Bob Larson, an American radio and television evangelist and one of the leading practitioners of modern, Christian exorcisms, conducted an exorcism in August on Jørn Stubberud, best known as the bassist in the legendary Norwegian black metal band MAYHEM (where he performs under the stage name Necrobutcher). The entire event was filmed by NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation), the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company and the largest media organization in Norway, for a special program which was aired in Norway last night (Tuesday, November 1). You can now watch the entire half-hour show below, with Necrobutcher portion beginning around the 13-minute mark. (Note: The narrative is in Norwegian, but the dialogue is in English.)
Prior to meeting with Necrobutcher, Larson submitted a written statement to the German edition of the Metal Hammer magazine in which he said, "I have confirmed my willingness to perform an exorcism on 'Necrobutcher' with certain conditions I will discuss with the TV crew.
"I have toured with SLAYER and have had frequent interaction with groups such as DEICIDE (Glen Benton recently posted on my Facebook page), MORBID ANGEL and many other such groups.
"I am willing to confront Necrobutcher's demons if he is willing to allow his demons to confront me. He needs to know this is not a battle between him and me, but between him and the devil.
"My prayer is Jørn may come to know the love of God. Christ died on the cross for Jørn and I'm sorry if he has such a bad idea of Christianity. Perhaps some Christians in Norway have not done such a good job of letting Jørn know God's love. Satan is battling for Jørn's soul I will do all I can to help him escape and experience the peaceful presence of the Holy Spirit."
In an interview with the German edition of the Metal Hammer magazine at this past summer's Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany, Stubberud said, "NRK is sending me over to Phoenix, Arizona. There's this famous preacher. I'm not a believer, so I think he's a quack. A very religious guy. He's an excorcist; that's what he does. I'm just there for the fun of it. He's gonna perform an exorcism on me on national TV. So it's gonna be wild as fuck and, of course, I don't expect to suddenly be free from some demons or whatever. I'm just there for the fun of it and for the hell of it."
He added, "All religious people, when they talk about [how] they talked to God or God talked to them, stuff like that, I know it's a lie. Because they look at all the people, they speak in tongue, it's a mass, they get into that stuff, they think, 'If I behave like that guy, all the people will think that I truly have an open connection straight to God' or whatever. But for us, enlightened people, we know that it's all bullshit, that they're full of fucking lies and shit. And that's why I'm there — to give a little punch and a kick in the ass to this little quack and people saying that they have direct contact with God and shit like that."
By the late 1980s, in what would come to define his later ministry, Larson was often heard performing exorcisms of callers on the air, including Glen Benton of the death metal band DEICIDE, who became a regular caller.
MAYHEM vocalist Per "Dead" Ohlin committed suicide in 1991, and guitarist Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth was murdered in 1993.
