Black metal legend may become emblem of Norwegian airline

Mayhem's Euronymous, who was murdered in 1993, leads poll to find new tailfin image for Norwegian

Norwegian black metal is more closely associated with murder and burning churches than with low-cost air travel, but that might be about to change. The late Øystein Aarseth, aka Euronymous – the guitarist of Mayhem, who was murdered by his fellow black metaller Varg Vikernes in August 1993 – may soon be the image painted on the tailfins of Norwegian jets.

The proposal is part of a contest by Norwegian, a low-cost airline that flies Boeing 737s across Scandinavia and into the UK. To celebrate its 10th anniversary, the carrier is asking passengers to vote on a new set of heroes for their aircraft's tailfins. There are four separate sweepstakes, for planes in Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim and Stavanger, and the nominees include everyone from beauty queen Julie Ege to footballer Knut Torbjørn Eggen. Visitors to the website can even nominate their own "tail heroes".

In Oslo, Aarseth is winning. After being put forward by a local nominating committee, the Mayhem founder has collected the highest share of votes, leading over Trond André Bolle, a soldier who died in 2010, and the Lutheran reformist Hans Nielsen Hauge. Metal fans have rallied behind him, acting on a rare chance to get the musician's silhouette on a multi-million pound flying machine.

Despite Mayhem's massive influence on Norwegian black metal, Aarseth's grisly hi-jinks are at least as well known as his music. Aarseth founded the band in 1984, when he was just 16, and later assumed the pseudonym Euronymous. But when Mayhem's frontman, Per "Dead" Ohlin, shot himself in 1991, the guitarist didn't immediately call the police; he first went and bought a camera, according to legend, snapping photos of the bloody scene and saving pieces of bone to make jewellery. Aarseth was killed two years later, by Burzum's Varg Vikernes, who claimed Aarseth had planned to torture him to death.

Norwegian's tailfin contest closes on 28 March.