Varg Vikernes

Vikernes has a daughter, who was born in 1992. He later married a French national named Marie Cachet, with whom he had a son in 2007.

After his release from prison he moved with his family to Limousin in France where he is said to have six children and plans for more.

He is known to be one of the most notorious metal musicians due to his religious and political views coupled with criminal activity. He had a strong inclination towards Paganism and National Socialism. He differentiated himself from Nazis by claiming that he was not socialistic, nor was he materialistic and he believed in democracy.

Varg Vikernes was born Kristian Vikernes on 11 February 1973 in Bergen, Norway. His mother, Helene Bore, worked for an oil company and his father was an electronics engineer. He has an elder brother who is a civil engineer.

When he was six years old, his family moved to Iraq as his father took up a project with Saddam Hussein. They lived in Baghdad and he attended Iraqi elementary school for one year. During this period he had his first experience of racial discrimination. Due to the fact that he was white skinned, he was not punished, while others were.

His parents were very race conscious and did not want him to be associated with dark skinned people. He had a positive relationship with his mother but very little contact with his father. His parents divorced by the time he was 11-years-old.

Vikernes got involved with the extreme right as a National Socialist skinhead during his adolescence and admired the Germans while he hated the British and the Americans.

He loved classical music and was influenced by heavy metal at the age of 12. He soon became a fan of ‘Iron Maiden’, ‘Kreator’ and ‘Celtic Frost’ bands. He also listened to a lot of ‘Venom’s Black Metal’.

Vikernes soon got involved with the early Norwegian black metal scene and recorded four ‘Burzum’ albums by 1993. During this period he did not possess the required musical equipment and had to do with an old guitar and some borrowed instruments.

A member of the black metal band ‘Mayhem’ committed suicide and Vikernes joined the group to fill up the void. During this period he also got involved in arson and burning down of heritage churches such as the Fantoft Stave Church, dating back to the 12th century. His group claimed to be devil worshipers and aimed at spreading fear. Although the jury found him not guilty, the judge did not close the case.

In 1993, rivalry broke out between Vikernes and Euronymous over ‘Burzum’ records and Vikernes stabbed the latter to death, which he claims was in self defence. Vikernes was sentenced to 21 years imprisonment for murder and arson in May 1994. The same year Mayhem’s album ‘De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas’ was released with Euronymous on the electric guitar and Vikernes playing the bass.

Vikernes served his sentence in the prison in Bergen. In late 1994, he wrote a Norwegian language book called ‘Speech of the Wolf’, in which he defends himself against the media. The book was initially available on the internet and later got published in paperback in 1997.

During his prison sentence, he recorded two albums consisting of ‘ambient’ and ‘neofolk’ music. Since he did not have access to electric guitars and bass, he composed the music on a synthesizer.

Vikernes made his debut with Burzum in January 1992 and thereafter produced black metal including ‘Aske’ (1993), ‘Filosofem’ (1996), ‘Belus’ (2010), ‘Fallen’ (2011) and ‘The Ways of Yore’ (2014).

He also wrote the lyrics for ‘Darkthrone – Transilvanian Hunger’ in 1994 and performed with the bass guitar for ‘Mayhem – De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas’ the same year.

Varg Vikernes has not won any award but is known for his hard hitting lyrics that drive home a message.