The Allgermanische Heidnische Front (AHF) was an international neo-Nazi organisation, active during the late 1990s and early 2000s, that espoused a form of racial Germanic Neopaganism. It grew from the Norsk Hedensk Front (NHF), which was claimed to be led and founded by the musician Varg Vikernes in 1993, although he and the organisation denied it. The program was based on his first book, Vargsmål (1994), published shortly after he was convicted for church arson and the murder of fellow musician Euronymous.
Norsk Hedensk Front (Norwegian Heathen Front) was founded in 1993. [1] Its program was based on Vargsmål (1994), [2] a book by Norwegian black metal musician Varg Vikernes. It was written shortly after he was convicted for church arson and the murder of Euronymous as a rebuttal to the media. [3] Swedish scholar Matthias Gardell states in his 2003 book Gods of the Blood that Vikernes launched the Heathen Front through which he advocated "national socialism, anti-Semitism, eugenics and racist paganism." [4] The Encyclopedia of White Power (2000) said that Vikernes was the "self-proclaimed leader" of the Norwegian Heathen Front [5] and the historian Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke mentioned that Vikernes underlined "his role as chieftain of his Norwegian Heathen Front" with the writing of Vargsmål, "formulat[ing] his heathen ideology using material from Norse mythology combined with occult National Socialism". [6] As of 1999, Heathen Front's website was selling Vargsmål. [7]
The Heathen Front denied that Vikernes was in charge. According to the 2003 book Lords of Chaos , Vikernes' direct involvement with the group is difficult to ascertain, and speculated that the denial may have been to protect him, as Norwegian prisoners were prohibited from leading political groups. In addition, the organization's listed address was the same PO box Vikernes used in prison, which the authors state would have made it "very hard for him [Vikernes] to do an effective job" at leading the organization, as all letters would have been screened by the prison personnel. [8] In a 2009 interview with Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet, Vikernes stated: "I have never formed or been a member of such organisations". [9]
The Norwegian Heathen Front soon became the Allgermanische Heidnische Front (AHF), a network of organizations in different countries. [4] The Swedish Heathen Front (Svensk Hednisk Front) was a small group formed around 1996. [10] The German chapter, Deutsche Heidnische Front, was founded in 1998 by Hendrik Möbus.[ citation needed ] In 2001, the AHF claimed chapters in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, the United States, Canada, Russia [11] and Flanders. [12] There was also a short-lived English Heathen Front closely associated during its inception with the British Movement but later linked by Searchlight , the anti-fascist monthly, to Tom Gowers, an officer of the British National Party based in the East Midlands, and to the militant odinist group Woden's Folk. [13]
The organization described its specific ideas as "Odalism", derived from the rune Odal (ᛟ). This movement rejected conventional academic research on history and archaeology, instead interpreting Germanic mythology as esoterically transmitted via ancestry. [14]
The Heathen Front espoused neo-Nazism, white supremacism and antisemitism. [15] [16] [17] A 2001 report by the Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism describes the Svensk Hednisk Front (Swedish Heathen Front – SHF) as "an emerging Nazi organization" with an ideology blending "Odinism, anti-Christianity and antisemitism." [18]
The organisation with time became a forum for neo-Nazis and heathen nationalists. In 2005 the Allgermanische Heidnische Front was closed down. Its members spread to other organisations. [10]
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw (lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an emphasis on atmosphere. Artists often appear in corpse paint and adopt pseudonyms.
Burzum was a Norwegian music project founded by Varg Vikernes in 1991. Although Burzum never played live performances, it became a part of the early Norwegian black metal scene and is considered one of the most influential acts in black metal's history. Vikernes has also released four dark ambient and neofolk albums. The word "burzum" means "darkness" in the black speech, a fictional language crafted by The Lord of the Rings writer J. R. R. Tolkien. Burzum's lyrics and imagery are often inspired by fantasy and Norse mythology.
National Socialist black metal, also known as NSBM, Aryan black metal, and Neo-Nazi black metal, is a political movement and subgenre within the black metal music scene that promotes neo-Nazism, neo-fascism, and white supremacist ideologies. NSBM artists typically combine neo-Nazi imagery and ideology with ethnic European paganism, Satanism, or Nazi occultism, or a combination thereof, and vehemently oppose Christianity, Islam and Judaism from a racialist viewpoint. NSBM is not seen as a distinct genre, but as a völkisch movement within black metal. According to Mattias Gardell, NSBM musicians see this ideology as "a logical extension of the political and spiritual dissidence inherent in black metal".
Holmenkollen is a mountain and a neighbourhood in the Vestre Aker borough of Oslo, Norway. It goes up to 500 metres (1,600 ft) above sea level and is well-known for its international skiing competitions.
Louis Cachet, better known as Varg Vikernes, is a Norwegian author and retired musician best known for his early black metal albums and later crimes. His first five records, issued under the name Burzum from 1992 to 1996, made him one of the most influential figures in black metal. In 1994, he was convicted of murder and arson, and subsequently served 15 years in prison.
