Varg Vikernes

Varg Vikernes

Varg Vikernes (IPA: [varg ˈviːkeɳes]) born 11 February 1973 near Bergen, Norway) is a Norwegian black metal musician, convicted murderer and arsonist, and (former) far-right 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". In a documentary on heavy metal, he was described as "the most notorious metal musician of all time".

Having served almost 16 years of a 21-year prison sentence, it was announced on March 10, 2009 that Vikernes would be released on parole.

Biography

Vikernes was sentenced to a 21 years in prison for the August 1993 murder of Øystein Aarseth (aka 'Euronymous') of Mayhem and for the burning of three Christian churches in Norway (he was also strongly suspected of burning a fourth). He was eligible for parole in spring 2008, after serving 15 years in prison, but his application was denied.A June 2008 newspaper article mentions that Vikernes is married and has a fifteen-year-old daughter (born 1993) and a son (born 2007). 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". In a 2008 interview he referred to his two children as well as an expected third child. In connection with his parole in March 2009 Vikernes announced that he would be settling on a small farm in Telemark with his family.

Background, childhood and adolescence

There exists no biography of him (authorized or unauthorized), but some information can be gathered from the interviews he has given (especially those printed in Lords of Chaos) and from articles on the web page www.burzum.org. Both accounts are potentially tendentious. Michael Moynihan, one of the authors of Lords of Chaos, has been described as "quite active in the propaganda support network for Vikernes." Burzum.org, on the other hand, has not been noted at all by secondary sources.

In the interviews printed in Lords of Chaos, Vikernes talks a lot about his background and his childhood, and even an interview with his mother, Lene Bore, is included. In the 2004 interview Vikernes mentions that "she is working in a large oil company". He also gives his father's profession as "electronics engineer", whereas his brother, who (according to the Lords of Chaos interview) is "one and a half years older", is a "graduate civil engineer".

In the Lords of Chaos interview, Vikernes recalls an incident from his childhood: When he was about 6 years old, the family moved for about a year to Baghdad, Iraq, because Vikernes' "father was working for Saddam Hussein", 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". Corporal punishment was not uncommon in the school, and on one occasion Vikernes had a "quarrel" with a teacher and called him "a monkey". But as Vikernes perceived it the teachers "didn't dare to hit me because I was white". 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." She mentions that this created problems, but generally she "has no good explanation of how Varg" developed his views. Vikernes reveals slightly more in his interview. When asked about his father, he says that he "had a swastika flag at home" 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". About his mother, Vikernes says that she was "very race conscious", in the sense that she was afraid that Vikernes "was going to come home with a black girl!" At the time of the interview (1995), Vikernes still had a positive relationship with his mother, but "very little contact" with his father. His parents are divorced. Vikernes' father is said to have "left about 10 years ago", which 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. 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." 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." 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.

Early musical career

Further information: Burzum

Vikernes had been learning the guitar since he was 14.

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.

Vikernes has stated that for the recording of these early albums he used an old Westone guitar, bought in 1987 from an acquaintance. He used the cheapest bass guitar there was in the shop and he borrowed drumsets from Old Funeral, Immortal and "another musician living nearby". On Hvis lyset tar oss, he borrowed Hellhammer's drumset, the same one Hellhammer used to record De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas by Mayhem. 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. For vocals, he 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. On the track "Dungeons of Darkness" he used the large gong at Grieghallen for background noise (Euronymous assisted him by beating his fists on it).

Arson of churches

On 6 June 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. Vikernes was found guilty of several of these cases: the attempted arson of Storetveit Church in Bergen and the arson of Åsane Church in Bergen, Skjold Church in Vindafjord, and Holmenkollen Chapel in Oslo. He was also charged with the arson of Fantoft stave church, although the jurors voted not guilty. The judges called this an error but did not overthrow the whole case.

The charred ruins of the Fantoft stave church as seen on Burzum's 1992 EP, Aske.

Vikernes was rumored to have been motivated both by paganism and theistic Satanism, but has denied he was ever a Satanist. The first case of arson happened on 6 June 1992 and was widely rumored to have been started at 6am, evoking the Number of the Beast, although it was probably started earlier under cover of night.

In an interview with Michael Moynihan Vikernes made a statement about the church burnings that hints at a heathen rather than a Satanist motivation:

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.

In explaining the motives behind the church burnings, Vikernes said: "They [the Christians] desecrated our graves, our burial mounds, so it's revenge." 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."

When asked whether the church burnings were linked to Odinism or Ásatrú 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)."

To coincide with the release of Mayhem's De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, Vikernes and Aarseth had conspired to blow up Nidaros Cathedral, which appears on the album cover. Aarseth's murder in August 1993 put an end to this plan and delayed the album's release.

