Varg Vikernes

Vikernes's YouTube channel was removed from the platform in June 2019. This coincided with an announcement from YouTube that it would be more aggressive in removing extremist content and hate speech which violated its terms of service. Vikernes said he did not know exactly why his channel was removed. Within hours, he had created a new channel and said he would continue to post content. This channel was also removed.

In late 2019, Vikernes announced on his Twitter that he intended to release another album as Burzum. Titled Thulean Mysteries, the album was released in March 2020. Vikernes has indicated that this will be his last album under the Burzum name.

Vikernes has self-published a tabletop role-playing game named MYFAROG. In 2019, he announced plans to release an ambient album of Burzum music, called 'Thulean Mysteries', intended as background music for the game.

In June 2018, Vikernes made comments that he had "moved on" from Burzum on his YouTube channel, saying "bye bye" to the project.

On the night of the murder, Vikernes and Snorre "Blackthorn" Ruch drove from Bergen to Euronymous' apartment at Tøyengata in Oslo. Blackthorn allegedly stood in the stairwell smoking while Vikernes went to Euronymous' apartment on the fourth floor. Vikernes said he met Euronymous at the door to hand him the signed contract, but when he stepped forward and confronted Euronymous, Euronymous "panicked" and kicked him in the chest. Vikernes claims Euronymous ran into the kitchen to fetch a knife. The two got into a struggle and Vikernes stabbed Euronymous to death. His body was found in the stairwell on the first floor with 23 stab wounds—two to the head, five to the neck, and 16 to the back. Vikernes claims his final stab to the skull was so powerful the knife remained stuck in Euronymous’ skull, but no physical evidence or bodily injuries support his claim. Vikernes contends that most of Euronymous' wounds were caused by broken glass he had fallen on during the struggle. After the murder, Vikernes and Blackthorn drove back to Bergen. On the way, they stopped at a lake where Vikernes disposed of his bloodstained clothes. This claim of self-defense is doubted by Emperor drummer Faust, but Mayhem bassist Necrobutcher believes Vikernes killed Euronymous due to the aforementioned death threats he received from him.

Vikernes continued with Burzum after his release. He released a further three black metal albums: Belus (2010), Fallen (2011) and Umskiptar (2012) and a compilation of re-recorded songs (From the Depths of Darkness). On 27 April 2013, Vikernes posted a song on his official YouTube channel, titled "Back to the Shadows", which Vikernes has stated to be the last metal track to be released by Burzum. In May 2013, he released another ambient album, Sôl austan, Mâni vestan.

On 16 July 2013, Vikernes and his wife, a French national, were arrested at their home in Corrèze, France, on suspicion of planning acts of terrorism after his wife bought four rifles. Officials later stated that Vikernes' wife had a legal firearms permit to buy the rifles. The two were later released without charge after police failed to identify any terrorist plans or targets. Vikernes was instead charged by French authorities with inciting racial hatred against Jews and Muslims, which is a criminal offense in France. This was due to posts on his blog, "Thulean Perspective", which included anti-Semitic rants that were taken down following the charges. Vikernes claimed he had not written the posts, although the blog attributed all posts to him. On 8 July 2014, Vikernes was convicted of inciting racial hatred and sentenced to six months of probation and a fine of €8,000.

In July 2012, Vikernes created a YouTube channel under the name ThuleanPerspective (or Thulêan Perspective). The channel mainly dealt with European pagan mythology and his political views. In 2013, Vikernes and his wife released a film called ForeBears, based on bear worship during the time of the Neandertals, which is, according to him, connected with autism.

Vikernes was one of the recipients of far-right terrorist Anders Behring Breivik's manifesto, which Breivik sent out before launching the 2011 Norway attacks, killing 77 people. Although Vikernes condemned Breivik's actions, this drew the attention of the French authorities.

In 2011, Abstract Sounds Books published Vikernes' English book entitled Sorcery and Religion in Ancient Scandinavia, about the religious practices of Scandinavian peoples, particularly during the Stone Age and Bronze Age. According to a review from the music blog Heathen Harvest, the book rejects accepted academic theories, instead focusing on Vikernes's speculation and personalized story-telling.

Having served 15 years of his sentence, Vikernes was released on parole in early 2009. He changed his legal name to Louis Cachet to avoid difficulties with the public, but still goes by Varg Vikernes in daily life. After his release, he moved to France with his wife and children, where he has continued to write and make music.

