Neseblod Records

Neseblod Records is an independent record shop at Schweigaards gate 56 in the Gamlebyen neighbourhood of Oslo, Norway. Established in 2003 by Kenneth Neseblod, the shop originally operated in Grünerløkka before moving to its present address in 2013. The building has an important place in Norwegian black metal history, having previously housed Helvete, the record shop opened by Mayhem guitarist Øystein «Euronymous» Aarseth in 1991. Helvete operated until 1993 and became a meeting place for musicians associated with the emerging Norwegian black metal scene, including members of Mayhem, Emperor, Burzum and Thorns. Euronymous also operated his record label Deathlike Silence Productions from the premises. Although Neseblod occupies a neighbouring ground-floor unit rather than the original Helvete shop entrance, it retains access to the historic basement where musicians gathered during the early 1990s. The basement includes the famous concrete wall bearing the words «Black Metal», which appeared in numerous photographs of the Norwegian black metal scene. The original entrance to Helvete was located immediately beside the present Neseblod storefront, in premises that have subsequently housed other businesses. Neseblod specialises in metal, punk and other alternative music, with an extensive collection of vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, band merchandise and memorabilia. Much of the interior is filled with records, old concert posters, photographs and artefacts connected to the Norwegian metal scene, giving the shop the character of an unofficial music museum. On 9 April 2024, a fire broke out in the basement, destroying part of the collection and causing extensive smoke damage. The historic «Black Metal» graffiti survived, and the shop reopened later that month while repairs continued.

Neseblod Records appears briefly in Lords of Chaos (2018), the biographical crime drama directed by Jonas Åkerlund about the early Norwegian black metal scene. Although much of the film takes place around the Helvete record shop, the production generally used a different building dressed to resemble the original premises. The actual location in Schweigaards gate appears only for a few seconds, in a street scene where Euronymous walks past the present-day Neseblod storefront and the neighbouring business that occupied Helvete’s original entrance. Rather than representing Helvete itself, the location is simply used as an ordinary Oslo street.

In Lords of Chaos (2018), Neseblod Records appears approximately 48 minutes into the film, when Øystein «Euronymous» Aarseth, played by Rory Culkin, walks along Schweigaards gate in Oslo. The camera briefly captures the actual building where Euronymous operated his Helvete record shop between 1991 and 1993. The present-day Neseblod Records storefront is visible, along with the neighbouring premises occupied at the time of filming by a business called Det daglige brød. This neighbouring entrance is particularly significant because it was the original street-level entrance to Helvete, while the adjacent Neseblod Records now occupies part of the historic premises and retains the basement associated with the early Norwegian black metal scene. The appearance is unusual because the building is not identified as Helvete in the film. Instead, Euronymous simply walks past it as though it were any other street in Oslo. For the scenes actually depicting Helvete, including those in which musicians gather outside the shop, Åkerlund used a different location that had been dressed with appropriate signs and other period details. The brief footage in Schweigaards gate is therefore the film’s only clearly identifiable appearance of the original Helvete building, presented without drawing attention to its historical significance. No scenes inside Neseblod Records or the surviving Helvete basement are shown during this sequence.

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