Varg is free!
May 25, 2009 8:36 AM Subscribe
Varg is free! But, will all the glitter girls go for black metal?
(note: this post does not endorse nazism, murder, church burning, or bad music)
(note: this post does not endorse nazism, murder, church burning, or bad music)
note to self: commit any future horrid crimes in Norway where you can record albums and have sex with your spouse in jail.
posted by vespabelle at 8:46 AM on May 25, 2009
posted by vespabelle at 8:46 AM on May 25, 2009
He didn't care for Lords of Chaos. Surprise surprise.
In other news, the new sunnO))) album is quite awesome.
posted by fungible at 8:46 AM on May 25, 2009
In other news, the new sunnO))) album is quite awesome.
posted by fungible at 8:46 AM on May 25, 2009
\m/- Tru! Blak! Metal! -\m/
When I saw Dimmu Borgir, I overheard some people talking about Varg. I'd heard about him before, but the discussion, though I could make out little, was held with the passionate intensity of two Star Wars fans with opposing views.
Afterwards, I felt like burning some churches, too.
posted by adipocere at 8:57 AM on May 25, 2009
When I saw Dimmu Borgir, I overheard some people talking about Varg. I'd heard about him before, but the discussion, though I could make out little, was held with the passionate intensity of two Star Wars fans with opposing views.
Afterwards, I felt like burning some churches, too.
posted by adipocere at 8:57 AM on May 25, 2009
Man, that must be part of his sentence. Being played by a Twilight castmember is about as unmetal as it gets.
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 9:29 AM on May 25, 2009 [3 favorites]
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 9:29 AM on May 25, 2009 [3 favorites]
this makes me think of the metalocalypse episode where they go to band therapy. he needs a banana sticker.
posted by fuzzypantalones at 9:33 AM on May 25, 2009 [3 favorites]
posted by fuzzypantalones at 9:33 AM on May 25, 2009 [3 favorites]
So now Varg Vikernes looks like an entirely different variety of douche. It's a lateral move.
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:55 AM on May 25, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:55 AM on May 25, 2009 [1 favorite]
JACKSON RATHBONE IST KRIEG!
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 9:55 AM on May 25, 2009
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 9:55 AM on May 25, 2009
Jason Pitzl-Waters' take on this:
"If you were going to make a major motion picture that casts the modern Pagan impulse in the worst possible light, you couldn’t do much better than picking Varg Vikernes as the subject...we’re talking about a figure who personally fulfilled all the hysterical extremist Christian stereotypes about what modern Pagans are."
posted by velvet winter at 10:02 AM on May 25, 2009 [2 favorites]
"If you were going to make a major motion picture that casts the modern Pagan impulse in the worst possible light, you couldn’t do much better than picking Varg Vikernes as the subject...we’re talking about a figure who personally fulfilled all the hysterical extremist Christian stereotypes about what modern Pagans are."
posted by velvet winter at 10:02 AM on May 25, 2009 [2 favorites]
When I first read "Lords of Chaos", I thought a great way to tell Varg's story on film would be to start with some trailer park in the UK...
Two young metalheads are smoking BTs in a dishevelled trailer, arguing over who was the most metal or extreme or whatever, maybe with a Venom poster in the background or something. Door opens, huge older brother comes in, wrist spikes and the whole deal, says you young whippersnappers don't know what you're talking about & begins to tell the story of Varg as though it were some bedtime story or something.
posted by stinkycheese at 10:12 AM on May 25, 2009 [5 favorites]
Two young metalheads are smoking BTs in a dishevelled trailer, arguing over who was the most metal or extreme or whatever, maybe with a Venom poster in the background or something. Door opens, huge older brother comes in, wrist spikes and the whole deal, says you young whippersnappers don't know what you're talking about & begins to tell the story of Varg as though it were some bedtime story or something.
posted by stinkycheese at 10:12 AM on May 25, 2009 [5 favorites]
Lords of Chaos is a pretty good book, if horridly overwritten. I can't picture the movie being anything but garbage, sort of the way Disco Bloodbath is brilliant but Party Monster was a travesty.