Per Yngve "Pelle" Ohlin, better known by his stage name Dead, was a Swedish metal musician who was best known as the lead vocalist and lyricist of the Norwegian black metal band Mayhem from 1988 until his death in 1991. Prior to Mayhem, he also performed as vocalist in the Swedish death/thrash band Morbid. Dead was a popular figure of the Norwegian black metal scene, and his legacy persists in the genre to this day. Roadrunner Records ranked him No. 48 out of 50 of The Greatest Metal Front-Men of All Time.
Øystein Aarseth, better known by his stage name Euronymous, was a Norwegian musician and a founder of and central figure in the early Norwegian black metal scene. He was a co-founder and guitarist of the Norwegian black metal band Mayhem and was the only constant member from the band's formation in 1984 until his death in 1993. He was also founder and owner of the extreme metal record label Deathlike Silence Productions and record shop Helvete.
Mayhem is a Norwegian black metal band formed in Langhus in 1984. They were one of the founders of the Norwegian black metal scene and their music has strongly influenced the black metal genre. Mayhem's early career was highly controversial, primarily due to their notorious live performances, the 1991 suicide of vocalist Per Yngve Ohlin ("Dead") and the 1993 murder of guitarist Øystein Aarseth ("Euronymous") by former member Varg Vikernes of Burzum.
The early Norwegian black metal scene of the 1990s is credited with creating the modern black metal genre and produced some of the most acclaimed and influential artists in extreme metal. It attracted massive media attention when it was revealed that its members had been responsible for two murders, a suicide, and a wave of church burnings in Norway.
Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground is a book by Michael Moynihan and Didrik Søderlind. It is an account of the early Norwegian black metal scene, with a focus on the string of church burnings and murders that occurred in the country around 1993. A film adaptation of the book was directed by Swedish director Jonas Åkerlund in 2018. The book has been the subject of controversy over the alleged political leanings of author Michael Moynihan, though he denies these allegations.
De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is the first studio album by Norwegian black metal band Mayhem. Songwriting began in 1987, but due to the suicide of vocalist Per "Dead" Ohlin and the murder of guitarist Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth, the album's release was delayed until May 1994. De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is widely considered one of the most influential black metal albums of all time. It is the band's only studio album to feature Aarseth and Varg "Count Grishnackh" Vikernes.
Bård Guldvik "Faust" Eithun is a Norwegian drummer and convicted murderer, known primarily for his work with black metal band Emperor. In 1993, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison for murder. He has been out of prison since 2003.
Absurd is a German National Socialist black metal band, and has been classified as a "right-wing extremist" group by the Thuringian Landesbehörde für Verfassungsschutz.
Heathenry, also termed Heathenism, contemporary Germanic Paganism, or Germanic Neopaganism, is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religious studies classify it as a new religious movement. Developed in Europe during the early 20th century, its practitioners model it on the pre-Christian religions adhered to by the Germanic peoples of the Iron Age and Early Middle Ages. In an attempt to reconstruct these past belief systems, Heathenry uses surviving historical, archaeological, and folkloric evidence as a basis, although approaches to this material vary considerably.
Filosofem is the fourth studio album by Norwegian black metal solo project Burzum. It was recorded in March 1993 and was the last recording before Varg Vikernes was sentenced to prison in 1994; the album was not released until January 1996, however. It was released through Misanthropy Records and Vikernes's own record label, Cymophane Productions. A music video was made for the song "Dunkelheit" and received airtime on both MTV and VH1.
Stephen Anthony McNallen is an American proponent of Heathenry, a modern Pagan new religious movement, and a white nationalist activist. He founded the Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA), which he led from 1994 until 2016, having previously been the founder of the Viking Brotherhood and the Asatrú Free Assembly.
The National Socialist Movement of Norway, formerly Zorn 88, was a Norwegian neo-Nazi group with an estimated 150 members, led by Erik Rune Hansen until his death in 2004. Founded in 1988, it was a secretive group with tight membership regulation.
Deutsche Heidnische Front was a far right Neo-Nazi group created in 1998 as the German section of the Heathen Front. It was formed by avowed neo-Nazi Hendrik Möbus. It has been inactive since 2005.
Holmenkollen Chapel is located in the neighborhood of Holmenkollen in the Vestre Aker borough of Oslo, Norway. The original chapel from 1903 was destroyed by arson in 1992. The new chapel was completed in 1996. Holmenkollen Chapel is a listed site, registered in Norway's cultural heritage database.
Lords of Chaos is a 2018 biographical horror thriller film directed by Jonas Åkerlund and written by Lillie Rammal, Dennis Magnusson, and Åkerlund. Adapted from the 1998 book of the same name, the film is a historical fiction account of the early 1990s Norwegian black metal scene told from the perspective of Mayhem co-founder Euronymous. It stars Rory Culkin as Euronymous, Emory Cohen as Varg Vikernes, Jack Kilmer as Dead, and Sky Ferreira as Ann-Marit.