Burzum

Biography

Founded in 1991 by Norwegian Satanist Count Grishnackh (real name Varg Vikernes), Burzum became one of the leading lights in Scandinavia’s black metal revival of the early 90s. Largely a solo project, Grishnackh composes, sings and plays almost all of Burzum’s material himself. The project first surfaced under the name of Uruk Hai in 1987. Significantly, the name was drawn from J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy classic, The Lord Of The Rings, in which the Uruk Hai were a particularly brutal tribe of orcs (the subhuman villains of the book). Burzum was the orcish language, while Grishnackh was a treacherous orc who plays a small, but pivotal, role in the proceedings. Count Grishnackh used Tolkien’s epic struggle between good and evil as a model for his own brand of Satanism, casting himself among the hordes of darkness. Grishnackh went on to collaborate with Euronymous, godfather of the Scandinavian black metal revival, playing with the latter’s band...

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