Jonas Akerlund is pretty well known for being a video and film director, as anyone that’s seen any music video in the kate ’90s and early aughts can attest. However, before he was a director, back in 1983 and 1984, he was known as Vans McBurger and played drums in Swedish black metal band Bathory. He parted ways with the band before they recorded any material, and went on to direct tons of videos, but his time behind the drum throne is an interesting footnote to a very successful post-Bathory career. Why does any of  this matter? Well, he just bought a church! From Swedish newspaper Gaffa:

A classic Methodist Church in Stockholm has been sold … after 120 years in the Assembly’s ownership. [Its new] owners have a little darker past: video director and former drummer in the black metal band Bathory, Jonas Åkerlund. What he [plans for] the old church is as yet unknown, but the congregation does not seem [worried] that it will be about devil worship.

States Solveig Högberg, paster of Holy Trinity Parish in Aftonbladet: “It is a great sadness for us to have to sell our church. But it still feels good that it will be used for cultural activities and not to offices as some other buyers wanted.”

He might not be in a black metal band any more, but he’s probably got some pretty interesting plans for the former church. Maybe ones that look like this:

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/44561183[/vimeo]

[via Metalsucks]