When Vikernes was convicted, it was possible to be released on parole after serving 12 years of a 21-year sentence, but in 2002, before he became eligible, the Norwegian Parliament had extended this to 14 years. In June 2006, after serving 12 years, Vikernes was denied parole by the Department of Criminal Justice for this reason. His lawyer, John Christian Elden, has complained that the policy change is a form of retroactive legislation. Article 97 of the Norwegian constitution forbids any law being given retroactive force. Vikernes was denied parole again in June 2008, although he was allowed to leave Tromsø Prison for short periods to visit his family. His full sentence would run for another seven years. In March 2009, however, his parole was announced. He had then served nearly 15 years of his 21-year sentence. On 22 May 2009, he confirmed that he had been released from prison on probation.

Vikernes has a son who was born in 2007 to his wife Marie Cachet. They were married the same year. In a 2008 interview, he said he and his wife were expecting a second child (Vikernes' third). After his release, he and his family settled on a small farm in Bø, Telemark. They later moved to Limousin in France. As of 2017, he said that he had six children and planned to have more.

In Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, director Sam Dunn described Vikernes as "the most notorious metal musician of all time" due to his crimes as well as his political and religious views. While in prison, Vikernes promoted views which combined Odinism and Esoteric Nazism. Religious studies scholar Egil Asprem characterized Vikernes as "an idol for skinheads with an inclination towards Paganism and for contemporary Pagans with an inclination towards National Socialism". In a 2005 statement on his website, Vikernes wrote that although he had "occasionally used the term 'nazism' to describe [his] ideological foundation", he no longer describes himself as such. He had used the term following his 1994 conviction until the late 1990s. Among other things, he did not wish to be associated with anti-Slavic sentiments.

In the interviews printed in Lords of Chaos, Vikernes discusses his background and childhood. Lords of Chaos also includes an interview with his mother, Helene Bore (the book and a newspaper depicted there refer to her with the given name Lene, whereas Vikernes' own website uses the name Helene). In a 2004 interview, Vikernes said his mother was "working in a large oil company". His father is an electronics engineer, and his older brother is a civil engineer.

In August 2003, Vikernes was transferred from a maximum-security prison in Bergen to the low-security prison in Tønsberg. On 15 October, the local paper, Tønsbergs Blad, published an article that criticised Vikernes. On 26 October, Vikernes went on the run after being granted a short leave. He stopped a car in Numedal. Inside it was a family of three, who said that he hijacked the car at gunpoint. About 19 hours later, police stopped the car in Romerike and arrested him. The car contained knives, a gas mask, camouflage clothing, a portable GPS navigator, maps, a compass, a laptop and a mobile phone. Police also found a handgun and an AG3 automatic rifle in a cabin in Rollag, where Vikernes had hidden during his escape. They concluded that his escape "was well planned and involved assistance from several people on the outside". Before the escape, Vikernes gave his mother a letter. In it, he wrote that he had received death threats and another inmate had tried to strangle him shortly after the newspaper article was published. For his actions, thirteen months were added to Vikernes' sentence and he was moved to a prison in Ringerike. In July 2004, he was moved to a maximum-security prison in Trondheim. The last three years of his sentence were spent in Tromsø Prison.

By late 2003, Vikernes had begun writing articles for Burzum.org, which became the official Burzum website. He also wrote for his personal blog, Thulean Perspective, which was set up in January 2013. The website Ancestral Cult was created by him and his wife.

Much of the information about Vikernes comes from the 1998 book Lords of Chaos (Feral House) which covers the early Norwegian black metal scene. Michael Moynihan, one of the book's authors, was sympathetic with Vikernes and his extremist politics. In response to accusations concerning his politics, Moynihan made statements denouncing the far-right and white supremacism, saying: "I probably have far more in common with anarchists than I would with any right-wing person, and they would probably agree."

In 1998 he wrote a book called Germansk Mytologi og Verdensanskuelse ("Teutonic Mythology and Worldview").

On 8 April 1997, Norwegian police arrested five neo-Nazis in Hemnes. According to police, the young men were part of a self-styled "Einsatzgruppe" and were plotting attacks on political and religious figures in Norway. They also had plans to break Vikernes out of prison. The group "had all the trappings of a paramilitary unit", including guns, explosives, bulletproof vests, steel helmets and balaclavas. One of its members, Tom Eiternes, had befriended Vikernes in prison before escaping while on leave. Vikernes' mother, Lene Bore, was arrested for supplying the group with 100,000 kroner. She confessed, but claimed she did not know they were "right-wing extremists" and said her son was being attacked by fellow inmates. In late 1996, his jaw had reportedly been broken in a fight with another inmate. However, the prison director said her claims were unfounded, and police suspected that the money came from Vikernes himself. Lords of Chaos says that Vikernes adopted a "skinhead" look and wore a belt buckle with SS insignia around this time. Despite her confession, Bore was not convicted, and in 1998 the case against the "Einsatzgruppe" was dropped.

