LIBRARY
Interview with Varg Vikernes
"YCKM! Try to Kill The Metal!" Blog (04.06.2012), by Guy YCKM
Hi Varg, your last record: "Umskiptar", following "Fallen", is both surprising and most interesting. Your music seems to be more varied, wiser, more thought about and also more metaphysical. And this is far from the pure "Black Metal" style you played in the 1990's and from the ambient ritualistic songs you composed in jail. So, Can we say that we are now having a new Burzum style since Belus record or else is it the logical evolution of your project?
Bonjour, Guy. You might say "Umskiptar" represents a new style, but if you think about it you will understand that every Burzum album, including the first four, all represented a new style. The biggest change (if we disregard the prison albums) actually came with "Hvis Lyset Tar Oss". "Umskiptar" (too) is a logical evolution, though, and I expect the next album to be different from the others too.
Can you talk about the main themes you deal with in this new record? Particularly, can you explain why you chose to entitle your record: "Metamorphoses" like the Ovide's poems. (I must say that the French translations of your lyrics are generally unsatisfactory, that's why it would be better if you could explain them to your French fans )
Metamorphoses is a poem by Ovide, but it is also a word, and even though I appreciate the link to Ovide I did use it for its meaning of the word. The lyrics on "Umskiptar" are all taken from an old Scandinavian poem, "Völuspá". This poem is generally understood as a creation myth and a myth describing the end of the world, but it is really a description of the metamorphoses of nature. It describes how Autumn turns to Winter, Winter to Spring, Spring to Summer, Summer to Autumn and then Autumn to Winter again. And so it goes on forever, with no beginning and no end. It also explains how our forefathers related to this every year. The language is mythological, so all the forces of nature are anthropomorphised, and are known as elves and deities.
The scanning you are very often using all along your record seems to be inspired by the Latin method of scaning? Is it also a tribute paid to the work of Ovide, the poet?
If I can assume you are talking about the cover art, and the type of paintings I use for my records, I can tell that I most often use Romantic art because it best underlines what I want to say with each album. It is a way to express contempt for the forlorn modern world, and also a way to idealise the glorious past. It all stems from a longong for the Golden Age.
How do the Norwegian mass media consider you as a man? And How do they receive your music? Are you criticized or seen as a black sheep in your country? (Let me say that in France, apart from Gojira, the Metalheads are all considered as being satanic and violent, or, in the best of cases, as inoffensive and stupid persons. That of course is wrong, is it?)
They hardly regard me as a metal head at all, and instead only think of me as a dissident, spreading "dangerous" ideas. They don't criticize me at all; they pretend I don't exist. For example; not a single Norwegian magazine, radio station or website has asked for an interview in relation to the release of "Umskiptar". I get more media coverage in Belarus and Bulgaria than I do in Norway whenever I release an album.
What do you think of the Breivik case, which must still be present in the press and television in Norway today?
It's like a trial in Stalin's Soviet Union during The Great Purge. There are no nuances, no dissent, no alternative perspectives, nothing. In that sense it reminds me very much of my own trial in 1994, only it is even worse this time around. They also desperately try to make him look insane, even though he obviously isn't. Maybe one day they will be able to understand why he and others like him feel forced to do such things. You can read my views on Breivik himself and his actions on burzum.org, here and here.
Have you any idea about this funny paradox which raises numerous questions here in France: How is it that Norway should be the country were the people are supposed to be the happiest in the world while the most depressing and desperate "Black Metal bands" were born precisely in such a country?
It only sounds like a paradox, but in reality it makes perfect sense; Norway is a totalitarean Marxist state, and has been since 1945, and it is very suppressive to anyone with different ideas. Take me for instance; the only country where I am being heavily censored and even ignored completely is Norway! I have more freedom to say what I want in so-called suppressive dictatorships like Belarus and China than I do in Norway!
The amount of brainwash and extremism Norwegian citizens are exposed to from the first day they are forced to go to kindergarten is simply huge! All citizens in Norway have an identification number, that they have to use in all official contexts. So we don't really use our names, but a number (like prisoners in a concentration camp)! The state has registered all doors in all of Norway, with excact information about who lives behind each door (and we are of course listed by our numbers). There is no privacy for the citizens at all. You can for example go to www.skattelisten.no and find out exactly how much each person in Norway earns, just by typing in his name. (I am by the way not listed; I no longer live in Norway). You are in practise a public person whether you like it or not, and you belong to the state. The state can even take your children for no good reason at all, like if a neighbour reports you claiming you are hitting your children. They will not try to find out if this is true or not, but will instead just take your children, and then you have to prove it is not true – which of course is very hard to do. You see, your children too are mainly a property of the Soviet-Norwegian state.