Murder of Øystein Aarseth

In late January 1993, Vikernes was interviewed by a journalist from Bergens Tidende. Vikernes had requested the interview in order to gain publicity for the black metal scene and for Aarseth's record store Helvete. However, the interview led to a police investigation and Vikernes was put under arrest for a week. Aarseth decided to close his record store due to this negative attention.

On 10 August 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.

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". Vikernes himself contends "that Aarseth planned to kill him and that he was striking first in self-defense".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. 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. Additionally, Vikernes defends that most of Aarseth's cut wounds were caused by broken glass he had fallen on during the struggle. After the slaying, Vikernes drove to a nearby lake to dispose of his bloodied clothes before he returned home.

At the arrest of Vikernes, a "substantial amount of explosives" 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", a plan which "was reportedly on the verge of execution" and only prevented by Vikernes' arrest. In an article originally published in 1999, Kevin Coogan points to Vikernes' planned attack in the Blitz House as a possible motive for the murder of Aarseth. 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." Then he, too, mentions Vikernes' intent to "destroy an Oslo-based punk anti-fascist squat called Blitz House", 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".

Trial

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 smiled at the moment his verdict was read, an image that was widely reprinted in the news media.

Life in prison

He became a bitch.

Activities after prison

Vikernes stated numerous times in past interviews that he planned to move to a farm with his wife and child, mentioning the fact that he planned to write books under a pen name or anonymously as well as recording a possible future album.

Beliefs

According to Goodrick-Clarke, "while in jail, Vikernes began to formulate his nationalist heathen ideology using material from Norse mythology combined with racism and occult National Socialism." Goodrick-Clarke bases this account of Vikernes beliefs on some articles that Vikernes had written for the short-lived "neo-Nazi magazine" Filosofem, published by Vidar von Herske. Goodrick-Clarke also uses the book Lords of Chaos, and a manifesto called Vargsmål ('Speech of the Varg'), which Vikernes began to write after his imprisonment. Although some publishers were initially interested in Vargsmål 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, Vargsmål became available on the internet for some time in 1996, but not in a printed form. In 1997 a Norwegian publisher released a paperback edition of the book; its publication was financed by Vikernes' mother, Lene Bore. Vikernes has denounced the English translation of his book in an article on his website.

There is also the homepage www.burzum.org, which provides several articles allegedly written by Vikernes. There is however no third party source which confirms that the texts on that homepage were indeed written by him.

Religion

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. Many have thus inferred that Vikernes is or was a Satanist, though he 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.

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." He draws a direct connection between both race and intelligence and intelligence and religion, denouncing theism as "mental enslavement" fit only for "inferior races". Vikernes goes on to say "If it is supposed to serve a purpose Paganism needs to be an ideology, not a religion".

In addition to Vargsmål, works by Vikernes on his personal world view include Irminsûl and Germansk Mytologi og Verdensanskuelse ('Germanic Mythology and Worldview').

Political affiliation

Vikernes began identifying himself as a Nazi after his conviction. He founded the publisher and record label Cymophane Productions and in 1993 founded the racialist Norsk Hedensk Front (Norwegian Heathen Front), which grew into the Allgermanische Heidnische Front. His former ideas about Neo-Nazism and fascism can be found in several small pamphlets. Vikernes states on his website that he no longer uses the term 'Nazi' as a self-description. However, Vikernes' statements on his homepage concerning the 'nazi ghost' are 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.

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.

In other texts on his homepage he still embraces racism and eugenics ("race hygiene"). However, he makes the point that following one's own culture is an equally valid and beneficial choice for all peoples.

Influence of Vidkun Quisling?

Vidkun Quisling, Nazi collaborator minister-president of occupied 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 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". This impression is indeed given in Lords of Chaos. In the interview there, Varg Vikernes is faced with the question whether Quisling's religion was pagan or Christian. Moynihan & Søderlind write: "Vikernes has discovered his predecessor in Vidkun Quisling." At one point, he temporarily took the name 'Kvisling', 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"[...]

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." 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.

The Lord of the Rings

From an early age, Vikernes was fascinated with the fictional realm of Middle-earth created by J. R. R. Tolkien. 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 inscription 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.

Publicity

Lords of Chaos

American journalist Michael Moynihan 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 exist a few reviews of this book, some of which note the political leanings of its main author, some of which don't. One extensive review has been written by Kevin Coogan, who is otherwise known as the author of an acclaimed biography of the neo-fascist writer and activist Francis Parker Yockey. In Lords of Chaos, as Coogan writes, "Moynihan suggests that Vikernes is an avatar of a long-repressed Odinist archetype analogous to what Jung claimed for Nazi Germany in his famous 1936 essay on Wotan." The book's thesis about Black Metal as a "rise" of this Odinist archetype is factually problematic: "LOC's musings about fascism and black metal largely hang on a thin evidentiary thread, Varg Vikemes."