When asked about his father, Vikernes states that he "had a swastika flag at home." 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 states 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 1995 Lords of Chaos interview, Vikernes still had a positive relationship with his mother but "very little contact" with his father. He also stated that his parents are divorced; Vikernes' father is said to have "left about 10 years ago", which would have been 1985, when Vikernes was 11 or 12.

Vikernes' trial began on 2 May 1994; he was represented by the lawyer Stein-Erik Mattsson. Many other members of the scene, including Blackthorn and Faust, were put on trial around the same time. Some of them confessed to their crimes and implicated others. According to Lords of Chaos, "Vikernes is disgusted by the fact that, while he held fast to a code of silence, others confessed."

On 16 May 1994, Vikernes was sentenced to 21 years in prison (Norway's maximum penalty) for the murder of Euronymous, the arson of three churches, the attempted arson of a fourth church, and for the theft and storage of 150 kg of explosives. Though Vikernes only confessed to the theft and storage of the explosives, two churches were set on fire the day he was sentenced, "presumably as a statement of symbolic support". Blackthorn, who hadn't taken part in the murder as he had gone down the condominium's stairs to smoke, was sentenced to 8 years in prison for being an accomplice.

May 1994 also saw the release of Mayhem's album De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, which has Euronymous on electric guitar and Vikernes on bass guitar. Before the release, Euronymous' family had asked Mayhem's drummer, Hellhammer, to remove the bass tracks recorded by Vikernes. Hellhammer said "I thought it was appropriate that the murderer and victim were on the same record. I put word out that I was re-recording the bass parts, but I never did."

During his time in prison, Vikernes recorded two albums made up wholly of ambient and neofolk music. The first, Dauði Baldrs, was recorded in 1994–1995 and released in October 1997. The second, Hliðskjálf, was recorded in 1998 and released in April 1999. Vikernes was denied access to an electric guitar, bass guitar or drums, and instead used a synthesizer. In 2000, Vikernes decided to put Burzum on hold. He believed that his philosophy was constantly misinterpreted by an ignorant fan base that was too closely related to black metal and Satanism. Later, through his website, he indicated that he hoped to continue Burzum after 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".

In late 1994, while in prison, Vikernes wrote a Norwegian-language book called Vargsmål ("Varg's Speech"). Vikernes has said he wrote Vargsmål to defend himself against the media. 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, Helene Bore. As of 1999, Vargsmål was being sold by the neo-Nazi organization Heathen Front via its website.

In August 1993, Vikernes fatally stabbed Mayhem guitarist Euronymous during an altercation at the latter's apartment, and was arrested shortly after. In May 1994, Vikernes was convicted of first-degree murder, church arson and possession of explosives. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison, the maximum penalty under Norwegian law. Vikernes said the killing was self-defense and unsuccessfully argued for the charge to be reduced to voluntary manslaughter. During his incarceration, Vikernes launched the Norwegian Heathen Front, had two books published, and released two ambient albums as Burzum. Vikernes also started a blog which, in the words of a Rolling Stone writer, "endorsed neo-Nazi views and contains rants against Muslims and Jews". Vikernes openly embraced Nazism during the 1990s; he has since disowned the ideology and its associated movements. He calls his beliefs "Odalism" and advocates a "pre-industrial European pagan society".

In January 1993, an article in one of Norway's biggest newspapers, Bergens Tidende, brought the black metal scene into the media spotlight. Two friends of Vikernes interviewed him and brought the interview to the newspaper, hoping they would print it. In the anonymous interview, "Count Grishnackh" (Vikernes) claimed to have burnt the churches and killed a man in Lillehammer. BT journalist Finn Bjørn Tønder set up a meeting with Count Grishnackh with help from the friends. The journalists were summoned to an apartment and reportedly warned that they would be shot if the police were called. There, Vikernes and his companions told the journalists that they had burnt the churches, or knew who had done it, and said that the attacks would continue. They claimed to be devil worshippers and said: "Our intention is to spread fear and devilry [...] that is why we are telling this to Bergens Tidende." They gave the journalists details about the arsons that hadn't been released to the press, so BT spoke with the police before publishing it, who confirmed these details.

Norwegian magazine Rock Furore published an interview with Vikernes in February 1993. In it, he said of the prison system: "It's much too nice here. It's not hell at all. In this country prisoners get a bed, toilet and shower. It's completely ridiculous. I asked the police to throw me in a real dungeon, and also encouraged them to use violence". He was released in March for lack of evidence.

In early 1993, animosity arose between Euronymous and Vikernes. After the Bergens Tidende episode, Euronymous decided to shut Helvete as it began to draw the attention of the police and media.

