| Varg Vikernes | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Kristian Vikernes |
| Also known as | Count Grishnackh |
| Born | 11 February 1973 near Bergen, Norway |
| Genre(s) | Black metal Black ambient Ambient |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, Song Writer, Political activist |
| Instrument(s) | Electric guitar, bass guitar, drums, synthesizer, vocals |
| Years active | 1987–1998 (currently in prison) |
| Associated acts | Burzum Mayhem Old Funeral Darkthrone Uruk-Hai Satanel |
| Website | Burzum.org |
Varg Vikernes[1] (IPA: [varg 'vi:keɳes]) born Kristian Vikernes on 11 February 1973 near Bergen, Norway) is a black metal musician, convicted murderer, arsonist and political activist. In 1991 Vikernes conceived the one-man music project Burzum, which quickly became prominent within the early Norwegian black metal scene. Later he became a prominent organizer for the Heathen Front and authored several writings on Germanic neopaganism that were published in "various underground publications."[2] In a documentary on heavy metal, he was described as "the most notorious metal musician of all time."[3]
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Vikernes is currently serving a 21 year sentence for the August 1993 murder of Øystein 'Euronymous' Aarseth of Mayhem as well for the burning of three churches in Norway, also being strongly suspected of the arson of the Fantoft stave church. He was eligible for parole in spring 2008, after serving 15 years of imprisonment, but his application was denied.[4]A newspaper article from June 2008 mentions that Vikernes is married and has a fifteen-year old daughter (born 1993) and a son (born 2007).[5] In an interview made in 2004, Vikernes said that he has a daughter (whom he has seen twice since 1993) and that he had "never been married."[6]
There exists no biography of him (whether authorized or unauthorized), but some information can be gathered from the interviews he has given, especially those printed in Lords of Chaos. The account of Vikernes views that is given in Lords of Chaos needs to be taken a grain of salt (see the section on it below), but in the interviews printed in the book, Vikernes talks a lot about his background and his childhood, and even an interview with Vikernes' mother is included. In the 2004 interview Vikernes mentions that "she is working in a large oil company".[6] Vikernes there also gives his father's profession as "electronics engineer",[6] whereas his brother, who (according to the Lords of Chaos interview) is "one and a half years older,"[7] is a "graduate civil engineer".[6]
In the Lords of Chaos interview, Vikernes recalls an incident from his childhood: When he was about 6 year old, the family moved for about a year to Baghdad in Iraq, because Vikernes' "father was working for Saddam Hussein",[8]developing a computer program. Since there were no places available in the English school in Baghdad, the young Vikernes went to an Iraqi elementary school during this time. According to his interview, Vikernes here became "aware of racial matters".[7]Corporal punishment was not uncommon in the school to which he went, and on one occasion Vikerenes came into a "quarrel" with a teacher, calling him "a monkey". But, as Vikernes perceived it: the teachers "didn't dare to hit me because I was white".[7] Vikernes' mother also recalls how they "spent a year in Iraq", and that "the other children in his class would get slapped by their teachers; he would not."[9] She mentions that this created problems, but generally she "has no good explanation of how Varg" developed his views.[10] Vikernes reveals slightly more in his interview. When he is asked about his father, Vikernes tells that he "had a swastika flag at home"[8] and that his father was hysterical about it. However, Vikernes feels that his father was a hypocrite, because he was worried about Vikernes "being a Nazi", whereas he too was "pissed about all the colored people he saw in town".[8] About his mother, Vikernes says that she was "very race concious", in the sense that she was afraid that Vikernes "was going to come home with a black girl!"[11] At the time the interview was taken (1995), Vikernes still had a positive relation with his mother, but "very little contact" with his father.[8] As a matter of fact, Vikernes' parents are divorced. Vikernes' father is said to have "left about 10 years ago",[8] that would have been 1985, when Vikernes was 12.
There is some evidence that Vikernes was involved with the skinhead scene in Bergen before he became a part of the black metal scene. Goodrick-Clarke introduces Burzum as the "musical vehicle" of the "ex-skinhead" Vikernes.[2] According to the Encyclopedia of White Power, "Vikernes first became involved with the extreme right as a National Socialist skinhead while he was an adolescent."[12] When he is asked in the interview in Lords of Chaos whether he hung out with skinheads in Bergen, Vikernes boldly replies: "There were no skinheads in Bergen."[13] He mentions, though, that he had short hair at that time and that he was into weapons, that he liked the Germans and hated the British and Americans.[13]
Vikernes had been learning the guitar since he was 14.[13]
When he was about 17, Vikernes came into contact with the members of the Bergen death metal band Old Funeral. He played guitar with them during 1990–1991 and performed on their Devoured Carcass EP.
