LIBRARY
Interview with Varg Vikernes
HeavyMusic (29.04.2012), by Kai Grimmsberg
Hello Varg. At the first time, I want to thank you for having agreed to this interview. And let's start with the first question - How are you? What do you do now, at this time?
Privet, Kai. Thank you for asking; I am doing fine. This week and probably until May I will keep working with promotion of the new album, giving interviews to different magazines and web sites.
Genre of your new album "Umskiptar" you identified as a Scaldic Metal. How will it sound? And the Scaldic Metal will be different, if not from Black Metal (which is understandable), then at least from two latest Burzum albums, which can not be assigned to the early Black Metal frames as well? Is it possible that over time, under the influence of this album will develop a whole new metal genre?
Probably not, and that's not really the intention either. My main purpose for using such a name was to distance myself from what is today known as Black Metal. I revolted against the trendy Black Metal culture as early as in 1993, when I made the anti-Black Metal album "Filosofem", but rather than understand this the Black Metal followers embraced the album and started to use that as an inspiration instead. Ever since I have tried to make it clear that Burzum is not Black Metal, but it seems old lies are hard to kill.
How will it sound? Well, much like the other Burzum albums I guess – which are not Black Metal albums either...
Unfortunately, "Umskiptar" leaked on the Internet for almost two months before the official release date. What do you think about this? And how could this happen?
It happened because the music industry fails to understand that we no longer live in the 1980ies, and in this particular case because my former (!) PR agent sent promotional copies of the entire album to left wing extremist magazines (who openly hate me and everything I stand for) almost two months before release date – naturally against my will and without letting me know about it.
We know the name of the one who leaked it (a Swede) and are considering what to do about this right now.
I think it is a shame that the music industry still do things just like they did 30 years ago, as if the world hasn't changed. They then complain about the fact that their artists sell less albums for every year that passes by, because of more and more illegal downloading.... Many cannot survive as professional artists in this age because of failing sales, and those who survive are often forced to play live all the time to make a living, but if they do then they have less time to make new music. So this is a vicious circle.
I am lucky in the sense that metal fans are more conservative and tend to collect their favourite artists' albums and only use leaks to find out if they like an artist or not in the first place – but of course they could have waited until the album was out before they did that.
Anyhow, it is very uninspiring to work hard on an album for a long time only to have some thoughtless PR agent give it away to the world almost 2 months before it is available for purchase.
If I'm not mistaken, for different versions of the releases of "Umskiptar" (CD, DIGI-CD, LP,) will use a different design. Why is that? After all, before, as far as I know you've always used a one version of the design for each album?
That is a misunderstanding. There is only one design for the album.
The probable reason for this misunderstanding is the fact that I considered using another design for the album, but used the one you now know instead – as can be seen as the official design on burzum.org.
What was due to the choice of paintings to decoration the release?
The "Natt" ("night") painting by P. N. Arbo was chosen because it shows a romantic image of the personified night – and this fits the concept of metamorphoses very well. After night comes day, and then night again, et cetera.
These days in Norway is on the court of Andreas Breivik. I read your article about it on burzum.org, but still, I want to ask, if abstracted from his actions, what do you think about his personality? I mean, by its nature and purpose, that he believed in his ideas and worked on their implementation for many years, in the end, having carried out his plan?
The only thing I have to say about him is that I think it is sad how he attacks the symptoms of this diseases that is destroying our Europe, instead of attacking the source of this disease. He should have read "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" one or two times before ruining his own life. He would have found much better targets than he did last year.
If now you are was be invited to become a part of action like this, which would be completely in line with your interests and civilian expectations, would you agree? (Yes, no) Why?
(Not answered)
Well, let's go back to the "Umskiptar", rather, to the photoshoot for the album. The pictures you embody the various images, a soldier in a helmet, a modern hunter in camouflage, and ancient warrior in armor. As far as I understood, in this photoshoot reflected a kind of metamorphosises, and so I can spend some parallels with the name of the new Burzum album. And what exactly do you was want to show by this photoshoot?
Well, I want to show that the fighting spirit si not gone, and it will not go away anytime soon either. We fought our enemies 2000 years ago, and we still fight them. We might be killed, but we will only return later, in another life, to pick up the sword and carry on fighting.
Maybe you noticed that I myself live in Belarus, but representative of a Russian metal music portal. I'm sure you know name of my country, but maybe you know anything else about Belarus? Share your thoughts. Would you like to visit Belarus?
Every time I hear about Belarus I think about a few certain topics. First the name, "White Rus", and then the fact that Belarus lost about 25% of the entire population during WWII, and I often use that in discussions with Norwegians who whine about how "terrible" WWII was for Norway. Norway lost less than 0,3% of its population, I may add, and 2/3 of the losses were due to Allied bombing...
The third thing that comes to mind when I hear about Belarus is the funny fact that Lithuania used Belarussian as its official language when Lithuania was great (some hundred years ago), because the majority of Lithuania's population was Belarussian. Finally I think about your president, Lukashenko, and how the Jew-owned media over here always tries to ridicule him and make him look bad (just like they do with Putin). Naturally this only makes me think better of him, because if the Jewish pigs in the media over here think he is so terrible then he must be doing at least something right, for sure – unlike the puppet politicians over here, who are all owned by Jewish banks.
It would probably be nice to visit Belarus, especially the countryside, where I have been told they live healthy lives and much like they did before.
Your wishes to all readers.
I wish them the best of luck and also that they are brave enough to think for themselves. Our time is a dangerous time, and only wits can get us through this in one piece.