posted by Bookhouse at 10:13 AM on May 25, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by Bookhouse at 10:13 AM on May 25, 2009 [1 favorite]
.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 10:15 AM on May 25, 2009
posted by ZenMasterThis at 10:15 AM on May 25, 2009
While in prison Varg decided that the only purely white instrument was the Casio keyboard so don't expect Aske Part Two any time soon.
posted by The Straightener at 10:31 AM on May 25, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by The Straightener at 10:31 AM on May 25, 2009 [2 favorites]
Casio keyboard? What about the Flamenco button?
posted by stinkycheese at 10:36 AM on May 25, 2009
posted by stinkycheese at 10:36 AM on May 25, 2009
The best media related to the Norwegian black metal scene and the Varg story that I've seen is a Norwegian documentary called "Satan Rides The Media" - it details how the whole "EVIL UNDEGROUND SATANIC CULT" story was basically a creation of the Norwegian media, in particular one journalist at the Bergens Tidende newspaper. Varg pretty much just told him a bunch of wacky stories to promote himself, and thus the "Count" was born. It's available on Google Video, and is worth watching if you're at all interested in the subject.
posted by DecemberBoy at 10:46 AM on May 25, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by DecemberBoy at 10:46 AM on May 25, 2009 [2 favorites]
i'm hoping varg does a US tour in conjunction with the LoC movie, explaining to local tv media how christianity is a jewish conspiracy to destroy the natural white gods under great wotan and pollute nordic blood.
it's going to go over great.
posted by geos at 11:29 AM on May 25, 2009
it's going to go over great.
posted by geos at 11:29 AM on May 25, 2009
I just re-watched "Satan Rides The Media", and there are a couple of notable errors I never noticed before, so I'll point them out for anyone else who's interested in watching it: the voiceover says that "the drummer from Mayhem" accompanied Varg on the night he killed Euronymous, actually it was a guy named Snorre who played in another black metal band named Thorns. He got 8 years for being an "accomplice" for just riding in the car with Varg and standing in the parking lot of Euronymous' apartment building smoking a cigarette. Also, there's another guy who's interviewed (they only show the bottom part of his face and a computer monitor with Propellerheads ReBirth loaded in the background) and is identified as "the guitarist from Mayhem". Well, Mayhem's guitarist was Euronymous, so I don't know who this guy is. He claims to be the one that led the police to arrest Varg.
These could be subtitling errors, since the documentary is in Norwegian, and they don't really detract from the overall message, which is that the whole "EVIL BLACK METAL SATANISTS" thing was mostly a media creation (they show clips from Norwegian news programs with people claiming that "Satanists sacrificed my baby" and outrageous made-up shit like that).
posted by DecemberBoy at 11:30 AM on May 25, 2009 [1 favorite]
These could be subtitling errors, since the documentary is in Norwegian, and they don't really detract from the overall message, which is that the whole "EVIL BLACK METAL SATANISTS" thing was mostly a media creation (they show clips from Norwegian news programs with people claiming that "Satanists sacrificed my baby" and outrageous made-up shit like that).
posted by DecemberBoy at 11:30 AM on May 25, 2009 [1 favorite]
Another well made documentary about Norwegian black metal is "Once Upon a Time in Norway" found here on Youtube: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Man, I hate the thought of Lords of Chaos author Michael Moynihan making any more money off the Burzum story than he already has. Fuck that guy.
posted by Hammond Rye at 11:32 AM on May 25, 2009 [5 favorites]
Man, I hate the thought of Lords of Chaos author Michael Moynihan making any more money off the Burzum story than he already has. Fuck that guy.
posted by Hammond Rye at 11:32 AM on May 25, 2009 [5 favorites]
Foilosem is a great album . The later keyboard ones,...are really bad.
When I was in Norway a couple years ago he had recently escaped form prison and attempted to hijack a car, he got caught and sent back. Now he's out ? I guess Norweigan prisons are pretty loose, I don't think he's ever claimed to be remorseful of the murder.
Anyway, yeah the movie will be lame no doubt, and disliked by all. What else can you expect?
posted by Liquidwolf at 11:37 AM on May 25, 2009
When I was in Norway a couple years ago he had recently escaped form prison and attempted to hijack a car, he got caught and sent back. Now he's out ? I guess Norweigan prisons are pretty loose, I don't think he's ever claimed to be remorseful of the murder.
Anyway, yeah the movie will be lame no doubt, and disliked by all. What else can you expect?
posted by Liquidwolf at 11:37 AM on May 25, 2009
Black metal is silly.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 11:38 AM on May 25, 2009
posted by BitterOldPunk at 11:38 AM on May 25, 2009
Casio keyboard? What about the Flamenco button?
And all of those "sharps" and "flats"?
posted by joe lisboa at 11:42 AM on May 25, 2009
And all of those "sharps" and "flats"?
posted by joe lisboa at 11:42 AM on May 25, 2009
The later keyboard ones,...are really bad.
To say the least. Actually, I think pretty much all his music sucks the Aryan Meat Missile, but at least the guitar-and-drums stuff has some variety. The keyboard "songs" are just the same 5-or-6-note passage repeating over and over and over for like 5 minutes with no variation at all. If that's "Aryan" music, then feel free to call me a race traitor. I mean, the music would be bad enough on its own without the accompanying "metal music is n*gger music and this is pure Aryan pagan music" posturing.
As far as Varg being a "Nazi", I feel about him the same way I feel about Boyd Rice. He isn't a Nazi per se, but he's so close to one that it isn't worth defending him. He's definitely a racist piece of shit, if not an actual National Socialist.
posted by DecemberBoy at 12:05 PM on May 25, 2009
To say the least. Actually, I think pretty much all his music sucks the Aryan Meat Missile, but at least the guitar-and-drums stuff has some variety. The keyboard "songs" are just the same 5-or-6-note passage repeating over and over and over for like 5 minutes with no variation at all. If that's "Aryan" music, then feel free to call me a race traitor. I mean, the music would be bad enough on its own without the accompanying "metal music is n*gger music and this is pure Aryan pagan music" posturing.
As far as Varg being a "Nazi", I feel about him the same way I feel about Boyd Rice. He isn't a Nazi per se, but he's so close to one that it isn't worth defending him. He's definitely a racist piece of shit, if not an actual National Socialist.
posted by DecemberBoy at 12:05 PM on May 25, 2009
I'm not an expert on population issues but I'm pretty sure the world has at least one person it doesn't need.
posted by tommasz at 1:09 PM on May 25, 2009
posted by tommasz at 1:09 PM on May 25, 2009
> While in prison Varg decided that the only purely white instrument was the Casio keyboard...
He should cover a classic, then.
posted by ardgedee at 4:23 PM on May 25, 2009
He should cover a classic, then.
posted by ardgedee at 4:23 PM on May 25, 2009
Varg Vikernes is, in my opinion, both a talented artist and a thoroughly reprehensible person- a combination which is hardly unusual, though to be sure Vikernes is reprehensible in unusually extreme and colorful ways. But I do think he has (or had- the keyboard albums really do suck) considerable musical talent- as much attention as the shock factor of his beliefs and actions might attract, there's a reason why Burzum is much better known and more influential than a band like Absurd. Within the black metal scene his metal albums are widely seen as classics, and rightly so, I think- "Filosofem" might well be the most influential and widely imitated album within the black metal genre, something which wouldn't happen if his music didn't have any substance to it outside of the shock value.
Some people might not believe that last sentence, but it's true- black metal obviously isn't something that will appeal to everyone, but it's as valid and diverse a genre of music as any other, and there's much more to it than the whole lurid story of the Norwegian scene. Dismissing the whole genre as a joke is like saying that all hip-hop is a joke, or that all indie rock sucks, or what have you. This particular kind of music may not be to most people's personal taste, and that's fine, but there's as much musical talent and diversity within it as there is anywhere else. Lord knows there's some very good reasons to mock Vikernes as a person, but I admit I get a little irritated by how easily that tends to translate to mocking dismissal of the entire genre of music he was part of.
As for the "Lords of Chaos" movie- I would comment further on it, but my brain keeps seizing up whenever I try to process what I've heard about it. According to what I've read of it so far, this is going to be a mainstream Hollywood movie about the Norwegian black metal scene, featuring a "Twilight" cast member as Varg Vikernes, and he's the protagonist. (If the protagonist were one of the comparatively well-adjusted people within that scene- Fenriz of Darkthrone, for example- I could maybe see a mainstream movie being made about it, but Varg?) Add in that I've heard it's supposed to be a "teen film", and I'm at a complete loss to understand what anyone involved is thinking.
The Straightener: While in prison Varg decided that the only purely white instrument was the Casio keyboard so don't expect Aske Part Two any time soon.
I've heard he's actually changed his tune on that (something which happens quite a lot- the man is not known for the consistency of his views), and has said that any future albums would be in the vein of "Filosofem". I don't really expect much, either way, but that at least has somewhat more promise than the prospect of more stuff like his last two.
posted by a louis wain cat at 7:53 PM on May 25, 2009 [2 favorites]
Some people might not believe that last sentence, but it's true- black metal obviously isn't something that will appeal to everyone, but it's as valid and diverse a genre of music as any other, and there's much more to it than the whole lurid story of the Norwegian scene. Dismissing the whole genre as a joke is like saying that all hip-hop is a joke, or that all indie rock sucks, or what have you. This particular kind of music may not be to most people's personal taste, and that's fine, but there's as much musical talent and diversity within it as there is anywhere else. Lord knows there's some very good reasons to mock Vikernes as a person, but I admit I get a little irritated by how easily that tends to translate to mocking dismissal of the entire genre of music he was part of.
As for the "Lords of Chaos" movie- I would comment further on it, but my brain keeps seizing up whenever I try to process what I've heard about it. According to what I've read of it so far, this is going to be a mainstream Hollywood movie about the Norwegian black metal scene, featuring a "Twilight" cast member as Varg Vikernes, and he's the protagonist. (If the protagonist were one of the comparatively well-adjusted people within that scene- Fenriz of Darkthrone, for example- I could maybe see a mainstream movie being made about it, but Varg?) Add in that I've heard it's supposed to be a "teen film", and I'm at a complete loss to understand what anyone involved is thinking.
The Straightener: While in prison Varg decided that the only purely white instrument was the Casio keyboard so don't expect Aske Part Two any time soon.
I've heard he's actually changed his tune on that (something which happens quite a lot- the man is not known for the consistency of his views), and has said that any future albums would be in the vein of "Filosofem". I don't really expect much, either way, but that at least has somewhat more promise than the prospect of more stuff like his last two.
posted by a louis wain cat at 7:53 PM on May 25, 2009 [2 favorites]
I will reiterate that Filosofem is a monumental album, the Theodor Kittelsen art packaging, the vibe, even the ambient 20 min. track, everything about it- it's heavy and it reeks of darkness. If he makes anything like that again, It has the possibility of being interesting. But I ain't holding my breath.
Also in terms of his aesthetic, he's been through a lot of phases, I"m glad he's back to the beard look instead of the German officer/Quisling look. Works well with his Euro pastel colored shirt.
posted by Liquidwolf at 8:04 PM on May 25, 2009
Also in terms of his aesthetic, he's been through a lot of phases, I"m glad he's back to the beard look instead of the German officer/Quisling look. Works well with his Euro pastel colored shirt.
posted by Liquidwolf at 8:04 PM on May 25, 2009
it reeks of darkness
What does darkness smell like? I'm thinking mildew...
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 12:21 AM on May 26, 2009
What does darkness smell like? I'm thinking mildew...
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 12:21 AM on May 26, 2009
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some people go to prison and become jailhouse lawyers. i find it hysterical that varg went to prison and became a jailhouse student of the nazi mytho-poetics of the old norse sagas.
posted by geos at 8:39 AM on May 25, 2009