A personal review of Gavin Baddeley's book
"Lucifer Rising: Sin, Devil Worship and Rock'n'Roll"

Some time ago a friend of mine told me there was some material about me in a book called "Lucifer Rising" ("LR"). I had never heard about the book and she was kind enough to send it to me. Now, I am not very interested in Satanism, but after reading "Lords of Chaos" ("LoC") I was curious to see what this book was all about - and why I was included in it. Initially I was relieved to see that there was not much material about me in "LR". It was basically a book about Satanism. I know "LoC" has been criticized for focusing too much on me, and after reading it I can only tell I agree. In the end even I was tired of reading about "Vikernes" this and "Vikernes" that. Luckily we didn't see this in "LR".

This is supposed to be a review of "LR", but to tell the truth the book is so boring I have serious problems reading all of it. The writer is very ignorant too, making the book rather annoying. Like on page 71 he talks about Walpurgisnacht and describes it as: "The night when, according to central European tradition, Evil holds sway over the world". Well, in Western Europe they call this Beltane ("Bal's Fire") and in Northern Europe we call it Valborgsnatt (The Night of Valborg [another name for Asgard]), and it represents the marriage between Skaði (Skadhi) and Njörðr (Njördhr) and the Moon and the Sun (thus; "Honeymoon"). In the pagan 13-month calendar this is the 7th month, where Winter and Summer meet and marry. This is the traditional day of marriage in the Pagan tradition!

Now perhaps I am a bit too conservative but I do not see the day lovers marry as a day "when [...] Evil holds sway over the world". Nor do I see any reason to capitalize "evil", by the way. So what on Earth is this Baddeley talking about? Well, of course, he is either a brainwashed Christian who see Paganism as "evil" or he is just ignorant. In any case, why would I want to continue reading when I understand that he is that ignorant?

Five minutes later I have reached page 192 (well, You don't expect me to read all this crap, do You?), and he starts to talk about Black Metal and me. It is not that I am so very fond of reading about myself, but I would like to see what my friend meant when she told me the book would annoy me. Unlike the authors of "LoC" this guy has at least managed to understand that a prohibition sign over Anton LaVey's face on our records means that we are not great fans of him or the Church of Satan. So far so good. The problem is really that everything else he says is nonsense. Like when he claims that: "The last to join Euronymous's Norwegian cadre were Dark Throne...". They don't even write their name "Dark Throne" (but Darkthrone), and every single soul in Black Metal should by now know that the first to join the Black Metal revolt were the guys in Darkthrone. I am not an expert in English, but I do believed the genitive form of Euronymous would be Euronymous', and not Euronymous's. Is proper spelling too much to ask from native (?) Englishman? And what is "Euronymous's Norwegian cadre" anyhow? He also described it as "the Circle" and similar, and of course all of this is just such a load of crap! It has absolutely nothing to do with reality.

On the next page he claims we, the cadre of Euronymous presumably, dismissed all others as racially inferior, including the Swedes according to him. We argued with the trendy Swedish Death Metal bands, alright, but how did he interpret that as dismissing them as "racially inferior"? Am I really that dumb in his eyes, am I so dumb I don't understand that there is no racial difference between a Swede and a Norwegian? It's like dismissing my big brother as racially inferior! Further it sounds no less odd considering the fact that I am part Swedish (one of my great grandmothers was from Sweden), but I guess this guy doesn't know that! Why does this writer make up such ludicrous lies? It's just stupid.

What then follows is his account of what happened in context with some crimes committed, and it is all wrong too, but what I really find amazing is this statement (on page 194): "A detailed search of Euronymous' flat (hey, he got the grammars right this time!) revealed extensive records of the Black Metal Circle's activities which, police maintained, demonstrated a merit system whereby status was determined by the number of evil acts perpetrated, like some troop of Satanic boy scouts". Now, this is not even a rumour made up by the Norwegian media, and in fact this is the first time I hear anybody say this. He must have made this up all by himself! It has absolutely no roots in reality whatsoever, and it makes me wonder what on Earth is wrong with this guy. It's like back on page 193 where he describes Abruptum's vocalist as a "demented dwarf". Sure, one might see the need to ridicule Abruptum, and indeed I have done so many times, but this is supposed to be a serious book, a published book that people take seriously. Being 160 cm tall does not make Abruptum's vocalist a dwarf - and I have no idea where he got the "demented" part from. Seriously, that is just slander. Is this book a part of some personal vendetta or what?

"LoC" was a crappy book alright, but "LR" is even worse. It is so worthless it makes me think well of "LoC". Everything I read in "LR" seems to be wrong, even the basic facts. He even manages to claim that my defense counsel made an insanity plea on my behalf, something that is pure nonsense. I wonder why on Earth this guy is even writing about this when he obviously doesn't seem to know anything about it. Nothing. And thank God (Odin) I never gave him an interview! I regret talking to the authors of "LoC", and I am very grateful I never talked to this idiot.