In 1991, Vikernes began a solo musical project named Burzum, and quickly became involved with the early Norwegian black metal scene. During 1992–1993, he recorded four albums as Burzum that played a key role in the development of black metal.
Varg has stated that for the recording of these early albums he used an old Westone guitar, bought in 1987 from an acquaintance.[14] He used the cheapest bass guitar there was in the shop and he borrowed drumsets from Old Funeral, Immortal and "another musician living nearby".[14] On Hvis lyset tar oss, Varg borrowed Hellhammer's drumset, the same one Hellhammer used to record De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas by Mayhem.[15] He used a Peavey amplifier, but for the recording of Filosofem he used the amplifier on his brother's stereo and some old fuzz pedals.[14] For vocals, Varg would use whatever microphone the sound tech handed him, but during the recording of Filosofem he intentionally used the worst mic they had, a headset mic.[14] On the track "Dungeons of Darkness" he used the large gong at Grieghallen for background noise (Euronymous assisted him by beating his fists upon it).[14]
On June 6, 1992, the Fantoft stave church, one of Norway's architectural treasures dating from the 12th century, was burned to the ground via arson. By January 1993, arson attacks had occurred on at least seven other major stave churches, including one on Christmas Eve of 1992.[2] Vikernes was found guilty of several of these cases; the attempted arson of Storetveit Church in Bergen, the arson of Åsane Church in Bergen, Skjold Church in Vindafjord, and Holmenkollen Chapel in Oslo. He was also charged for the arson of Fantoft stave church outside Bergen, although the jurors voted not guilty. The judges claimed this an error of the jurors but refused to overthrow the whole case.[16]
Vikernes was rumored to have been motivated both by paganism and theistic Satanism[17] The first case of arson happened on 6 June 1992 and was widely rumored to have been started at 6am, although it is far more likely that the burning commenced earlier in the morning. The speculative 6/6/6 time and date has been widely rumored to be true, probably based on the Number of the Beast. However sensational it may be, burning a church at 6am would present a high risk of capture.
In an interview with Michael Moynihan Vikernes made a statement explaining the church burnings:
I am not going to say that I burnt any churches. But let me put it this way: There was one person who started it. I was not found guilty of burning the Fantoft stave church, but anyway, that was what triggered the whole thing. That was the 6th of June and everyone linked it to Satanism ... What everyone overlooked was that on the 6th June, year 793, in Lindesfarne in Britain was the site of the first known Viking raid in history, with Vikings from Hordaland, which is my county.[18]
In explaining the motives behind the church burnings, Vikernes said: "They [the Christians] desecrated our graves, our burial mounds, so it's revenge."[19]Echoing this sentiment, he writes in Vargsmål: "For each devastated graveyard, one heathen grave is avenged, for each ten churches burnt to ashes, one heathen hof is avenged, for each ten priests or freemasons assassinated, one heathen is avenged."[20]
When asked whether the church burnings were linked to Odinism or Àsatrù he replied: "The point is that all these churches [i.e. church burnings] are linked to one person ... who was not Øystein obviously. All the church burnings, with the exception of Stavanger, because that was another group (who, by the way, have also turned into nationalistic pagans)."[21]
On August-10-1993, Vikernes and Snorre Ruch travelled from Bergen to Aarseth's apartment in Oslo. Upon their arrival a confrontation began, which ended when Vikernes fatally stabbed Aarseth. His body was found outside the apartment with twenty-three cut wounds – two to the head, five to the neck, and sixteen to the back.[22]
The motive for the murder is completely unclear. The entry on Varg Vikernes in the specialized Encyclopedia of White Power mentions that the murder has been "variously described as a power struggle between rival leaders of a satanic circle, a conflict over a girl's affection, or a dispute over a record contract."[12]
Vikernes himself contends "that Arseth planned to kill him and that he was striking first in self-defense."[12]On his homepage Vikernes elaborates that Aarseth had plotted to torture him to death and videotape the event – using a meeting about an unsigned contract as a pretext.[23] On the night of the murder, Vikernes claims he intended to hand Aarseth the signed contract and "tell him to fuck off", but that Aarseth attacked him first.[23] Additionally, Vikernes defends that most of Aarseth's cut wounds were caused by broken glass he had fallen on during the struggle.[23] After the slaying, Vikernes drove to a nearby lake to dispose of his bloodied clothes before he returned home.[24]
At the arrest of Vikernes, a "substantial amount of explosives"[12] was found in his possession. Vikernes has stated that they were "intended to blow up Blitz House, the radical leftist and anarchist enclave in Oslo,"[12] a plan which "was reportedly on the verge of execution"[12] and only prevented by Vikernes' arrest.