There are also 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", the review on www.burzum.org states:

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! . . . [The authors] 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.

Satan rir media

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 (a journalist who writes for 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 published, 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 Tønder preserved Vikernes' anonymity by stating "It was all OK and legal".

According to Satan rir media, 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 claims that by emphasizing the Satanist angle, the Norwegian news media unwittingly created a mass following for Burzum and Vikernes, both in Norway and internationally.

Influence on other church arsons

Vikernes' actions allegedly inspired Kalle Holm to burn Porvoo Cathedral in Finland.

• Novak Majstorovic, the 19-year-old guitarist of a metal band called "SchwarzReich", was charged with arson and burglary in relation to the torching of a 100+-year-old United Church in Ascot Vale, Australia in August 2004. He was convicted and sentenced to three years in Youth Detention. In all media depictions of the event he is said to have been heavily influenced by Burzum. However, he has stated on several message boards across the internet that the influence does not stretch beyond the superficial, and that the media has overblown his statements to the police to suit their own ends. He claims that the arson had very little in common with Vikernes' attacks. Majstorovic was released in August 2006. The church's priest has made no effort to contact Majstorovic, despite his promises to the media.

• Kalle Holm, an 18-year-old Finn known to have played drums in several Finnish metal bands, has said on his website that he was influenced by Burzum. He set fire to the Porvoo Cathedral in Finland in May 2006: the roof of the church burned, but the ceiling, vaults and interiors survived undamaged. The attorney's claims that the motives behind the arson were related to a "hatred towards Christianity" were overruled in court. He was sentenced to three years and two months of imprisonment without parole. The sentence was later doubled to six years and six months by the Court of Appeal.

• The Winnipeg Sun reported that three people were convicted on 27 June 2006 of arson in a fire that destroyed the Minnedosa United Church in Minnedosa, Manitoba, Canada on 12 February 2006. One was sentenced to three years in prison, the second to two years and the third to two years less a day. All three were ordered to pay CAD $1.2 million in restitution. Justice officials said the church was set on fire on Vikernes' birthday (11 February).

Works

Discography

As Burzum:

• 1992 – Burzum (recorded January 1992)
• 1993 – Det som engang var (recorded April 1992)
• 1993 – Aske (recorded August 1992)
• 1994 – Hvis lyset tar oss (recorded September 1992)
• 1996 – Filosofem (recorded March 1993)
• 1997 – Dauði Baldrs (recorded in prison 1994-1995)
• 1999 – Hliðskjálf (recorded in prison 1998)

Other appearances:

• 1991 – Old Funeral – Devoured Carcass (performed electric guitar)
• 1994 – Darkthrone – Transilvanian Hunger (wrote lyrics for four songs)
• 1995 – Darkthrone – Panzerfaust (wrote lyrics for one song)
• 1994 – Mayhem – De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (performed bass guitar)

Writings

• 1997 – Vargsmål
• 2000 – Germansk Mytologi og Verdensanskuelse
• 2001 – Guide to the Norse Gods and Their Names
• 2002 – Irminsûl

References

• Vikernes has to pay NOK13,5 million, news coverage in Bergens Tidende, -- in Norwegian
• Right wing extremism in Norway - 2001, page 8, paragraph title Norsk Hedensk Front, published by Antirasistisk senter and Monitor, -- in Norwegian
• The extreme right 1999, a report from Antirasistisk senter, -- in Norwegian
• The Count caught with an AG-3 automatic rifle, news coverage in Aftenposten, -- in Norwegian
• Police nab The Count after he fled jail, news coverage in Aftenposten
• Arrested Count was heavily armed, news coverage in Aftenposten
• Interview on a metal site (Old photo before new political affiliations)
• Editorial in The Age on Novak and his actions
• The nun-murders inspired by The count, news coverage in Dagbladet, -- in Norwegian
• The Count could have inspired the nun-killing, news coverage in Verdens Gang, -- in Norwegian

Documentation

• Kevin Coogan.1999.How Black is Black Metal?. Hit List 1 (February/March):33-59. Avaible online: How Black is Black Metal?
• Mattias Gardell. 2003. Gods of the Blood: The Pagan Revival and White Separatism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-3071-4
• Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke. 2003. Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism and the Politics of Identity. New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-3155-4
• Jeffrey Kaplan (ed.) .2000. Encyclopedia of white power: a sourcebook on the radical racist right. AltaMira Press. ISBN 978-0-7425-0340-3
• Michael Moynihan & Didrik Søderlind. 1998. Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground.
• Torstein Grude. 1998. Satan rir media (Satan Rides the Media)

External links

Official sites

• Official Burzum and Varg Vikernes home site

Unofficial sites

• Burzum.com
• Article and picture from the 2003 arrest