Eithun started his career as a drummer at the age of 16 for the first Stigma Diabolicum demos, Lacus De Luna - Rehearsal and Live in Stjørdal in 1990 and in the Thorns demo, The Thule Tapes in 1992.
Emperor (1992-1994)
Eithun is best known for his work with early black metal band Emperor, especially on the releases As the Shadows Rise and the groundbreaking In the Nightside Eclipse. Grymm, a contributor to the Angry Metal Guy blog, wrote on the 20th anniversary of the album:
...Emperor laid the groundwork for many contemporary black metal bands, and cemented them as leaders of their blackened craft with In the Nightside Eclipse.
In 2013, it was announced that Faust would return to Emperor as drummer for the 20th-anniversary tour of In the Nightside Eclipsein the summer of 2014, where they also played the full setlist in Wacken Open Air.
On 21 August 1992, while Eithun was visiting family in Lillehammer, he stabbed Magne Andreassen to death. According to Eithun, while walking home from a pub through the Olympic park, a well known gay-cruising spot, Andreassen drunkenly approached him and solicited him for sex. Eithun agreed to go with him to the nearby woods and stabbed Andreassen 37 times. He kicked him in the head repeatedly as he lay on the ground. Eithun claimed that he felt no remorse at the time. Ihsahn, his bandmate in Emperor, said that Eithun "had been very fascinated by serial killers for a long time, and I guess he wanted to know what it's like to kill a person". The media has linked the murder to black metal and speculated that Eithun was motivated by Satanism, fascism, or homophobia. In a 1993 interview he had said "I am not a Satanist, but I praise the evil". In an interview for the book Lords of Chaos he explained he had been "interested in Satanism but there are other things as well. Basically, I don't give a shit". In a 2008 interview Eithun said: "I was never a Satanist or fascist in any way". Jørn Inge Tunsberg of the bandHades Almighty said that the murder was "an impulse killing" and that "it had nothing to do with black metal". Police initially had no suspects, and Eithun remained free for about a year. However, he told Øystein 'Euronymous' Aarseth, Varg Vikernes, and a few others what he had done. After Vikernes' murder of Aarseth in August 1993, Eithun was arrested and confessed to killing Andreassen. In 1994 he was sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment, but was released in 2003 after serving nine years and four months.
Discography
Stigma Diabolicum – Various reh-tapes and live-tape from Stjørdalen, Norway 1990