Therefore my surprise is big when I come to page 206 and see an interview with me. In the headline he states that he "spoke to the Count early in 1993, while he was on bail for the Norwegian church burnings - before the international music press seized upon the story". Well, knowing well that I have never spoken to this guy, or even heard about him before I got this book some weeks ago, this puzzled me. Further, I know very well that the only foreigner I gave a phone-interview to in early 1993 - I think the day or two after I was released in March - was a journalist from the Kerrang! magazine, and certainly the interview presented in "LR" has nothing to do with the interview I have to Kerrang!. We don't even have a bail system in Norway either, for that sake. I was released on lack of evidence. So why is he - again - making up things?

The contents of the so-called interview is kind of odd too. When he asks "me" about the Black Metal Circle "I" tell him that he should just write what he knows about it, because my phone is tapped. First of all the so-called Black Circle was something Euronymous made up because he wanted to make people believe there was such a thing, but it was nonsense and never existed. The media on the other hand believed it existed for a while, but quickly stopped talking about it when they understood it was a fake rumour. Unfortunately Baddeley hasn't understood this, so when he makes a false interview with me whole thing just looks stupid. This is also the case when he makes up answers about the Christian "God" and have me quote the bible (page 208). Now I don't believe in "God" (and never have) and I have never read the bible, so truly I have no idea what it says regarding Ragnarok (a Norse myth by the way, that to my knowledge isn't even mentioned in the bible). He also have me talk shit about the Germans and the French, something I am not surprised by, considering that he is British. I am sure that if I had talked shit about the Germans and French I would certainly not forget to talk shit about the British too, especially to a Briton. To me the statements in this interview seems more like something he would want me to say, rather than something I have actually said.

He continues by having me say that Scandinavia is a depressing place that is always cold and "especially in my hometown. We are very far north". To him Norway might be very far north, but I certainly don't think so! I don't think people living in Northern Norway think they live very far north either. We tend to think of the world from where we live. To me Bergen is the centre of the world, and everything north of Bergen is north, and everything south of Bergen is south. Northern Norway is far north to me, and the North Pole is very far north. Also I am pretty sure this guy has never been to Norway. If he had he wouldn't have described it as "always cold", or in case of my hometown Bergen even "cold". I know that there is much ignorance out there regarding Norway, like in 1994, during the Olympic Games in Lillehammer, we had American journalists asking Norwegians questions like "Do You have as much problems with Vikings here as we have with Negroes in the USA?". My brother was a student in the USA and heard questions like "Is Norway the capital of Stockholm?" or "Do You have electricity in Norway?", and so forth. Some people might think there are polar bears walking around in the streets, or that we all live in igloos, but the fact is that Norway's climate is temperate, and especially in my hometown we have very mild winters (and cool summers). In Trondheim too, where I am now, the climate is temperate, with mild winters (and warm summers). Perhaps Baddeley haven't heard about the Gulf Stream, or perhaps he believes that is just a German car?

It is sad to see people like that, making up stories and spreading lies and false rumours. What is the point?

I am also surprised to see Lee Barrett, on page 209, is credited for saying that I phoned him a couple of hours after I had killed Aarseth and was laughing and joking about it and told him about the dynamite I had and that I was going to blow up churches. This will of course make the claim by Baddeley that I wouldn't talk about the "Black Metal Circle", because my phone was tapped, sound rather curious. But talking about stolen dynamite and revealing plans to blow up churches is okay to talk about on the same phone? If that doesn't make people question the truthfulness of the contents of this book then I don't know what to say. Knowing what an unprofessional Baddeley is I really cannot criticize Lee Barrett in this context, though, as I have no idea whether he actually said this or if Baddeley is just making this up too. In any case the statement is utterly ludicrous. First of all the conversation he is referring to is one I had with Hellhammer, when he phoned me the day after I killed Aarseth and laughed about it, jokingly (?) telling me that he was happy about it. The "I dance and piss on his grave" statement is something Kerrang! printed, so I don't understand how Lee Barrett could claim I told him that. Reading Kerrang! is not the same as talking to me, he should know. Finally the claim that I had plans to blow up churches with my dynamite is from 1994, and was made by a guy working for the police. That was the first time I ever heard of such plans, simply because I have never had any such plans. The only reason they claimed this was to make me look bad. So, obviously I never told Lee Barrett about any such plans in 1993.

This book is not really about me, but I don't have the will to write about the parts that are not about me. The book is simply too boring, to start with, and the author obviously has no clue anyhow. I have seen many horrible books in my life, but this must be the worst. At least the authors of "LoC" did some research. This guy just makes things up, or perhaps there are other people out there who make up such things on their own and spread them like rumours? I understand that I need to communicate with the world, or else people like Baddeley will be allowed to spread their dumb lies unhindered. Unfortunately he is not alone. There are other books that I know of, in both Germany and Norway, filled with lies and perhaps I should "review" them too? Even the school books in Norway are filled with lies about this case. I would really like it if I didn't have to defend myself against lies like I do with articles like this one. But I guess that is too much to ask for... If You want to attack me use the truth. That's fine by me and that's all I ask for.

Thank You for the attention.

Varg Vikernes
Trondheim, Friday the 13th August 2004