In an article originally published 1999, Kevin Coogan points to Vikernes' planned attack in the Blitz House as a possible motive for the murder of Arseth. Referring to the passages of Lords of Chaos quoted above, Coogan writes: "LOC offers strong evidence that Vikernes, who came from a divorced family and was raised by his mother Lene Bore, was a fascist well before he became a metalhead."[25] Then he, too, mentions Vikernes' intend to "destroy an Oslo-based punk anti-fascist squat called Blitz House,"[25] and concludes: "Vikernes may have felt that he had no choice but to kill Euronymous before bombing Blitz House because 'the Communist' would almost certainly have opposed such an act."[25]
Vikernes' trial began on 2 May 1994. During the court case, the 22-year-old Snorre Ruch, who drove Vikernes to and from Øystein's apartment and stood outside during the incident, was put on trial together with Vikernes and sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment. Vikernes was sentenced to 21 years of imprisonment, the maximum sentence in Norway. He was found guilty of murdering Øystein Aarseth and the arson of several churches, one of which involved Jørn Tunsberg of black metal band Hades Almighty. In a controversial display, Vikernes actually smiled at the moment his verdict was read, an image that was widely reprinted in the news media.[23] Vikernes was eligible for parole after 12 years.
During his time in prison, Vikernes has recorded two albums (Dauði Baldrs and Hliðskjálf), which are composed of dark ambient songs. Vikernes was denied access to an electric guitar, bass guitar or drums, and instead used a synthesizer. In 2000, Vikernes terminated his musical project due to what he perceived to be negative notoriety. Vikernes believed that his philosophy was constantly misinterpreted by an ignorant fan base that was too closely related to black metal and Satanism.[26] Through his website, he has indicated that he intends to continue Burzum upon his release from prison, stating: "I will publish a few books, possibly using a pseudonym in order to stay anonymous, and perhaps a Burzum album or two, but that's it."[27] Regarding the style of his next album, Vikernes stated on his website that: "[a future album] will as far as I can tell sound much like the old albums, whether I like it or not, because I'm incapable of making music that doesn't sound rather 'Burzumic'."[28]
In October 2003, Vikernes failed to return to his low-security prison in Tønsberg, Norway after having been granted a short leave. Vikernes was found riding in a stolen Volvo car, which, according to the media, contained an unloaded AG3 automatic rifle, a handgun, numerous large knives, a gas mask, camouflage clothing, a laptop, a compass, a Global Positioning System, various maps and a fake passport (it is thought that Vikernes came to be in possession of this equipment by means of a military barracks). For this; thirteen months were added to his sentence, and he was then moved to a maximum-security prison in Trondheim. He has since been moved again, this time to Tromsø Prison.[29][30]
When Vikernes was convicted, it was possible to be released on parole after serving 12 years of a 21 year sentence, but this was later changed to 14 years by the Norwegian Parliament while he was in prison. In June 2006, Vikernes was denied parole by the Department of Criminal Justice for this reason, after having served 12 years of his sentence. His lawyer, John Christian Elden, is considering a lawsuit, viewing the policy change as a form of retroactive legislation.[30] Article 97 of the Norwegian constitution prohibits any law to be given retroactive force.
