that a pejorative use of the word "Jew" was offensive, and the denials from Darkthrone that the members had racist or fascist sympathies was disingenuous, given the statements made. But, Kahn-Harris also notes that Fenriz has made more jocular references to racism and fascism, and has interacted well with black metal enthusiasts from Israel, so Kahn-Harris believes that the actions by Darkthrone were intentionally contradictory as a form of transgressive artistic discourse and not expressions of a sincere ideology. Axl Rosenberg from the website MetalSucks notes that after these offensive actions from the band in the mid-1990s, Darkthrone has not repeatedly demonstrated racist behavior. He opines that the band members are far older now and that "it’s feasible their worldviews have changed; it’s feasible they were being provocative for the sake of being provocative when they made Hunger and have since seen the error of such sophomoric behavior." After his release from prison, Faust stated regarding the arson and murder he committed that "I was never a Satanist or fascist in any way, but I put behind me the hatred and negativity. Those feelings just eat you up from inside." Similar statements were also uttered by scene members from other countries. Michael W. Ford of the American band Black Funeral mentioned that Nazi occultism was very important to him, called his former band Sorath his "old SS Death squad" and claimed "you have to be white to play Black metal". We was the American leader of Cymophane, an organisation started by Vikernes. He would later disassociate himself from Nazism. According to the authors of Lords of Chaos, in 1995, three Swedish black-metallers (including Mika "Belfagor" Hakola of the band Nefandus) went on a "niggerhunt" in Linköping. Wielding an axe and two machetes, they "terrorized" a black man. Nefandus were later "considered to be Nazi sympathizers", though Belfagor explained: "This could not be further from the truth, but I guess this has to do with some of the controversial comments I made in various magazines in my youth, when I still aspired to play in the most hated band in the world. I used a lot of provocative language back then. But to sort things out: I associate with people of all creeds and colours. ... So to be labeled a Nazi or a racist is very offensive to me". Vikernes and his project Burzum are generally seen as the main