Controversial artist plans new album & book

Varg Vikernes was recently released from prison after serving 16 of a 21 year sentence for burglary, arson & the murder of fellow Norwegian musician Øystein Aarseth. While Vikernes was briefly a member of the prominent Aarseth founded black metal act Mayhem, he is best known for creating the minimalist drones and dark ambient soundscapes of Burzum. Now a free man Vikernes is writing a new Burzum album to be released next year, and finishing a book he began in prison detailing the events that put him there from his perspective. The question will be if people can put aside his crimes, not to mention his extreme (and by his own admission racist) political views, and judge a new album by Burzum solely on its musical merit. Should we? Perhaps on some level we have already become desinsitized to the subject. His crimes have been documented in countless books and films, and even a VH1 (yeah the Rock of Love channel) countdown. Perhaps the most telling singn of Varg's pop culture status is the upcoming scripted film "Lords of Chaos", based on the popular book of the same name, in which Jackson Rathbone of teen sensation Twilight will play him. Go here form an English translation of a new interview detailing his plan for the future, plus some passages from the new book.