Thank you for your interest!
Privet, Kai. Thank you for asking; I am doing fine. This week and probably until May I will keep working with promotion of the new album, giving interviews to different magazines and web sites.
Genre of your new album "Umskiptar" you identified as a Scaldic Metal. How will it sound? And the Scaldic Metal will be different, if not from Black Metal (which is understandable), then at least from two latest Burzum albums, which can not be assigned to the early Black Metal frames as well? Is it possible that over time, under the influence of this album will develop a whole new metal genre?
Probably not, and that's not really the intention either. My main purpose for using such a name was to distance myself from what is today known as Black Metal. I revolted against the trendy Black Metal culture as early as in 1993, when I made the anti-Black Metal album "Filosofem", but rather than understand this the Black Metal followers embraced the album and started to use that as an inspiration instead. Ever since I have tried to make it clear that Burzum is not Black Metal, but it seems old lies are hard to kill.
How will it sound? Well, much like the other Burzum albums I guess – which are not Black Metal albums either...
Unfortunately, "Umskiptar" leaked on the Internet for almost two months before the official release date. What do you think about this? And how could this happen?
It happened because the music industry fails to understand that we no longer live in the 1980ies, and in this particular case because my former (!) PR agent sent promotional copies of the entire album to left wing extremist magazines (who openly hate me and everything I stand for) almost two months before release date – naturally against my will and without letting me know about it.
We know the name of the one who leaked it (a Swede) and are considering what to do about this right now.
I think it is a shame that the music industry still do things just like they did 30 years ago, as if the world hasn't changed. They then complain about the fact that their artists sell less albums for every year that passes by, because of more and more illegal downloading.... Many cannot survive as professional artists in this age because of failing sales, and those who survive are often forced to play live all the time to make a living, but if they do then they have less time to make new music. So this is a vicious circle.
I am lucky in the sense that metal fans are more conservative and tend to collect their favourite artists' albums and only use leaks to find out if they like an artist or not in the first place – but of course they could have waited until the album was out before they did that.
Anyhow, it is very uninspiring to work hard on an album for a long time only to have some thoughtless PR agent give it away to the world almost 2 months before it is available for purchase.
If I'm not mistaken, for different versions of the releases of "Umskiptar" (CD, DIGI-CD, LP,) will use a different design. Why is that? After all, before, as far as I know you've always used a one version of the design for each album?
That is a misunderstanding. There is only one design for the album.
The probable reason for this misunderstanding is the fact that I considered using another design for the album, but used the one you now know instead – as can be seen as the official design on burzum.org.
What was due to the choice of paintings to decoration the release?
The "Natt" ("night") painting by P. N. Arbo was chosen because it shows a romantic image of the personified night – and this fits the concept of metamorphoses very well. After night comes day, and then night again, et cetera.
These days in Norway is on the court of Andreas Breivik. I read your article about it on burzum.org, but still, I want to ask, if abstracted from his actions, what do you think about his personality? I mean, by its nature and purpose, that he believed in his ideas and worked on their implementation for many years, in the end, having carried out his plan?
The only thing I have to say about him is that I think it is sad how he attacks the symptoms of this diseases that is destroying our Europe, instead of attacking the source of this disease. He should have read "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" one or two times before ruining his own life. He would have found much better targets than he did last year.
If now you are was be invited to become a part of action like this, which would be completely in line with your interests and civilian expectations, would you agree? (Yes, no) Why?
(Not answered)
Well, let's go back to the "Umskiptar", rather, to the photoshoot for the album. The pictures you embody the various images, a soldier in a helmet, a modern hunter in camouflage, and ancient warrior in armor. As far as I understood, in this photoshoot reflected a kind of metamorphosises, and so I can spend some parallels with the name of the new Burzum album. And what exactly do you was want to show by this photoshoot?
Well, I want to show that the fighting spirit si not gone, and it will not go away anytime soon either. We fought our enemies 2000 years ago, and we still fight them. We might be killed, but we will only return later, in another life, to pick up the sword and carry on fighting.
Maybe you noticed that I myself live in Belarus, but representative of a Russian metal music portal. I'm sure you know name of my country, but maybe you know anything else about Belarus? Share your thoughts. Would you like to visit Belarus?
Every time I hear about Belarus I think about a few certain topics. First the name, "White Rus", and then the fact that Belarus lost about 25% of the entire population during WWII, and I often use that in discussions with Norwegians who whine about how "terrible" WWII was for Norway. Norway lost less than 0,3% of its population, I may add, and 2/3 of the losses were due to Allied bombing...
The third thing that comes to mind when I hear about Belarus is the funny fact that Lithuania used Belarussian as its official language when Lithuania was great (some hundred years ago), because the majority of Lithuania's population was Belarussian. Finally I think about your president, Lukashenko, and how the Jew-owned media over here always tries to ridicule him and make him look bad (just like they do with Putin). Naturally this only makes me think better of him, because if the Jewish pigs in the media over here think he is so terrible then he must be doing at least something right, for sure – unlike the puppet politicians over here, who are all owned by Jewish banks.
It would probably be nice to visit Belarus, especially the countryside, where I have been told they live healthy lives and much like they did before.
Your wishes to all readers.
I wish them the best of luck and also that they are brave enough to think for themselves. Our time is a dangerous time, and only wits can get us through this in one piece.
Thank you for your interest!
Author: Kai Grimmsberg (© 2012 HeavyMusic Russia)