Updated: BURZUM Leader Fails To Return After Short Leave From Prison

The Norwegian media is reporting that BURZUM mastermind Varg "Greven" Vikernes (a.k.a. Count Grishnack) failed to return after a short leave from his prison in Vestfold, Norway, where the black metal musician is serving a 21-year sentence for the August 1993 murder of MAYHEM guitarist Oystein Aarseth (a.k.a. Euronymous),the burning of three churches, and the resulting death of a fireman. Varg, 30, was supposed to return to the prison by midnight Saturday (October 25) after being granted a couple of days off, but failed to come back in time. The police have no information on his whereabouts.

More information on Vikernes' "escape" from prison (in Norwegian) can be found at the following locations:

NRK
Dagbladet
Bergensavisen
Ringerikes Blad
Dagsavisen
Stavanger Avisen
Nationen
Tonsbergs Blad
VG
Avisa Nordhordland
Finnmarken
Aura Avis
Glåmdalen
Ostelndingen
Sandefjords Blad

Vikernes, commonly referred to as a Satanist, but more accurately described as a deeply anti-Christian and anti-Semite black metal musician who claims that he believes in Old Norse gods like Odin and Thor, gained notoriety in Norway for being responsible for one of the most brutal murders ever committed in the country (Aarseth was found dead outside his apartment in Oslo with 23 stab wounds — two to the head, five to the neck, and 16 to the back).

In a 1998 interview with Björn Hallberg, Vikernes elaborated on his claim that he killed Aarseth (widely viewed as the founder of the Norwegian black metal movement) in self-defense, saying "[Oystein] wanted to kill me for several reasons. I dumped his label, and by doing that left him with a label with only bands that sold extremely bad (ABRUPTUM, and some other trash). I made him look like a complete fool several times — i.e. from making fun of him to disclosing his many lies to others. I started to spread racist propaganda to our milieu. But most importantly I managed to become more interesting for the media than he was. For some reason it was very important for him to be 'the center' of everything. This was of course because I did something, while he was just talking about these things — so after a while nobody took him serious, as they saw that he was just full of talk, and no action. He blamed me for this, since I was the person — he believed — responsible for making him look like a wimp (which he was, of course).

"You must remember that [Aarseth] had been 'the center' of the [Norwegian black metal] movement a long time, he was 25 years old, while I was only 19 (and 20 when I killed him),and he took it very serious when people started listening to me instead of him. He was a Communist, and hated the fact that 'everybody' was fully into my nationalist and racist views — that is, after a while of course. In short he didn't like the development, and wanted to put and end to it by killing me. First he tried to find proof against me for several crimes he 'knew' I had committed, but he failed to do so.

"The reason I disrespected him was simply because he was completely incompetent and incapable of running his label efficiently. He was full of big words and never did anything as he promised to do. He was obsessed with this 'Satanist' thing, while I wanted to spread Odinism in the scene (and he hated me for that as well). He was disgusting, watching dirty movies all the time, and we even suspected him for being bisexual or homosexual! I did not want anything to do with him, and did nothing to my contempt for him to anybody! He was a pig, and I told that to 'everybody'!

"I was a bit pissed because I had wasted so much time, belief and energy on his label, and everything was a waste! I was young, alright, but still was a fool to believe in his label in the first place.

"To put it short there were a lot of reasons for me to hate him, and because of my respectable way of handling this he had a reason to hate me as well — I told the truth about him, and for sure the truth is very often uncomfortable for many!

"I meant — and still mean — that I killed him in self-defense, simply because it was he who attacked me, and not the other way around, when I showed up in his apartment that evening to tell him to 'fuck off' (to put it that way). He intended to torture me to death, filming it and selling it as a 'snuff' movie to others — and I knew this because a friend of his told me about it. He attacked me and he tried to kill me (with a knife). He failed miserably, alright, but I knew that if I did not end 'the show' there I would only give him a second chance, and of course I saw no point in doing that. Maybe he was more successful (for a change…) the second time? That is why I mean it was in self-defense. In beginning it was self-defense, even legally, but when he started to flee it was no longer legally, and I then call the killing a 'preventative action', 'preventative self-defense'."