own creation, Burzum.
Read more about this topic: Early Norwegian Black Metal Scene