Black Metal Murderer Varg Vikernes To Be Freed in Norway

Ingun Mæhlum

"Free at last. Well... almost," reads the triumphant update on black metal murderer Varg Vikernes' (possibly fake) Twitter: after nearly 16 years, Vikernes is getting out of Norwegian prison. In 1993, Varg and an accomplice, Snorre Ruch, murdered his onetime Burzum bandmate Øystein Aarseth, alias Euronymous, in a dispute about inter-scene politics, or money, or self-defense--accounts differ. An unapologetic Vikernes smiled demonically in court when the guilty verdict came down; while in prison, he was a frequent willing neo-Nazi figurehead and propagandist; and, in 2003, Vikerness successfully, if briefly, escaped --three reasons among many that parole on his 21-year sentence had been denied four separate times in this decade alone. But now, apparently, he'll soon go free. His destination? A small farm in Bø, a town located in Telemark, Norway, where the residents surely just got a bit more fearful.

"I look forward the day that I could work on my farm, create music, write books and be with the wife and kids around the clock -- and live a normal life," he told Dagbladet, a Norwegian newspaper. " It means a lot." Once, I accompanied a friend on a visit to the city of Trondheim, where Varg's accomplice, Snorre Ruch, has lived since he was freed from prison in the late '90s, after serving 8 years. Ruch was intimidating, but also a gentleman--a good host, who in spite of his past seemed reformed ("I mostly get my kicks from the music," he said then) and kind. Whether Vikernes--a hateful individual then, and apparently scarcely better since--will become any of these things, now that he's a free man, remains to be seen. [Blabbermouth, via Daily Swarm]