Generally speaking you are not allowed to do anything at all by yourself in Norway. You pay insane amounts of taxes because the state wants to take care of you! They hold your hand throughout your life, and if you try to get lose you are seen as a threat. They hate individualists, in particular individuals who can stand on their own two feet. You have to depend on them for your happiness, or else... You either sing their Marxist songs or you are a threat to them.
I am sure the teenagers on Utøya were more afraid of the consequences they would face if they tried to defend themselves against Breivik than they were of Breivik. They were expected by the Soviet-Norwegian state to do nothing, not defend themselves, not try to stop the killer! They were expected to wait obediently for the Soviet state police to protect them – as it has done throughout their lives. So when the police failed them miserably they were helpless... and were mowed down like grain to a scythe. 1 Nationalist wolf against 700 Marxist sheep waiting mindlessly for their Soviet herder to protect them. I am sure they would have died from hunger and thirst too, if the Soviet-Norwegian state hadn't occasionally ordered them to eat and drink.
I wish Norway didn't have so much petrolium. If we didn't this insane regime would have collapsed ages ago...
What is your reaction as to the heritage you have left and which still inspires lots of artists today? (Shining, Lustre, Silencer, Peste Noire and so on it is not black metal at all, but these bands can be considered as depressing and experimental music)
Unfortunately I am very much oblivious to this heritage, so there is not much I can say about it.
What is the use of your music which would render you very proud? (For instance: Do you prefer people using your songs for movie Soundtracks or for experiences in spiritism or meditation?)
What makes me the most proud would be when individuals appreciates it the way they want to.
You wrote in your website you really love France. Would you like to write a song in French, which is a very poetic language too. (I think about French dark poets as: Baudelaire or Lautreamont)
Je parle seulement un peu de français, and it is thus hard for me to understand and truly appreciate any poetry written in French. In order to use a poem I should at least be able to understand it myself...
For you, what does being a metalhead in 2012 mean? (as to the social relationships and to the relations with the present Musical world as well.)
It doesn't mean anything to me. I don't regard myself as a metalhead, and I don't think all Burzum fans are either.
Could you clearly explain to us, French, what paganism concretely means? Is paganism linked with chamanism in the sens that both are close to nature?
Paganism can be many things, but to me it is a set of values, ideals and ideas, and a concept of honour. The Pagan world view is circular with no beginning and no end, in contrast to the linear Judeo-Christian world view with a clear beginning (Creation) and a clear end (Judgement Day). Pagan is national in contrast to the international Judeo-Christianity. The Pagan idea of honour is also very much in contrast to the Judeo-Christian virties of humility. The Pagan idea of pride is also very much in contrast to the Judeo-Christian self-loathing and idealisation of the Jews as some sort of "Chosen people".
Paganism isn't neccessarily closer to nature, but it is in harmony with nature, including our own human nature, and that makes it very different from Judeo-Christianity too.
What do you think about the French Metal Bands (We do have numerous pagan groups like Arganork or Belenos, and metaphysical ones like Blut Aus Nord or Deathspell Omega). Do you often listen to these groups?
Sorry, but I don't know them. Like I said I am not a metalhead, and when I listen to music I mostly listen to classical music, traditional music and some darkwave music too.
In our radio shows, we have two rituals. The first one consists in asking our guests to tell us a bad taste Joke: Today it is your turn!
You might regret this...
Question: "Do you know the difference between a Jew and a pizza?"
Answer: "The pizza doesn't scream when you throw it into the oven."
The second one consists in collecting each guest's suppositions as to the end of the world. Briefly speaking, what is going to happen to us on December 21st 2012? (Our French bands are very imaginative concerning this mystic and amusing topic)
You might find my answer rather boring, but in any case I think the whole 2012 myth is pure nonsense. If it should hold any truth whatsoever though it would probably refer to the coming Ice Age, that we are about to enter as we speak. Most of the time in the past Northern Europe and the Alps were covered by glaciers, in different Ice Ages, and what we have today – a temperate climate – is only a rare event in history. So within maybe 100 years or perhaps as much as 500 years Northern Europe and the Alps will be covered by glaciers again, and we will face a whole new situation that can easily be described as the end of this world.
...I am sure the brainwashed Marxist Norwegians will freeze to death as the ice advances from the North, unless they are ordered to get out of the way by the state.
To conclude. Have you a particular message to send to our French Listeners? As a fan of your music, I must tell it was a real pleasure to get in touch with you? Guy YCKM.
Thank you very much for your interest.
Right now I pity France and every Frenchman, who are stuck with the choice between having their nation be destroyed either by an incompetent Jew lackey (Hollande) or a lying Jew (Sarkozy), and I will advice all of you to prepare for the worst. You might not be the next Hellas – Italy and Spain will probably beat you in that race – but you will surely go ad undas too. You can thank the traitor generation (age 50-70) for that, who kept voting for traitor politicians, and who kept giving the bankers more and more power to destroy your nation for personal profit. Don't be surprised if these bankers escape your sinking ship before it sinks, with their pockets filled with your gold. Don't be surprised when all these bankers escape to Israel. Their true homeland.
