The Daily Swarm

Blabbermouth:

Varg Vikernes (a.k.a. Count Grishnackh) — the former BURZUM mastermind who is currently serving a Norwegian prison term for the August 1993 murder of MAYHEM guitarist Oystein Aarseth (a.k.a.Euronymous) and setting fire to three churches — will soon be a free man.

“I’m ready for society — and I have been for many years,” Vikernes told Dagbladet last July . “I have learned from my mistakes and become older. Now I just want to be together with my family. My mind has never been in prison; I think all the time about what I should do on the day that I am released.” He added, “I have barely seen my son since he came into the world. Even though I hear his voice on the phone almost every day, it is very tough to not be present while he is growing up. I miss my family. And I look forward the day that I could work on my farm, create music, write books and be with the wife and kids around the clock — and live a normal life. I have received tremendous support from my family. It means a lot.”

Official Burzum website
Burzum lyrics
Burzum page on National Socialist Black Metal site
Listen to Burzum on Last.fm

In His Own Words: A Burzum Story, by Burzum

I could easily identify with the fury of the “dark forces”, and enjoyed their existence very much because they were making a boring and peaceful world dangerous and exciting.

On His Music

The idea with Burzum was not only to make original and personal music, but also to create something new – a “darkness” in a far too “light”, safe and boring world. Unlike 99% of all musicians I didn’t play music to become famous, earn money and get laid. I had no interest in neither fame nor money, and I had a very naïve and romantic view on women, an almost medieval (or rather fantsy world) view on women, so I had nothing but contempt for the brain-dead “sex, drugs and rock’n’roll” attitude of the other metal people. Instead my motivation was a wish to experiment with magic, and try to create an alternative reality by the use of “magic”. If the spiritual power of many people could be “collected” in one vessel, or transferred through one magic item or entity (in Norse we call it fylgja [“follower”, “guardian spirit”]), it could be used to create something real. This is purely magical thinking, and instead of being based on occultism it was based on fantasy magic – something that is kind of amusing to think about. Burzum was supposed to be the vessel, the magic weapon (or if You like; the magic ring), so to speak. I should stress (in case You think I had list my mind completely) that this was an experimental project that only took up some of my time, and I did other things in my life too (like prepare for partisan warfare in case of a US invasion of Norway… ).

On His Inspiration

What inspired me to make the music itself is kind of weird too. When I was a teenager my RPG (Role-Playing Games) friends and I sometimes took some wooden clubs, spears and swords and went into the countryside to fight each other. We had no other purpose than to fight because it was fun, and we didn’t try to hurt each other. We never tried to hit the head of our opponents or other “vulnerable” areas (where men’s brain is located…), and we didn’t use much force. We still sometimes hurt each other by accident, and the fighting never stopped until at least one of us was bleeding, most often from the fingers or knuckles, and one of us had had enough pain for the day.

(I can add, that when I was arrested for slaying Euronymous these fights were described as “nocturnal Satanic rituals” by the media, to provide You with an example of just how ridicules and false the media accusations and rumours of “Satanism” are.)

On His Revolt from Rock and Roll

The magic was necessary only because I wasn’t satisfied with the real world. There was no adventure, no fear or trolls, dragons or undead creatures. No magic. So I figured I had to create the magic myself. It was very sad to see that this magic was ruined or at least reduced in 1993, when the media started to write about it, and a lot of former country, rock and Death Metal bands in Norway suddenly dyed their hair black and started to wear corpse-paint and play Black Metal; to become famous, to make money and to get laid – and not to change the world. They didn’t seem to think about magic, that is for sure, but in their defense I must say they weren’t shown much magic either. The media twisted everything beyond recognition, like they always do. The new bands made Black Metal become a part of the modern world, rather than revolt against it, like they should have done. Maybe they felt attracted to it because the magic worked, because they felt attracted to something that was special. I don’t know. I just know that I don’t appreciate what it has turned into; just another unimaginative “sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll” subculture in and a part of the modern world. It has become part of the “bread and circus” of the oppressors – it has become a part of the problem.

On Accusations of Nazism

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 – and they were the first to do so in a long, long time! I have also experienced that most of the people supporting me or what I stand for are so-called “nazis” – while almost everybody else has just condemned me and then boycotted me and everything I have done. What makes me different from the “nazis” are basically three things; unlike them I am not socialistic (not even on a national level), I am not materialistic and I believe in (the ancient Scandinavian!) democracy.