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Count Grishnackh - Varg Qisling Larssøn Vikernes
Varg Qisling Larssøn Vikernes, born Kristian Vikernes on February 11, 1973, outside of Bergen, Norway, is a musician currently imprisoned for the 1993 murder of Øystein Aarseth.
Known by the nom de plume Count Grishnackh during the early days of black metal in Norway, Vikernes was the man behind the one-man music project Burzum, and later became a prominent voice for Neo-Nazi ideology, now subscribing to a heathen Odalist ideology. In Norway, he is known by the nick-name "Greven" (Norwegian for "the Count"). He is known to be a single person band who created songs as long as 25 minutes.
Trial and incarceration
Vikernes is currently incarcerated for the 1993 murder of his former friend and bandmate Øystein Aarseth (also known as Euronymous) of the black metal band Mayhem. Vikernes was additionally found guilty of a number of lesser felonies, the attempted arson of Storetveit Church in Bergen, the arson of Åsane Church in Bergen, Skjold Church in Vindafjord, Holmenkollen Chapel in Oslo, (to which Vikernes claims they had no proof and that they said "it was obvious he did it") and the consequent death of a firefighter, landing him the maximum sentence in Norway of 21 years in prison, though it has been shortened (as is normal in Norway) and lengthened due to his escape. 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. Later appeals to higher courts were dismissed.
During the murder case, the 22-year-old Snorre Ruch was put on trial together with Varg Vikernes and sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment, although he had nothing to do with the killing of Euronymous.
The circumstances surrounding the reason for the murder are not entirely clear, but have been mainly attributed to ideological differences and a power struggle between Vikernes and Aarseth. Vikernes claimed that Aarseth had plotted to kill him and that the murder was committed in partial self-defense. Aarseth was found dead outside his apartment in Oslo with an alleged 23 stab wounds — two to the head, five to the neck, and 16 to the back, though Vikernes claims that the majority of these wounds were received when Aarseth fell on pieces of a broken lamp that he knocked over in the struggle. Vikernes also claimed that there was a financial dispute over the profits from Burzum's first two full-length records (Burzum and Det Som Engang Var) as well as the first Burzum EP (Aske) that were released through Aarseth's record label, Deathlike Silence Records, but Vikernes urges that this was never a reason for the murder. Some have suggested that the murder was based on Aarseth's ties to Salem, a Jewish oriental metal band in Israel, to whom Varg had unsuccesfully sent a mailbomb.
At the time of Aarseth's murder, Vikernes was playing bass guitar for Mayhem.Aarseth's mother reportedly asked Hellhammer (real name Jan Axel Blomberg), Mayhem's then-drummer, to remove the bass tracks that Vikernes had recorded for Mayhem's first full length studio album De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. Hellhammer has since claimed that he spread the word to anyone he could that he was going to replace the bass tracks, however the tracks were never re-recorded.
At the time of Vikernes' arrest, police found 100 kg of explosives in his home. What he planned to do with the explosives is unknown.
He is presently serving time at Trondheim Fengsel in Norway.
During his time in prison, he has written a book called Vargsmål (which means Varg's talk) about racial purity, Ásatrú, his personal life and many other subjects. In many ways, it is similar to Hitler's book "Mein Kampf"
Vikernes' thoughts
Varg Vikernes, circa 1993
Political affiliation
Vikernes is formerly a member of the extremist group Hvit Arisk Motstand, — White Aryan Resistance, a group on the far right, and was also involved with the Norsk Hedensk Front, — Norwegian Heathen Front. For the latter he is said to be the leader in 2001 . In 1999 he is noted as a member only, although a prominent one . His ideas about Neo-nazism and fascism can be found in several small pamphlets.
He helped create the Odalist movement and co-founded the All-Germanic Heathen Front, a subsidiary of Norwegian Heathen Front. Whether he was a member or a leader of this organization, and therefore if he associates or not with the organization, depends on whether this organization is independent from the Norwegian one.
Ásatrú
Vikernes is proponent of the Ásatrú religion and believes it is a religion for all Germanic peoples. Vikernes is the author of several short works on his personal weltanschauung, namely Vargsmål (lit. 'the speech of Varg'), Irminsûl and Germansk Mytologi og Verdensanskuelse. Vikernes interprets the old Germanic lore in a fascistic way and belongs to the leading heads of modern esoteric fascism.
Anti-Christianity
Vikernes has written lyrics for several songs by the band Darkthrone (Quintessence, As Flittermice as Satan's Spies, etc.) that make use of characteristics 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 proof 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.
Vikernes has been fascinated with the fictional realm of Mordor from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings Trilogy from a very young age (his stage name is taken from that of a minor character in The Two Towers), claiming to have mastered the Black Speech from which he took the term Burzum. According to Vikernes, the Christianized perspective of Germanic-sourced myths used in the books to create the Black Speech inspired Tolkien to give the word burz the meaning of 'darkness', whereas the old Germanic term bertz meant 'bright', 'light', or 'brilliant' in pre-Christian times.
The end of Burzum
In 2000, Vikernes terminated his musical project (which he had continued from his prison cell) 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. By this time, Vikernes had released two ambient albums, having abandoned the black metal 'scene' years previous. Varg intends to continue Burzum if he is released on probation in April 2006. The new Burzum, Vikernes claims, will be a continuation of pre-prison Burzum, specifically the "Filosofem" album. Though he has distanced himself from black metal, and looks down upon the culture, he claims this is the only music he is able to create.
Publicity
American journalist Michael Moynihan (behind the musical project Blood Axis) wrote a book surrounding the events of the early black metal scene in Norway entitled Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground with co-author Didrik Søderlind. Vikernes has spoken against this book, saying that it is full of misconceptions and false hype. Torstein Grude created a Norwegian documentary entitled Satan rir media (Satan Rides the Media), to which Vikernes has given a more positive review. This film proved that journalist Finn Bjørn Tønder of Bergens Tidende after completing an anonymous interview with Vikernes, immediately paid the police a visit and informed them about his findings. Vikernes was arrested the same night. Satan rir media also showed how the Norwegian news media hyped the Satanist angle and unwittingly created a mass following for this relatively small group of teenage boys, both in Norway and internationally.