Manitoba Church Blaze Linked To Death Metal Musician And "Goth Movement"

Justice officials in Brandon, Man. say that a fire that destroyed a church in the town of Minnedosa last February wasn't a random arson, but was linked to the following of a Norwegian death metal musician.

At a recent hearing for one of the three people accused in the case, 19-year-old Deanna Lynn Mathews, the court heard that on the night of the fire the woman and the co-accused, boyfriend Kelsey Ray Taylor, drove from Brandon to Minnedosa to visit their friend Mark Wishart, who has also been charged in the matter. The date was Feb. 11, the birthday of Varg Vikernes, also known as Count Grishnackh and Burzum. The death metal musician is currently serving a lengthy jail term for burning down several churches in Europe.

After drinking for a while in a cemetery, Mathews testified that Wishart acquired a can of gasoline and the three set fire to the Minnedosa United Church. When police arrested Taylor and Mathews a short time later, they found a homemade CD in the couple's car entitled Introduction To Blasphemy, which included several songs by Vikernes and his bands.

"Since Mr. Vikernes burned down churches in Europe... there have been copycat church burnings in California, in Texas, in Italy, in Australia, and many of the people who have been sentenced have purported to be fans of his music," said Crown attorney Jim Ross.

"We're not insisting for sentencing that there was a pre-determined plan to burn the church down. We do allege that Ms. Mathews has been part of a subculture that, among other things, is interested in Norwegian death metal, I suppose what you might largely call the Goth movement."

Mathews claimed that she knows nothing about Vikernes and had no connection to a death metal culture.

"I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it has nothing to do with anything," she said.

Mathews has pleaded guilty to one count of arson and will be sentenced on May 25. Wishart, 20, has also pleaded guilty to arson. Taylor, 21, hasn't yet entered a plea. Both men are scheduled to appear in Brandon court on May 25.

Taylor has also been charged with arson in connection with an April 25, 2004 fire that destroyed the Brandon Hills United Church. He's also been charged with vandalism to more than 100 tombstones in two local cemeteries as well as for knocking over more than 200 headstones at a cemetery in Lethbridge, Alta.

In 1993, Vikernes, then playing bass for the group Mayhem, stabbed and killed drummer Oystein Aarseth over fears that his bandmate was perceived as more evil than he was. Vikernes is currently serving time for that offence as well.