A 22-year-old man has pleaded guilty to intentionally setting fire to three African-American churches in the US state of Louisiana. Holden Matthews, 22, admitted to starting the fires to raise his profile as a "black metal" musician, prosecutors said, reported BBC.

He burned three Baptist churches in the Opelousas area over 10 days beginning in late March 2019. He faces 10 to 70 years in jail when he is sentenced on 22 May. On Monday, Matthews entered several guilty pleas for federal and state charges.

The three churches Matthews admitted to torching had predominantly African-American congregations.

Federal prosecutors did not specify whether there was a racial element to Matthews's crimes, but hate crimes were among the charges he pleaded guilty to.

Matthews, the white son of a local sheriff deputy, set fire to those churches "because of the religious character of those buildings", they said. "His disgraceful conduct violated the civil rights of the church's parishioners and harmed their communities," said assistant attorney general Eric Dreiband.

On Monday, Matthews pleaded guilty to four federal criminal charges, including three of intentional damage to religious property. He has also pleaded guilty to six charges at state level.

The three Baptist churches he targeted were St Mary Baptist Church in Port Barre (on 26 March), Greater Union Baptist Church in Opelousas (on 2 April) and Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Opelousas (on 4 April).

Each church was razed to the ground by the fires Matthews lit, prosecutors said. No-one was injured, as it was the middle of the night.

During his plea hearing, Matthews said he specifically targeted those churches. He did so because he sought to emulate church burnings carried out by black metal music fans in Norway in the 1990s.

In the 1990s, at least 50 Christian churches in Norway were attacked by arsonists in the name of black metal, a subgenre of heavy metal music. Varg Vikernes was among the most infamous black metal musicians to be convicted of church arson in this period.