Bonjour, Guy. You might say "Umskiptar" represents a new style, but if you think about it you will understand that every Burzum album, including the first four, all represented a new style. The biggest change (if we disregard the prison albums) actually came with "Hvis Lyset Tar Oss". "Umskiptar" (too) is a logical evolution, though, and I expect the next album to be different from the others too.
Can you talk about the main themes you deal with in this new record? Particularly, can you explain why you chose to entitle your record: "Metamorphoses" like the Ovide's poems. (I must say that the French translations of your lyrics are generally unsatisfactory, that's why it would be better if you could explain them to your French fans )
Metamorphoses is a poem by Ovide, but it is also a word, and even though I appreciate the link to Ovide I did use it for its meaning of the word. The lyrics on "Umskiptar" are all taken from an old Scandinavian poem, "Völuspá". This poem is generally understood as a creation myth and a myth describing the end of the world, but it is really a description of the metamorphoses of nature. It describes how Autumn turns to Winter, Winter to Spring, Spring to Summer, Summer to Autumn and then Autumn to Winter again. And so it goes on forever, with no beginning and no end. It also explains how our forefathers related to this every year. The language is mythological, so all the forces of nature are anthropomorphised, and are known as elves and deities.
The scanning you are very often using all along your record seems to be inspired by the Latin method of scaning? Is it also a tribute paid to the work of Ovide, the poet?
If I can assume you are talking about the cover art, and the type of paintings I use for my records, I can tell that I most often use Romantic art because it best underlines what I want to say with each album. It is a way to express contempt for the forlorn modern world, and also a way to idealise the glorious past. It all stems from a longong for the Golden Age.
How do the Norwegian mass media consider you as a man? And How do they receive your music? Are you criticized or seen as a black sheep in your country? (Let me say that in France, apart from Gojira, the Metalheads are all considered as being satanic and violent, or, in the best of cases, as inoffensive and stupid persons. That of course is wrong, is it?)
They hardly regard me as a metal head at all, and instead only think of me as a dissident, spreading "dangerous" ideas. They don't criticize me at all; they pretend I don't exist. For example; not a single Norwegian magazine, radio station or website has asked for an interview in relation to the release of "Umskiptar". I get more media coverage in Belarus and Bulgaria than I do in Norway whenever I release an album.
What do you think of the Breivik case, which must still be present in the press and television in Norway today?
It's like a trial in Stalin's Soviet Union during The Great Purge. There are no nuances, no dissent, no alternative perspectives, nothing. In that sense it reminds me very much of my own trial in 1994, only it is even worse this time around. They also desperately try to make him look insane, even though he obviously isn't. Maybe one day they will be able to understand why he and others like him feel forced to do such things. You can read my views on Breivik himself and his actions on burzum.org, here and here.
Have you any idea about this funny paradox which raises numerous questions here in France: How is it that Norway should be the country were the people are supposed to be the happiest in the world while the most depressing and desperate "Black Metal bands" were born precisely in such a country?
It only sounds like a paradox, but in reality it makes perfect sense; Norway is a totalitarean Marxist state, and has been since 1945, and it is very suppressive to anyone with different ideas. Take me for instance; the only country where I am being heavily censored and even ignored completely is Norway! I have more freedom to say what I want in so-called suppressive dictatorships like Belarus and China than I do in Norway!
The amount of brainwash and extremism Norwegian citizens are exposed to from the first day they are forced to go to kindergarten is simply huge! All citizens in Norway have an identification number, that they have to use in all official contexts. So we don't really use our names, but a number (like prisoners in a concentration camp)! The state has registered all doors in all of Norway, with excact information about who lives behind each door (and we are of course listed by our numbers). There is no privacy for the citizens at all. You can for example go to www.skattelisten.no and find out exactly how much each person in Norway earns, just by typing in his name. (I am by the way not listed; I no longer live in Norway). You are in practise a public person whether you like it or not, and you belong to the state. The state can even take your children for no good reason at all, like if a neighbour reports you claiming you are hitting your children. They will not try to find out if this is true or not, but will instead just take your children, and then you have to prove it is not true – which of course is very hard to do. You see, your children too are mainly a property of the Soviet-Norwegian state.
Generally speaking you are not allowed to do anything at all by yourself in Norway. You pay insane amounts of taxes because the state wants to take care of you! They hold your hand throughout your life, and if you try to get lose you are seen as a threat. They hate individualists, in particular individuals who can stand on their own two feet. You have to depend on them for your happiness, or else... You either sing their Marxist songs or you are a threat to them.
