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Diabolical Conquest (Nin Chan): Gunnar! Greetings, brother-in-arms, and thanks for allowing me to subject you to this excruciating inquisition. I understand that the new Faustcoven project is in the wings, and that the band will be embarking upon an even doomier angle on the next endeavor. I am of the opinion that your inclination towards ponderous passages is what really divided Faustcoven from the growing legions of post- Panzerfaust scallywags populating the black metal landscape (well, doom and ingenuity). From the track that you sent me ("Whiskey Demon"), I can discern that a subtle surprise awaits longstanding admirers of the band. What can you tell us about the impending Faustcoven release? Faustcoven (Gunnar Hansen): Thank you. I am very pleased to be having this audience with what must be the inquisitions most deceptively jovial member. The next release is really in the works, yes, and while it still might be a somewhat slow procedure, the wheels have at last started to turn. Songs are written, actually an abundance this time, and Johnny and I are just starting to prepare for rehersals. I don't think that the song you heard the guitar tracks for; ”Whisky Demon” is a good track to judge the change since the last album with, as its not 100% representative. But I think there's a little bit more of Black Sabbath to the sound, and slightly less 2 nd gen Black Metal. Somewhat more doom you could say, but the change isn't really significant enough to throw people who liked the albums, and the demos off. I personally think that the riffs are heavier this time, and I'll work a bit more with my production skills for a more punishing sound. Actually when the Koldbrann/Faustcoven spilt 7'' will be released I think you can hear more where I want to go with the sound, as the drums there sound much better and clearer than on Halo.
Diabolical Conquest: In my earnest opinion, Faustcoven, next to Darkthrone, Carpathian Forest, Megiddo, Cult Of Daath, Morrigan, Countess, Gallhammer, is unquestionably one of the (unbearably scarce) remaining pillars of a movement that appears to be on its last legs at present. The words ''black metal'', of course, do not bear quite the significance or menace that it once inspired, the black metal landscape degenerating into a tragicomic farce populated with stale posturing, rehashed riffing and vicious rumor-mongering/scenesterism. Does Faustcoven even feel any sort of kinship with the black metal community? Faustcoven: I'd say that I feel more at home with the whole heavy metal-community. To say that I feel at home specifically with the black metal crowd, feels a bit to constrained. I guess I can say that I feel a strong kinship with an enviroment like the one surrounding my label, where most people are pretty relaxed about ideology and generally are more long time metal fans, appreciating most aspects of the genre, and are not too wrapped up in just black metal alone. Its great to be able to discuss fantastic bands like Manilla Road, Cirith Ungol, Pentagram, Blue Öyster Cult and the like and not only the current black metal underground. I feel that the state of some of the scenes now owe a lot to the internet, which hasn't exactly cultivated people skills. Harsh and extreme statements are a dime a dozen and people portray themselves as something far removed from who they really are. Its the kind of black and white mentality which you rarely see when you meet someone face to face.
Diabolical Conquest: While your inclinations towards Pentagram and Vitus are well-known to most who have conversed with you, you actually have very cultured taste in a variety of '70s heavy prog/psych. Faustcoven: I'd say Janus by Aunt Mary, which is a fantastic piece of rock history. I cannot claim too extensive knowledge to the scene, but there certainly was some great bands here too at that time, as there was many other places in the 70's. Such a grand period in the history of music. Sir Lord Baltimore, Atomic Rooster, Lucifer's Friend, Wishbone Ash, and so many more, never fail to bring a smile to my face. And yes, I think Tull's a fantastic band at their peak. I am by no means a completist, but you mention my four favorite albums in this vs contest, Songs From the Wood being right at the top, with its ethereal and earthly feel combined. Aqualung was my introduction to the band, which has a deceptively straightforward sound making it easy to get into, so it remains closer to my heart than Stand Up , and I choose it for that reason. It has a certain bitterness that I appreciate. I can't really pick an album from the last three, as I don't know all of them well enough to make a fair decision.
