The Norwegian black metal scene doesn’t exactly have a deficit of loony stories. But recent news concerning long-deceased Mayhem guitarist Euronymous is definitely one of the odder dispatches from the icy wilds.

The Guardian report that low-fare Scandinavian airline Norwegian has asked its customers to vote for Norwegian ‘heroes’ to appear on the tailfins of its aircraft. Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger and Trondheim all get to choose their respective homegrown idols; in Oslo, Euronymous has become the front-runner.

Euronymous (real name Øystein Aarseth) is one of the most legendary figures on the Norwegian scene (no small feat given the amount of self-mythologising that the subculture attracts). Having founded metal group Mayhem as a teenager, Euronymous bounced from one church-burning scrape to another until he was famously murdered by his mentor, Varg Vikernes of Burzum.

The metal contingent love this sort of jape. In 2011, Cradle Of Filth singer Dani Filth won an online vote designed to find ‘Suffolk’s Greatest Icon’. He was subsequently disqualified.