FIRST A DISCLAIMER (FOR THOSE WHO DOESN’T KNOW THAT ABOUT ME):
I’m strongly anti-racist, but I believe music is an art form and anything is allowed. For example, Varg Vikernes (Burzum) have had some racist ideology after incarceration but as a hobby music historian I first and foremost look into if the artist have had any impact on the scene before choosing to look into them at all, second of all … if his lyrics where all out nazi, I wouldn’t cover him. I would never cover lets say a N.S Black Metal band (have to be the dumbest shit since music was created) with nazi lyrics.
Another aspect is that I deal with music history, and I don’t want to rewrite history in any way because certain parts doesn’t fit me or makes me want to vomit. Rewriting history I leave that to politicians and governments.
So to conclude, I don’t care about the political beliefs of a person outside of the music when I chose what to publish. I’m only interested in the music and the impact it have made on the scene.
If I where to chose what music to listen to based on the person outside what he creates, the I couldn’t listen to Mötley Crue because Vince Neil drunk drive killed someone, Ozzy for his abuse of Sharon, Metallica for bullying Jason Newstedt, Led Zeppelin for their treatment of groupies during their heydays, Scorpions for having a naked kid on their album cover etc. etc.
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BURZUM
Varg Vikernes, better known as Count Grishnakh, is in prison in Norway, accused of murder. Before his arrest, his band Burzum had finished their fifth album, and "Hvis Lyset Tar Oss," Count's penultimate work, was just released on Misanthropy Records. This is the summary of the interview we obtained exclusively for "GRIND ZONE.”1993 was a sensational year for Norway. Major headlines appeared in newspapers around the world, churches were burned down across the nation. Black metal Satanists were apparently descending on the country... and if that weren't enough, Euronymous (aka Øystein Aarseth) was brutally stabbed to death on the night of August 10, 1993, on the steps of his home. Euronymous was "The Godfather of Black Metal," the guitarist and soul of MAYHEM, who ran Deathlike Silence Productions and managed a record store called "Helvete" (Hell). Ten days after Euronymous's body was found, Varg Vikernes, better known as Count Grishnackh, was arrested and charged with the murder. Grishnackh is now in jail in Oslo. Burzum finished their new album before Grishnackh was arrested, and the album is awaiting release. Boycotted by record labels and distributors around the world, Grishnackh took his time sifting through offers from a few interested labels before signing a contract with the British Misanthropy Records in early 1994. Burzum's fourth album, "Hvis Lyset Tar Oss" (If the Light Goes On), has just been released.
"Currently," says Conte, "I'm not interested in interviews, as various magazines have misrepresented my statements in the past. I consider this harassment against me to be unpleasant; I'm not here for fame and money. I see Burzum as a dream out of touch with reality. It's something to stimulate the imagination of mortals, to make them dream."
Grishnackh agreed to give this interview because, according to him, due to what was published in a British metal magazine, many people have formed a false image of him and his ideas, and in fact, accusations of Satanism and being a psychopath are multiplying.
"I'm sick of being compared to all those young, idiotic Norwegian Black Metal fanatics. I don't like the things that have been written about me; they're full of mistakes. Like the bullshit about Nidarosdomen, the church they say I blew up with dynamite. Who the hell said it was me? I've only heard what happened to that damn church. Besides, I've never had a Swedish girlfriend, just the opposite of what has been written. It's all bullshit! People are calling me Satanic, racist, and Nazi to condemn me and to manipulate distributors. All to boycott Burzum. I had spoken to a British independent label, but my point of view didn't coincide with theirs. In the end, they told me the following: "I was afraid that my bad reputation would ruin their business." These hysterical distributors boycott everything they can't understand, for example, intelligent bands. I'm not racist because I don't hate other races, I'm not I'm not a Nazi, but I'm a fascist. I simply love my race, my culture, and myself. Fundamentally, I am a worshiper of Odin, the god of war and death. He is also the god of cunning, magic, and poetry. These are the things I seek. Burzum exists solely because of Odin, the Cyclops enemy of the Christian God. This is my philosophy: the strongest is always right. Life is one big war with many banquets and adulteries, ha ha! Simple barbarism. The Viking way. No fear... because fear is disaster, while death means eternal life in Valhalla. I find nothing strange in my ideas. What stupid people call "evil," I call the true reason for survival. Conflict is evolution, peace is degeneration. Only the blind can deny this."
Grishnackh created Burzum in early 1987, when he was only 14 years old, under the name URUK-HAI. The Burzum project remained inactive for about a year (from mid-1990 to mid-1991) when Conte began playing in a band called SATANEL, alongside Demonaz and Abbat of IMMORTAL. Meanwhile, Grishnackh was also playing in a death metal band called OLD FUNERAL. When SATANEL disbanded, Conte continued with URUK-HAI and changed the band's name (if you can even call it a band!) to Burzum in August 1991.
"I've always avoided involving other musicians in Burzum. I'm too much of an individualist to be able to do that. You can call it intolerance or selfishness, ha ha! Anyway, I had a bass guitar for a few months in 1992. But then I kicked it out!”Burzum have released three albums so far, the self-titled debut ("The most primitive and detestable Burzum album"), in March 1992 "Aske" ("The rock n’ roll album") in March 1993 and "Det Som Engang Var" ("The Heaviest and Strangest") in September of the same year. The latter was released in a limited edition of 1,000 copies, on CD only, before Conte was imprisoned. A reissue of this album is already planned. Burzum's fifth album, titled "Filosofem," will be released towards the end of the year and, according to Grishnackh, will be "depressive, transcendental, and, without a doubt, their best."
Burzum has already gained a cult following, thanks to their peculiar, somber, and atmospheric sound, the fruit of gloomy guitars, keyboard inserts, and the screams of a tortured Grishnackh...
"What I like about Burzum is the lack of egocentric guitarists and drummers. I hate solos and drumming." Death to drum technicalities... I want resistance!"
The instrumental "Tomhet" ("Emptiness"), featured on "Hvis Lyset Tar Oss," is a melancholic and sad keyboard-based song that could easily have appeared on the soundtrack of "The Lord of the Rings" (from which Varg Vikernes took the band's monicker and nom de guerre). Burzum's lyrics relate to the imaginary medieval and fantasy world. The cover art features imaginary black and white carriages and Gothic script. Grishnackh is surely an artist with a great imagination. How can he be the evil, cold, and emotionless man just described?
"Of course, I have feelings too," he explains. "But not for irrational things like human existence. I love our Norse culture, I love Odin..."
For those who don't know, Grishnackh has an 18-month-old daughter named Rebekka.
"Yes, the girl lives with her mother. She plays with cars, dinosaurs, spiders, and all kinds of children's things, so I think she'll become a perfect Amazon!"
Author: Diamanda (© 1994 "Grind Zone" magazine, Italy)