On the night of 10 August 1993, Vikernes stabbed Euronymous to death at his apartment in Oslo. The murder was initially blamed on Swedish black metallers by the media. It has been speculated that the murder was the result of a power struggle, a financial dispute over Burzum records (Euronymous owed Vikernes a large sum of royalty payments), or an attempt at "outdoing" a recent stabbing in Lillehammer committed by Emperor drummer Faust. Vikernes claims that he killed Euronymous in self-defense. He says that Euronymous had plotted to stun him with an electroshock weapon, tie him up, and torture him to death while videotaping the event. Vikernes explains: "If he was talking about it to everybody and anybody I wouldn't have taken it seriously. But he just told a select group of friends, and one of them told me". He said Euronymous planned to use a meeting about an unsigned contract to ambush him.

Blackthorn claims Vikernes planned to murder Euronymous and pressured him into coming along. He claims that, in the summer of 1993, he was almost committed to a mental hospital but fled to Bergen and stayed with Vikernes. Blackthorn said of the murder, "I was neither for nor against it. I didn't give a shit about Øystein". Vikernes, however, claims that he had not planned the killing and that Blackthorn came along to show Euronymous some new guitar riffs. Vikernes called Blackthorn's claims a "defense [...] to make sure I couldn't blame him [for the murder]".

Vikernes was arrested on 19 August 1993 in Bergen. The police found 150 kg of explosives and 3,000 rounds of ammunition in his home. According to the Encyclopedia of White Power, Vikernes "intended to blow up Blitz House, the radical leftist and anarchist enclave in Oslo", a plan which "was reportedly on the verge of execution." In an article originally published in 1999, Kevin Coogan also mentioned Vikernes' alleged intent to "destroy an Oslo-based punk anti-fascist squat called Blitz House," and stated "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." Vikernes denied these claims in a 2009 interview, saying he was collecting explosives and ammunition "in order to defend Norway if we were attacked any time."

A native of Bergen, Vikernes spent part of his childhood in Iraq, where his father was working for the Iraqi government. He began playing guitar at the age of 14 and formed his first band, Kalashnikov, within the next two years. After founding Burzum he became part of the early Norwegian black metal scene. In 1992, Vikernes, along with other members of the scene, was suspected of burning down four Christian churches in Norway. Vikernes denied responsibility for the arsons, though he supported them. By early 1993, he had recorded four albums as Burzum and another with fellow black metal band Mayhem.

On 6 June 1992, the Fantoft Stave Church, dating from the 12th century and considered architecturally significant, was burned to the ground by 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 arson and attempted arson of Åsane Church and Storetveit Churchin Bergen, the arson of Skjold Church in Vindafjord, and the arson of Holmenkollen Chapel in Oslo. He was also charged with the arson of Fantoft Stave Church, although the jurors found him not guilty. The judges called this an error but did not overthrow the whole case.

In 1992, Vikernes joined the black metal band Mayhem, a year after band member Dead committed suicide on 8 April 1991.

Vikernes started playing guitar at the age of 14. When he was 17, Vikernes came into contact with members of Old Funeral. He played guitar with them during 1990–1991 and performed on their Devoured Carcass EP before he began his solo musical project, Burzum, and quickly became involved with the early Norwegian black metal scene. During 1992–1993, he recorded four albums as Burzum.

Since the late 1990s he has described his views as "Odalism", which he says encompasses "Paganism, traditional nationalism, racialism and environmentalism". Vikernes also advocates social conservatism, simple living and self-sufficiency (including survivalism). Vikernes has described his own ideology fiercely anti-modern. According to Eric Brown writing for the International Business Times, Vikernes opposes anything deemed "a threat to a pre-industrial European pagan society, including but not limited to Christianity, Islam, Judaism, capitalism and materialism", and he also "rallies against a perceived international Jewish conspiracy to destroy the traditional European identity".

Vikernes has stated that for the recording of these early albums he used an old Westone guitar, which he had bought in 1987 from an acquaintance. He used the cheapest bass guitar there was in his local shop and borrowed a drum kit from Old Funeral, the successor band Immortal, and "another musician living nearby". On Hvis lyset tar oss, he also borrowed Hellhammer's drum kit, 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).

Louis Cachet (born Kristian Vikernes, 11 February 1973), professionally known as Varg Vikernes (Norwegian: [ˈvɑrɡ ˈvìːkəɳeːs] ), is a Norwegian musician and writer. In 1991, he founded the one-man music project Burzum, which became one of the most influential black metal acts. In 1994, he was convicted of murder and arson, and subsequently served 15 years in prison.