Varg Vikernes was denied parole again in June 2008, although he is allowed to leave Tromsø Prison for a short period of time to visit his family. His full sentence would run for another seven years.[31]
Next to the book Lords of Chaos, the main source for Vikernes' political and religious views is www.burzum.org. There is however no third party source which confirms that the texts on that homepage were indeed written by Varg Vikernes. After his imprisonment in 1994 Vikernes began to write a manifesto called Vargsmål. Although some publishers were initially interested due to Vikernes' presence in the Norwegian media, they turned the book down as soon as they had the opportunity to read it, as its contents were considered too extreme. According to Lords of Chaos that Vargsmål became available on the internet for some time in 1996, but not in a printed form.[32] In 1997 a Norwegian publisher released a paperback edition of the book; the book's publication was financed by Vikernes' mother, Lene Bore.[33] Vikernes has denounced the English translation of his book in an article on his website; stating that he never intended it to be available in the English language because that is the language of the Christian invaders.[34]
Vikernes has written lyrics for several songs by Darkthrone that make use of themes from old Germanic folklore. In these, Satan is brought up in the context of an 'eye' that is a source of light (i.e. the sun), with mentions of a 'spear' and a 'hall of battle', all of which are masked references to the Germanic god Odin. This was done with the double meaning of Odin as the 'adversary' of Jewish and Christian tradition. This has been taken as assumption that Vikernes was at one time a Satanist, though Vikernes has stated many times that he is opposed to Satanism as he considers it to be a reactionary form of Christianity.
According to Vikernes:
Christianity was created by some decadent and degenerated Romans as a tool of oppression, in the late Roman era, and it should be treated accordingly. It is like handcuffs to the mind and spirit and is nothing but destructive to mankind. In fact I don't really see Christianity as a religion. It is more like a spiritual plague, a mass psychosis, and it should first and foremost be treated as a problem to be solved by the medical science. Christianity is a diagnosis. It's like Islam and the other Asian religions, a HIV/AIDS of the spirit and mind.[35]
Vikernes now embraces a "modern scientific worldview resting on a foundation made up of the Pagan values and ideals; loyalty, wisdom, courage, love, discipline, honesty, intelligence, beauty, responsibility, health and strength."[36] He draws a direct connection between both race and intelligence and intelligence and religion, denouncing theism as "mental enslavement" fit only for "inferior races".[37] Vikernes goes on to say "If it is supposed to serve a purpose Paganism needs to be an ideology, not a religion."[37] He is the author of several works on his personal world view, namely "Vargsmål" (lit. 'the speech of Varg'), "Irminsûl" and "Germansk Mytologi og Verdensanskuelse" (lit. 'Germanic Mythology and Worldview').
Vikernes founded the publisher and record label Cymophane productions[38] and was also involved with the Norsk Hedensk Front (Norwegian Heathen Front), a sub-division of the Heathen Front. The organization has been often accused of Neo-Nazi ideology,[39] however groups within the Heathen Front have claimed that they reject "all forms of xenophobia, racism and racist violence". He also helped create the Odalist movement, of which the Heathen Front is a prominent part. His former ideas about Neo-Nazism and fascism can be found in several small pamphlets. As stated on his official website, Vikernes would not use the term Nazi any longer as self-description. However, the statement of Vikernes concerning the "nazi ghost" on his homepage is rather ambiguous:
The reason I have been drawn to and occasionally have expressed support for 'Nazism' is mainly because many of the Norwegian (and German) 'Nazis' embraced our Pagan religion as our blood-religion and they rejected Judeo-Christianity as Jewish heresy ... So, since I am not a 'Nazi' I began to use another term, in the late '90s. I did it not just to avoid confusion, but also to find a term more suitable and accurate than the other terms I had used. This new term was Odalism ... It is a term not tainted by history.[40]
yet of the "nazi ghost" he says:
The 'nazi ghost' has scared millions of Europeans from caring about their blood and homeland for sixty years now, and it is about time we banish this ghost and again start to think and care about the things that (whether we like it or not) are important to us.[41]
In other texts on his homepage he still embraces racism[42] and eugenics ("race hygiene").[43]
Vidkun Quisling, Nazi collaborator, prime minister of Norway between 1942 and 1945 and involuntary originator of the term quisling-regime, had developed an extremely obscure esoteric doctrine labelled 'Universism'. An online-article[44] about him mentions that the only "modest intellectual influence" he ever had with this doctrine was "on certain extreme strains of Norwegian black metal music." Indeed, in the interview in Lords of Chaos, Varg Vikernes is faced with the question whether Quisling's religion is pagan or Christian.[45] Moynihan & Søderlind write: "Vikernes has discovered his predecessor in Vidkun Quisling."[46] At one point, he took the name 'Kvisling'[47], but he explained this choice in Vargsmål:
One of my foremothers was called Susanne Malene Qisling. She was born 06-02-1811 and dies [sic] 10-05-1891. Qisling means "that which stems from a division of kingly descendants"[...]
