Black Metal Inner Circle

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The Black Metal Inner Circle was a group comprising members of the first wave of Norwegian black metal. They were influential, both musically and socially on the emerging black metal scene of the early 1990s. The group later was the focus of controversy due to crimes committed and attributed to some of its members. Because of the agenda of these members to violently expel and supplant Christianity with alternative ideologies (Varg Vikernes adhered to paganism and Øystein Aarseth (Euronymous) was a devil-worshipper), they were arguably somewhat a terrorist group.

The group was formed around 1990 by Øystein Aarseth (Euronymous) of Mayhem, in the basement of his record store, Helvete (which translates as "Hell" in Norwegian). Notable members of the inner circle included Mayhem vocalist Per Yngve Ohlin (Dead), Varg Vikernes of Burzum, as well as Bård Faust Eithun and Samoth from Emperor.

The group's beliefs were a mixture of isolationism, Norse paganism/Norse Mythology and racial superiority, very much dominated by Aarseth's personal ideas. Although most of the group's members were anti-Christian, few held with the biblical belief of a final battle between God and Satan. The satanic philosophy of Anton LaVey was rejected in view of a vengeful satanism. In music publications, Aarseth was often critical of metal scenes and bands outside Norway. He ran an independent record label, Deathlike Silence Records, which promoted some of the emerging black metal bands.

In 1991, Dead committed suicide and the group became even more intense in their beliefs. The historic Fantoft stave church in Fantoft, Norway was burned down by Varg Vikernes on June 6th, 1992, soon followed by attacks on several other Norwegian churches.

Ideological and business disputes arose between Øystein Aarseth and Varg Vikernes. On August 10, 1993, Aarseth was murdered by Varg Vikernes at his home in Oslo following a dispute. It is disputed that Aarseth was planning on killing Varg, and was killed when he tried to attack Vikernes. Vikernes was later arrested and convicted of the murder, along with three counts of arson. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison. The police discovered, among Vikernes' belongings, a list of crimes committed by other members of the group. Eithun received a 14 year sentence for murdering a man in 1992 and a church arson in the same year. Samoth received an 18 month prison sentence for arson in March of 1995.

The crimes and convictions of several Black Metal Circle members brought it to public notoriety in Norway. Overall theories of the group's ideologies and why the crimes were committed were published widely in the Scandinavian press and underground music publications of the time.

However, Vikernes has denied the existence of the Black Metal Inner Circle, in his review of "Lucifer Rising: Sin, Devil Worship and Rock and Roll" on www.burzum.org , claiming "First of all the so-called Black Circle was something Euronymous made up because he wanted to make people believe there was such a thing, but it was nonsense and never existed. The media on the other hand believed it existed for a while, but quickly stopped talking about it when they understood it was a fake rumour."

Vikernes has made strong attacks on the media, including the books "Lucifer Rising: Sin, Devil Worship and Rock and Roll" and "Lords Of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground", all of which claimed the existence of the "Black Metal Inner Circle"

[edit] References

• Baddeley, Gavin (1999). Lucifer Rising: Sin, Devil Worship and Rock and Roll
• Moynihan, Micheal and Didrik Soderlind (1998). Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground