Lords of Chaos
Encyclopedia
Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground is a book by Michael Moynihan
and Didrik Søderlind. The book presents itself as a non-fiction
account of the early Norwegian black metal scene, with a focus on the string of church burnings and murders that occurred in the country around 1993. A film adaptation of the book is planned, to be directed by Japanese director Sion Sono
. The book has been the subject of controversy over the alleged political leanings of author Michael Moynihan,
though Moynihan denies these allegations.
in 1998 (ISBN 0-922915-48-2). A second, revised edition was released in 2003 and expands the original book by fifty pages (ISBN 0-922915-94-6). A German edition was published in 2002 with a respective revised edition following in 2005 (ISBN 3-936878-00-5).
sub-genre black metal
in Norway between 1990 and 1993. The first few chapters give an outline of the progression of heavy metal from bands such as Black Sabbath
, Coven
, and Black Widow
to proto-black metal bands such as Bathory
, Mercyful Fate
, and Venom
and finally to the early Norwegian black metal band Mayhem
.
The book then details the April 1991 suicide of Mayhem front man Per Yngve "Dead" Ohlin
and the formation of a radicalized "inner circle
" around Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth
, based out of his small black metal retail shop Helvete (Norwegian for "hell") in Oslo
, Norway.
In 1992 and 1993, members of the group became connected with a series of crimes, starting with the arson of the Fantoft stave church
on June 6, 1992, although the book mentions that there had previously been a "small, ineffectual fire at Storeveit Church". Church arsons continued but with a steady decline up until the year 1995. (The cover of Lords of Chaos shows a "19th Century Swedish church in flames").
An interview in a Norwegian Newspaper given by Burzum
founder Varg "Count Grishnackh" Vikernes
, also a member of the Helvete group, leads to a media outrage condemning the arsons as acts of Satanism
. On August 21, 1992 Bård "Faust" Eithun
of the band Emperor
murdered a homosexual man in the Olympic Park in Lillehammer
. He was subsequently convicted of this crime and sentenced to 14 years in prison (of which he subsequently served nine years before being released in 2003). On August 10, 1993 Aarseth was murdered by Vikernes, who received a 21 years sentence for the murder and several cases of arson related to the church burnings.
The book also mentions other cases of "satanic" murderers, such as that of Sandro Beyer by members of the German National Socialist black metal
band Absurd
and Caleb Fairley
in the USA. It also devotes several pages to the case of a self-styled teen militia
named "Lords of Chaos" that perpetrated murder and arson in Fort Myers, Florida
in April 1996, but does not mention why the title Lords of Chaos was chosen for the book.
Interview passages with Varg Vikernes are spread out through several sections of the book. On www.burzum.org Vikernes has said, that he would not use the term Nazi any longer as self-descriptor, however, the statement is ambiguous.
An interview with Vikernes about Nasjonal Samling founder Vidkun Quisling
, executed in 1945 for High treason
by the Norwegian government after the end of the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany
, is the main source for Vikernes admiration of him, and the source for the rumor that Quisling had some influence on certain extreme strains of Norwegian black metal.
The book presents other interviews with Anton LaVey
, founder of the Church of Satan
, Tomas "Samoth" Haugen
of Emperor and Dani Filth
of Cradle of Filth
. Filth claims the existence of a "Satanic Gestapo
", when he recounts an incident where he was apparently attacked on stage with a knife (which he states may have been a prop) during a concert in Germany.
The book puts forward its own thesis about the reason behind the extreme music, the arsons and the cases of murder, interpreting these events as the appearance of an odin
ic archetype
. Within this scope, the psychologist
Carl Jung
is quoted and also a study Pathological firesetting from the year 1951.
The book goes on to compare the state sought by the commission of these violent acts with the apocalyptic Norse tale
Ragnarök
, but states that neither radicalized black metallers nor "their occasional allies, the right wing revolutionaries" may have found "the fuse on the powderkeg of alienated resentment which lies behind the façade of 20th century civilisation", yet that such a "powderkeg" exists nonetheless.
German online magazine Telepolis
questioned Moynihan's neutrality towards the ideologies portrayed in the book, as it leaves several far-right and racist statements by interviewees such as Vikernes uncommented on and uncriticized. The author's questions during these interviews are noted to resemble "cue-giving" at times.
While a reviewer for the left-oriented German newspaper Die Tageszeitung
did not appreciate Moynihan earning royalties
from the sales of Lords of Chaos, he still called it "the most thrilling non-fiction book since the Old Testament
".
Televangelist
Bob Larson
stated that he and Moynihan were "poles apart spiritually and philosophically", but that he respected the book as an "exhaustive resource regarding the seamy and Satanic side of pop music and culture".
Journalist Kevin Coogan
wrote an essay titled "How Black Is Black Metal?" in which he discusses several of the ideas purported in Lords of Chaos. Coogan considers Moynihan's personal political beliefs to be "at work just below the surface of a text ostensibly devoted solely to analyzing an extremist musical sub-culture" and ultimately counters the book's apocalyptic thesis with the conclusion that the black metal/fascism connection hangs largely "on a thin evidentiary thread", namely Varg Vikernes, who had shown extremist tendencies well before entering the scene. Coogan states that Moynihan is "an extreme rightist whose fusion of politics and aesthetic violence shapes a not-so-hidden sub current that runs throughout LOC". Coogan writes that the book itself:
Moynihan, in turn, has denied Coogan's allegations.
Varg Vikernes
, a primary focal point of the book, has expressed criticism towards the book. Vikernes states that the authors of Lords of Chaos have no "insight into or even good knowledge about the subjects discussed" and "don't understand one bit what Black Metal was about on 1991 and 1992" and that they "have managed to fill the heads of a generation of metal fans with lies".
However, an article on www.burzum.com that is allegedly written by Varg Vikernes evaluates the book differently. There it is said that "the book is pretty much objective", and although this statement is followed by a criticism of some of the people that were interviewed, it is far less polemical than the one on burzum.org. Vikernes states that www.burzum.org is the official site where he speaks out and has asked burzum.com to be shut down, though they refuse to do so for the reason that they believe that Vikernes does not understand what he is asking. Still the legitimacy of burzum.com is strongly debatable, since it was not created and managed with Vikernes authorization, whereas burzum.org is.
is set to direct a movie based on the book, with Jackson Rathbone
starring as Vikernes. It will be Sono's first English-language film. The screenplay was written by Hans Fjellestad
(who was earlier reported to be the film's director as well), Ryan Page, Adam Parfrey
(the book's publisher), and Sono. In July 2009 Sono stated that filming (in Norway) would begin in August or September and end in December. The film is set to be released in 2010. However, it was later announced that Rathbone would no longer be playing Vikernes due to scheduling conflicts.
Michael Moynihan (journalist)
Michael Moynihan is an American journalist, publisher and musician. He is best known for co-writing the book Lords of Chaos, about black metal....
and Didrik Søderlind. The book presents itself as a non-fiction
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
account of the early Norwegian black metal scene, with a focus on the string of church burnings and murders that occurred in the country around 1993. A film adaptation of the book is planned, to be directed by Japanese director Sion Sono
Sion Sono
is a controversial Japanese filmmaker and poet. He was born in Toyokawa, Aichi, Japan, and is best known for his films as well as avant-garde poetry performances.-Early career:...
. The book has been the subject of controversy over the alleged political leanings of author Michael Moynihan,
though Moynihan denies these allegations.
Publication history
Lords of Chaos was originally published by Feral HouseFeral House
Feral House is a book publisher owned and operated by Adam Parfrey. The publisher itself describes the books it sells as "pure information", and says the topics of the books are "forbidden"....
in 1998 (ISBN 0-922915-48-2). A second, revised edition was released in 2003 and expands the original book by fifty pages (ISBN 0-922915-94-6). A German edition was published in 2002 with a respective revised edition following in 2005 (ISBN 3-936878-00-5).
Contents
The book focuses on the scene surrounding the extreme heavy metalHeavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
sub-genre black metal
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
in Norway between 1990 and 1993. The first few chapters give an outline of the progression of heavy metal from bands such as Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
, Coven
Coven (band)
Coven is an American rock band formed in the late 1960s, composed of vocalist Jinx Dawson, bassist Oz Osborne , Chris Neilsen on guitar, Rick Durrett and later John Hobbs on keyboards, and drummer Steve Ross...
, and Black Widow
Black Widow (band)
Black Widow were a rock band that formed in Leicester, England in September 1969. The band were mostly known for its early use of satanic and occult imagery in their music and stage act...
to proto-black metal bands such as Bathory
Bathory (band)
Bathory was a Swedish heavy metal band, formed by Quorthon in 1983. They are regarded as pioneers of both black metal and viking metal. Quorthon remained the main songwriter and member of Bathory for more than two decades. Bathory was permanently ended after Quorthon's death in 2004...
, Mercyful Fate
Mercyful Fate
Mercyful Fate was a Danish heavy metal band from Copenhagen. Initially active from 1981 to 1985, they reunited in 1992. The band went on hiatus again in 2000, when frontman King Diamond decided to continue his solo career...
, and Venom
Venom (band)
Venom are an English heavy metal band that formed in 1979 in Newcastle upon Tyne. Coming to prominence towards the end of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, Venom's first two albums—Welcome to Hell and Black Metal —are considered a major influence on thrash metal and extreme metal in general...
and finally to the early Norwegian black metal band Mayhem
Mayhem (band)
Mayhem is a Norwegian black metal band formed in 1984 in Oslo, Norway and regarded as one of the pioneers of the influential Norwegian black metal scene...
.
The book then details the April 1991 suicide of Mayhem front man Per Yngve "Dead" Ohlin
Dead (musician)
Per Yngve Ohlin , better known by his stage name Dead, was a Swedish black metal vocalist best known for his work with Norwegian black metal band Mayhem...
and the formation of a radicalized "inner circle
Black Metal Inner Circle
The early Norwegian black metal scene was a music scene and subculture in Norway during the early 1990s, based around black metal. Identified by some as a cult – “The Black Circle” or “Black Metal Inner Circle” – it consisted of youths ranging from late teens to mid-twenties, many of whom gathered...
" around Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth
Euronymous
Øystein Aarseth , who went by the pseudonym Euronymous, was a Norwegian guitarist and co-founder of the Norwegian black metal band Mayhem...
, based out of his small black metal retail shop Helvete (Norwegian for "hell") in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, Norway.
In 1992 and 1993, members of the group became connected with a series of crimes, starting with the arson of the Fantoft stave church
Fantoft stave church
Fantoft Stave Church is a reconstructed stave church in the Fana borough of the city of Bergen, Norway.The church was originally built in Fortun in Sogn, a village near inner or eastern end of Sognefjord around the year 1150. In the 19th century the church was threatened by demolition, as were...
on June 6, 1992, although the book mentions that there had previously been a "small, ineffectual fire at Storeveit Church". Church arsons continued but with a steady decline up until the year 1995. (The cover of Lords of Chaos shows a "19th Century Swedish church in flames").
An interview in a Norwegian Newspaper given by Burzum
Burzum
Burzum is a musical project by Varg Vikernes . It began during 1991 in Bergen, Norway and quickly became prominent within the early Norwegian black metal scene...
founder Varg "Count Grishnackh" Vikernes
Varg Vikernes
Varg Vikernes is a Norwegian black metal musician, writer, philosopher, religious and political activist, arsonist and convicted murderer.Vikernes was born near Bergen, Norway. In 1991, he founded the one-man music project Burzum, which quickly became popular within the early Norwegian black metal...
, also a member of the Helvete group, leads to a media outrage condemning the arsons as acts of Satanism
Satanism
Satanism is a group of religions that is composed of a diverse number of ideological and philosophical beliefs and social phenomena. Their shared feature include symbolic association with, admiration for the character of, and even veneration of Satan or similar rebellious, promethean, and...
. On August 21, 1992 Bård "Faust" Eithun
Bård Faust
Bård Guldvik "Faust" Eithun is a Norwegian drummer. He is best known for his work with early black metal band Emperor, especially on the releases As the Shadows Rise and In the Nightside Eclipse...
of the band Emperor
Emperor (band)
Emperor was a Norwegian black metal band formed in 1991. They dissolved in 2001, but reunited in 2006 and again in 2007 for a few festival dates and brief US tours. The group was founded by Samoth and Ihsahn .-Biography:...
murdered a homosexual man in the Olympic Park in Lillehammer
Lillehammer
is a town and municipality in Oppland county, Norway, globally known for hosting the 1994 Winter Olympics. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. As of May 2011, the population of the town of Lillehammer was...
. He was subsequently convicted of this crime and sentenced to 14 years in prison (of which he subsequently served nine years before being released in 2003). On August 10, 1993 Aarseth was murdered by Vikernes, who received a 21 years sentence for the murder and several cases of arson related to the church burnings.
The book also mentions other cases of "satanic" murderers, such as that of Sandro Beyer by members of the German National Socialist black metal
National Socialist black metal
National Socialist black metal is black metal that promotes National Socialist beliefs through their lyrics and imagery. These beliefs often include: white supremacy, racial separatism, antisemitism, heterosexism, and Nazi interpretations of paganism or Satanism...
band Absurd
Absurd (band)
Absurd is one of the best-known black metal and pagan metal bands in Germany, classified as right-wing extremist by the Thuringian Landesbehörde für Verfassungsschutz....
and Caleb Fairley
Caleb Fairley
Caleb Fairley is an American murderer from Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania.-Crime:On September 10, 1995, Fairley was working alone at Your Kidz & Mine, a children's clothing store owned by his parents in Collegeville, Pennsylvania...
in the USA. It also devotes several pages to the case of a self-styled teen militia
Lords of Chaos (self-styled teen militia)
The Lords of Chaos was a self-styled teen militia formed on April 13, 1996, in Fort Myers, Florida. They gained notoriety for a crime spree that ended with the April 30, 1996, murder of one of the boys' teachers, Mark Schwebes, who served as Riverdale High School's band director.The Lords of...
named "Lords of Chaos" that perpetrated murder and arson in Fort Myers, Florida
Fort Myers, Florida
Fort Myers is the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. Its population was 62,298 in the 2010 census, a 29.23 percent increase over the 2000 figure....
in April 1996, but does not mention why the title Lords of Chaos was chosen for the book.
Interview passages with Varg Vikernes are spread out through several sections of the book. On www.burzum.org Vikernes has said, that he would not use the term Nazi any longer as self-descriptor, however, the statement is ambiguous.
An interview with Vikernes about Nasjonal Samling founder Vidkun Quisling
Vidkun Quisling
Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling was a Norwegian politician. On 9 April 1940, with the German invasion of Norway in progress, he seized power in a Nazi-backed coup d'etat that garnered him international infamy. From 1942 to 1945 he served as Minister-President, working with the occupying...
, executed in 1945 for High treason
High treason
High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...
by the Norwegian government after the end of the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany
Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany
The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany started with the German invasion of Norway on April 9, 1940, and ended on May 8, 1945, after the capitulation of German forces in Europe. Throughout this period, Norway was continuously occupied by the Wehrmacht...
, is the main source for Vikernes admiration of him, and the source for the rumor that Quisling had some influence on certain extreme strains of Norwegian black metal.
The book presents other interviews with Anton LaVey
Anton LaVey
Anton Szandor LaVey , born Howard Stanton Levey, was the founder of the Church of Satan as well as a writer, occultist, and musician...
, founder of the Church of Satan
Church of Satan
The Church of Satan is an organization dedicated to the acceptance of the carnal self, as articulated in The Satanic Bible, written in 1969 by Anton Szandor LaVey.- History :...
, Tomas "Samoth" Haugen
Samoth
Samoth is a prominent musician and multi-instrumentalist in the Norwegian black metal scene. He was well known for his distinct guitar work and drumming in the band Emperor, as well as his formation of the death metal band Zyklon...
of Emperor and Dani Filth
Dani Filth
Dani Filth is the lyricist, vocalist and founding member of the metal band Cradle of Filth.-Personal life:...
of Cradle of Filth
Cradle of Filth
Cradle of Filth are an English extreme metal band, formed in Suffolk in 1991. The band's musical style evolved from black metal to a cleaner and more "produced" amalgam of gothic metal, symphonic black metal, and other extreme metal styles, while their lyrical themes and imagery are heavily...
. Filth claims the existence of a "Satanic Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
", when he recounts an incident where he was apparently attacked on stage with a knife (which he states may have been a prop) during a concert in Germany.
The book puts forward its own thesis about the reason behind the extreme music, the arsons and the cases of murder, interpreting these events as the appearance of an odin
Odin
Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....
ic archetype
Jungian archetypes
Carl Jung created the archetypes which “are ancient or archaic images that derive from the collective unconscious” Also known as innate universal psychic dispositions that form the substrate from which the basic symbols or representations of unconscious experience emerge...
. Within this scope, the psychologist
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
Carl Jung
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...
is quoted and also a study Pathological firesetting from the year 1951.
Satanism and the heathenism from which it ultimately descends are themselves the products of the archetypes and differentiated psyches of nations and peoples, and they therefore spring from the same “occult” or mystical sources as nationalism itself. Nationalism is the political manifestation of a folk’s unconscious; heathenism/Satanism is the spiritual manifestation.
The book goes on to compare the state sought by the commission of these violent acts with the apocalyptic Norse tale
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
Ragnarök
Ragnarök
In Norse mythology, Ragnarök is a series of future events, including a great battle foretold to ultimately result in the death of a number of major figures , the occurrence of various natural disasters, and the subsequent submersion of the world in water...
, but states that neither radicalized black metallers nor "their occasional allies, the right wing revolutionaries" may have found "the fuse on the powderkeg of alienated resentment which lies behind the façade of 20th century civilisation", yet that such a "powderkeg" exists nonetheless.
Critical reaction
Reviews of Lords of Chaos have been mixed, with several critics praising the book for offering an informative or at least interesting view on a relatively obscure sub-culture, and the book won the 1998 Firecracker Alternative Press Award. The publication was sometimes criticized for a perceived lack of distance towards its subject matter. This was considered especially alarming to groups and figures that had accused Moynihan of right-wing sympathies, charges which Moynihan has denied.German online magazine Telepolis
Telepolis
Telepolis is the name of a German Internet magazine, published by the Heinz Heise Verlag since the beginning of 1996. It was founded by journalists Armin Medosch and Florian Rötzer and deals with privacy, science, culture, internet-related and general politics and media.Telepolis received the...
questioned Moynihan's neutrality towards the ideologies portrayed in the book, as it leaves several far-right and racist statements by interviewees such as Vikernes uncommented on and uncriticized. The author's questions during these interviews are noted to resemble "cue-giving" at times.
While a reviewer for the left-oriented German newspaper Die Tageszeitung
Die tageszeitung
die tageszeitung , was founded in 1978 in Berlin. It is a cooperative-owned German daily newspaper which is administrated by a workers' self-management...
did not appreciate Moynihan earning royalties
Royalties
Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...
from the sales of Lords of Chaos, he still called it "the most thrilling non-fiction book since the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
".
Televangelist
Televangelism
Televangelism is the use of television to communicate the Christian faith. The word is a portmanteau of television and evangelism and was coined by Time magazine. A “televangelist” is a Christian minister who devotes a large portion of his ministry to television broadcasting...
Bob Larson
Bob Larson
Bob Larson is an American radio and television evangelist, currently based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Larson has authored numerous books on the subjects of rock music and Satanism, written from a Christian perspective.-Life and career:...
stated that he and Moynihan were "poles apart spiritually and philosophically", but that he respected the book as an "exhaustive resource regarding the seamy and Satanic side of pop music and culture".