Later albums returned to Varg Vikernes. In an interview available at www.burzum.com, he said, "They [the Norwegian government at the beginning of World War II] ran like chickens, leaving Norway, with absolutely NO authorities, and when Vidkun Quisling tried to bring order back, he was thanked with a bullet in his heart after the war."[48] This is the only known instance of Vikernes mentioning Vidkun Quisling, besides Lords of Chaos; on www.burzum.org Vikernes does not mention Vidkun Quisling at all.[49]
Vikernes has been fascinated with the fictional realm of Middle-earth created by J. R. R. Tolkien, from a very young age. His stage name Grishnackh is taken from that of a minor character in The Two Towers. The name Burzum, meaning darkness, was taken from the Black Speech inscribed on the One Ring in The Lord of the Rings. The script read: "Ash nazg durbatulúk, ash nazg gimbatul,ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul." or in English "One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the Darkness bind them." Additionally, before settling for Burzum, the band was initially named Uruk-Hai.
Vikernes interpreted The Lord of the Rings on his website, allegedly showing the connections to paganism in the books (although there are some errors, such as identifying the order fronted by the character Saruman as the Valar). Tolkien was a professor in Anglo-Saxon linguistics, and despite being of Catholic faith, he was an ethnic German influenced by Pagan ideas.[50] Vikernes criticized the film adaption of The Lord of The Rings, stating that the portrayal of the people of Rohan (the Middle-earth equivalent of Germanic civilization[51]) as dirty, penniless villagers was uncharacteristic, since cleanliness, health, and especially bathing, were all values that were held very highly by Germanic people.[52] Vikernes has also gone on to state that the women of southern Europe were much more attracted to Germanic men because they were "fairer and healthier", and since public bathing was outlawed by the Holy Roman Empire (even though Germany was a founding state of the Holy Roman Empire), many of the men that southern European women were exposed to were less attractive as mates. Vikernes feels that Tolkien's Catholic faith may have contributed to this bias.[53]
American journalist Michael Moynihan (behind the musical project Blood Axis) wrote a book entitled Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground with co-author Didrik Søderlind that is concerned with the events of the early black metal scene in Norway. There are two different reviews of this book available that are allegedly written by Varg Vikernes, one on www.burzum.org and one on www.burzum.com. Whereas the review on www.burzum.com is only mildly critical and states "The book is pretty much objective."[54], the review on www.burzum.org states:
[The authors of Lord of Chaos] have no insight into or even good knowledge about the subjects discussed and ... don't understand one bit what Black Metal was about on 1991 and 1992 ... they have managed to fill the heads of a generation of metal fans with lies.[55]
Vikernes stated in a review of Lords of Chaos that:
I dare say the vast majority of all the statements made in this book are either misinterpretations; taken out of context; misunderstandings; malicious lies made by enemies; a result of ignorance; extreme exaggerations; and/or third-hand information at best. This includes the statements attributed to me![56]
Torstein Grude created a Norwegian documentary entitled Satan rir media (Satan Rides the Media), to which Vikernes has given a more positive review. As its title implies, the movie focuses on the often hysterical media coverage of the church burning cases and the black metal scene in general. In the film, Vikernes accuses Finn Bjørn Tønder (journalist, Bergens Tidende (BT)) of deliberately informing the police about his identity after he had completed an anonymous interview. Vikernes was arrested only hours after the interview, one day before it was printed in Bergens Tidende, and was released after a week in prison due to lack of proof. In the film Svein Erik Krogvoll (head of criminal investigations, Bergen Police District) evades the question whether Vikernes was treated anonymously by Tønder by stating "It was all OK and legal."
According to Satan rir Median, it was also the BT who gave Vikernes the name "Greven" (The Count). However, Vikernes has said in Vargsmål that "[t]he reason I chose this name was not to have a tough name. The word "count (greve)" comes from the Latin word "comtes" that means partner or companion. I am the true Germanic folk's "partner" and "companion" and with that I chose this title."
Satan rir media also claimed that the Norwegian news media hyped the Satanist angle and unwittingly created a mass following for Burzum and Vikernes, both in Norway and internationally.
As Burzum:
Other appearances:
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