Kristian Larssøn “Varg” Vikernes is a rude, racist, twisted, bitter and narcissistic human being, yet so extremely interesting. Just in case you are not familiar with him, Wikipedia describes him as a “Norwegian black metal musician, convicted murderer and arsonist, and former far-right political activist”. Yes, that’s right, he’s a murderer. He’s also burnt at least three churches, possibly four. But, despite that, I’m pretty sure he’s a nice and chill bloke. There are two sides to every story aren’t there, and his side of the infamous Varg vs. Euronymous tale of murder and destruction may well be true; it certainly sounds possible. But, that’s besides the point.
Despite not agreeing with almost anything he says (apart from his criticisms of the modern black metal scene and some of his comments on religion) he certainly is a very intriguing character and has some interesting, yet odd, views, especially politically, and no one can deny the massive impact that he has had on heavy music, prominently through his one-man project Burzum.
His political views can be easily described as extremely far-right, and by no means does he hold back when describing said views:
“The “black metallers” will probably continue to “get loaded”, “get high”, and in all other manners too behave like the stereotypical Negro; they will probably continue to get foreign tribal tattoos, dress, walk, talk, look and act like homosexuals, and so forth.”
(Note: Those aren’t the views on black metal I agree with. Although, if you remove the racism and homophobia from that statement he’s basically saying that modern day black metal has lost touch with its roots, which I agree with.)
Politically, I see myself as very left-wing, and if a colleague had expressed those same views to me I would react very strongly, but, for some reason, my opinion of Varg cannot be tarnished by anything hateful that he says. The man has done far too much for the black metal scene and deserves to be able to spew as much shit as he wants because of it. I also admire and respect him because he is obviously a very intelligent person, his views clearly thought over and his writing style elegant. I think he must be the only racist person I have ever heard of that isn’t a complete idiot, as the concept of racism really is very stupid.
If you are interested, check out the large collection of articles that are stored on his official website. Some are very interesting and all give you a great insight into the complicated mind of Mr. Varg Vikernes.