Journalist Kevin Coogan
Kevin Coogan
Kevin Coogan is an American investigative journalist. He is the author of the biography Dreamer of the Day: Francis Parker Yockey and the Postwar Fascist International....
wrote an essay titled "How Black Is Black Metal?" in which he discusses several of the ideas purported in Lords of Chaos. Coogan considers Moynihan's personal political beliefs to be "at work just below the surface of a text ostensibly devoted solely to analyzing an extremist musical sub-culture" and ultimately counters the book's apocalyptic thesis with the conclusion that the black metal/fascism connection hangs largely "on a thin evidentiary thread", namely Varg Vikernes, who had shown extremist tendencies well before entering the scene. Coogan states that Moynihan is "an extreme rightist whose fusion of politics and aesthetic violence shapes a not-so-hidden sub current that runs throughout LOC". Coogan writes that the book itself:
...is not a "fascist" tract in the strict sense of the term, in part because Moynihan co-wrote the book with Didrik Søderlind, a former music critic for a mainstream Norwegian paper who is now (as of 2005) an editor at Playboy. Moreover, Feral House editor Adam ParfreyAdam ParfreyAdam Parfrey is an American journalist, editor, and the publisher of Feral House books, whose work in all three capacities frequently centers on unusual, extreme, or "forbidden" areas of knowledge.-Life:...
clearly wanted to publish a popular book on the strange universe of black metal rather than a political polemic.
Moynihan, in turn, has denied Coogan's allegations.
Varg Vikernes
Varg Vikernes
Varg Vikernes is a Norwegian black metal musician, writer, philosopher, religious and political activist, arsonist and convicted murderer.Vikernes was born near Bergen, Norway. In 1991, he founded the one-man music project Burzum, which quickly became popular within the early Norwegian black metal...
, a primary focal point of the book, has expressed criticism towards the book. Vikernes states that the authors of Lords of Chaos have no "insight into or even good knowledge about the subjects discussed" and "don't understand one bit what Black Metal was about on 1991 and 1992" and that they "have managed to fill the heads of a generation of metal fans with lies".
However, an article on www.burzum.com that is allegedly written by Varg Vikernes evaluates the book differently. There it is said that "the book is pretty much objective", and although this statement is followed by a criticism of some of the people that were interviewed, it is far less polemical than the one on burzum.org. Vikernes states that www.burzum.org is the official site where he speaks out and has asked burzum.com to be shut down, though they refuse to do so for the reason that they believe that Vikernes does not understand what he is asking. Still the legitimacy of burzum.com is strongly debatable, since it was not created and managed with Vikernes authorization, whereas burzum.org is.
Film
Japanese director Sion SonoSion Sono
is a controversial Japanese filmmaker and poet. He was born in Toyokawa, Aichi, Japan, and is best known for his films as well as avant-garde poetry performances.-Early career:...
is set to direct a movie based on the book, with Jackson Rathbone
Jackson Rathbone
Monroe Jackson Rathbone, V , better known as Jackson Rathbone, is an American actor and musician. He is perhaps best known for his role as Jasper Hale in The Twilight Saga and for playing Sokka in The Last Airbender....
starring as Vikernes. It will be Sono's first English-language film. The screenplay was written by Hans Fjellestad
Hans Fjellestad
Hans Jorgen Fjellestad is a musician and filmmaker based in Los Angeles. Fjellestad co-founded the Trummerflora Collective, and has worked as a curator/producer for the international art initiative, inSite 05. A classically trained pianist, he studied music composition and improvisation at...
(who was earlier reported to be the film's director as well), Ryan Page, Adam Parfrey
Adam Parfrey
Adam Parfrey is an American journalist, editor, and the publisher of Feral House books, whose work in all three capacities frequently centers on unusual, extreme, or "forbidden" areas of knowledge.-Life:...
(the book's publisher), and Sono. In July 2009 Sono stated that filming (in Norway) would begin in August or September and end in December. The film is set to be released in 2010. However, it was later announced that Rathbone would no longer be playing Vikernes due to scheduling conflicts.
See also
- Black Sun
- Gods of the BloodGods of the BloodGods of the Blood: The Pagan Revival and White Separatism is a book by Swedish scholar Mattias Gardell discussing Neopaganism and white separatism, neo-fascism and antisemitism.It was published by Duke University Press in May 2003....
- Satan rir mediaSatan rir mediaSatan rir media is a 1998 Norwegian documentary by Torstein Grude. The film covers the controversy that surrounded black metal musician Varg Vikernes in the early 1990s, who not only has been tied to a series of church arsons in Norway, but received widespread media attention for the murder of...
- Fascist satanism