I am sure the teenagers on Utøya were more afraid of the consequences they would face if they tried to defend themselves against Breivik than they were of Breivik. They were expected by the Soviet-Norwegian state to do nothing, not defend themselves, not try to stop the killer! They were expected to wait obediently for the Soviet state police to protect them – as it has done throughout their lives. So when the police failed them miserably they were helpless... and were mowed down like grain to a scythe. 1 Nationalist wolf against 700 Marxist sheep waiting mindlessly for their Soviet herder to protect them. I am sure they would have died from hunger and thirst too, if the Soviet-Norwegian state hadn't occasionally ordered them to eat and drink.
I wish Norway didn't have so much petrolium. If we didn't this insane regime would have collapsed ages ago...
What is your reaction as to the heritage you have left and which still inspires lots of artists today? (Shining, Lustre, Silencer, Peste Noire and so on it is not black metal at all, but these bands can be considered as depressing and experimental music)
Unfortunately I am very much oblivious to this heritage, so there is not much I can say about it.
What is the use of your music which would render you very proud? (For instance: Do you prefer people using your songs for movie Soundtracks or for experiences in spiritism or meditation?)
What makes me the most proud would be when individuals appreciates it the way they want to.
You wrote in your website you really love France. Would you like to write a song in French, which is a very poetic language too. (I think about French dark poets as: Baudelaire or Lautreamont)
Je parle seulement un peu de français, and it is thus hard for me to understand and truly appreciate any poetry written in French. In order to use a poem I should at least be able to understand it myself...
For you, what does being a metalhead in 2012 mean? (as to the social relationships and to the relations with the present Musical world as well.)
It doesn't mean anything to me. I don't regard myself as a metalhead, and I don't think all Burzum fans are either.
Could you clearly explain to us, French, what paganism concretely means? Is paganism linked with chamanism in the sens that both are close to nature?
Paganism can be many things, but to me it is a set of values, ideals and ideas, and a concept of honour. The Pagan world view is circular with no beginning and no end, in contrast to the linear Judeo-Christian world view with a clear beginning (Creation) and a clear end (Judgement Day). Pagan is national in contrast to the international Judeo-Christianity. The Pagan idea of honour is also very much in contrast to the Judeo-Christian virties of humility. The Pagan idea of pride is also very much in contrast to the Judeo-Christian self-loathing and idealisation of the Jews as some sort of "Chosen people".
Paganism isn't neccessarily closer to nature, but it is in harmony with nature, including our own human nature, and that makes it very different from Judeo-Christianity too.
What do you think about the French Metal Bands (We do have numerous pagan groups like Arganork or Belenos, and metaphysical ones like Blut Aus Nord or Deathspell Omega). Do you often listen to these groups?
Sorry, but I don't know them. Like I said I am not a metalhead, and when I listen to music I mostly listen to classical music, traditional music and some darkwave music too.
In our radio shows, we have two rituals. The first one consists in asking our guests to tell us a bad taste Joke: Today it is your turn!
You might regret this...
Question: "Do you know the difference between a Jew and a pizza?"
Answer: "The pizza doesn't scream when you throw it into the oven."
The second one consists in collecting each guest's suppositions as to the end of the world. Briefly speaking, what is going to happen to us on December 21st 2012? (Our French bands are very imaginative concerning this mystic and amusing topic)
You might find my answer rather boring, but in any case I think the whole 2012 myth is pure nonsense. If it should hold any truth whatsoever though it would probably refer to the coming Ice Age, that we are about to enter as we speak. Most of the time in the past Northern Europe and the Alps were covered by glaciers, in different Ice Ages, and what we have today – a temperate climate – is only a rare event in history. So within maybe 100 years or perhaps as much as 500 years Northern Europe and the Alps will be covered by glaciers again, and we will face a whole new situation that can easily be described as the end of this world.
...I am sure the brainwashed Marxist Norwegians will freeze to death as the ice advances from the North, unless they are ordered to get out of the way by the state.
To conclude. Have you a particular message to send to our French Listeners? As a fan of your music, I must tell it was a real pleasure to get in touch with you? Guy YCKM.
Thank you very much for your interest.
Right now I pity France and every Frenchman, who are stuck with the choice between having their nation be destroyed either by an incompetent Jew lackey (Hollande) or a lying Jew (Sarkozy), and I will advice all of you to prepare for the worst. You might not be the next Hellas – Italy and Spain will probably beat you in that race – but you will surely go ad undas too. You can thank the traitor generation (age 50-70) for that, who kept voting for traitor politicians, and who kept giving the bankers more and more power to destroy your nation for personal profit. Don't be surprised if these bankers escape your sinking ship before it sinks, with their pockets filled with your gold. Don't be surprised when all these bankers escape to Israel. Their true homeland.
Author: Guy YCKM (© 2012 "YCKM! Try to Kill The Metal!" Blog France)
In other languages: Français