It was just 16 years ago that black-metal icon Varg Vikernes, who murdered Mayhem’s guitarist and set three churches on fire, was sitting in an Oslo court, smiling as he received a maximum sentence. Best known as the leader of Burzum, Vikernes was also a far-right political activist.

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Though he was refused four times for parole – most recently in September 2008 – Vikernes is now set to walk free, he told Daglabet magazine.

“I’m ready for society — and I have been for many years,” Vikernes emphasised in an interview last July. “I have learned from my mistakes and become older. Now I just want to be together with my family … I have barely seen my son since he came into the world. Even though I hear his voice on the phone almost every day, it is very tough to not be present while he is growing up.”

Read more at Guardian: “Don’t blame black metal for Varg Vikernes’s extremism”