Diabolical Conquest: One of the most distinctive features of the Faustcoven sound is the loose, swinging, almost "rocking" feel to a lot of the riffing and rhythms, something that certainly aligns you with post- Panzerfaust Darkthrone , and, of course, indicates that the teachings of Quorthon and Cronos have not been lost on the band. The sound of Faustcoven is organic and spontaneous, very urgent and "alive" sounding, a stark contrast to much of the pallid and impersonal black metal currently clogging distro lists. Halo Of Burning Wings is spiteful, harsh and caustic, but in an immediate and sincere way, you wear your influences on your sleeve but it never feels contrived or derivative, and you are unafraid to make your lyrics straightforward and accessible. How does it feel being a black metal pariah, flouting every rule that has been instituted since the rise of the Second Wave, haha? Faustcoven: To be an outcast you have to have been a part of something which subsequently rejected you. This has not been the case for me, so I don't feel like a pariah at all. I have never been attacked or shut out from where I wanted to be because of this approach to black metal, so its not really something that I ponder to a great degree. As for the style I play, yeah its a throwback to older days of black metal. I always intended for Faustcoven to have a loose and rockish ”first take” feel. The intent from the start simply to combine this style of rocking, groovy and ugly black metal with heavy doom riffs, and a heavy, dense production. Very riff-based. The lack of a certain kind of prescirbed image felt natural to me at the time, as I felt that the style I went for didn't need that. It was always about the music. The lyrics I write reflect my deep interest for horror movies, and literature in a combination with the blasphemous but slightly light-hearted style of old black metal. Its more a case of finding something functional for the music, rather than winning any kind of litterary awards. And I really like the way a band like Mercyful Fate would jump from theme to theme, not only getting stuck in straigt out devil worship, giving a lot of the songs a unique flair, like Curse of the Pharaohs or A Dangerous Meeting. Its not like the music for Curse of the Pharaohs is very egyptian in feel, but the theme itself adds a lot of atmosphere.
Diabolical Conquest: Another redeeming feature that Faustcoven can lay claim to is the fact that you do not market your sound via sensationalist ideological or political pronouncements. Lyrics are frankly articulated, free from cryptic, obscure references- the first page of your booklet even explains, in detail, the intent of each track! It would appear, to me, that Faustcoven is dedicated solely to one crusade- proliferating the blasphemous, horrific/supernatural and nefarious aspects of black metal, while refraining from hokey occult references (the orthodox For Him movement that is rising in Sweden) or waving ideological banners for the sake of pandering to cliquey scenesters. You are clearly very comfortable with yourself and your crusade with Faustcoven, and that ingénue is what makes all great heavy metal. What asp
Diabolical Conquest: Your adoration for classic horror movies is expressed plainly in your lyric booklet, where you have dedicated an entire song to "The Wicker Man" (which I note is your favorite horror movie ever) and "Torture Chamber Of Baron Blood" (an unquestionable masterpiece). Name 10 movies that you think are absolutely must-sees for the novice to classic horror (I suspect that The Devil Rides Out and Witchfinder General will feature in the list, haha). Faustcoven: The Wicker Man of course. Ninth Gate, Devil Rides Out, Nosferatu, Rosemary's Baby, The Changeling, Don't Look Now, Night of the Demon, Cat People (not the remake) and the Woman in Black. Many others could be in there, like Witchfinder General, Night of the Living Dead or Evil Dead, and the list could change a bit from day to day. Mario Bava for sure could defend a position there too. So many greats in the genre, and these are among the very finest. I just wonder when the horrible CGI-effects of today will see its demise. It has made directors do away completely with subtelty, and the understanding that the mind creates the greates scares when you keep the horror off-screen. The pool-scene in cat people is a perfect example of how to do it, and has a tension, and stays with you in a way most other movies just can dream about. Also, despite CGI giving ”pretty” effects, its so damn easy to spot in most instances, and makes me think that I'm watching a computer game. Tons of CGI-blood? Bah. Used subtly, I'm all for it, but until someone teaches these directors a course in restraint, I guess the endless parade of useless horror movies will continue.
Diabolical Conquest: You are also an avid reader of weird tales and detective fiction, I gather. What spawned your interest in weird, outré and atmospheric horror, as opposed to the blatant slasher/zombie/exploitation slop and the Jap-horror silliness that has invaded all avenues of modern horror? Also, I'm interested in knowing what your favorite weird tale is, and why this particular short story has had such an indelible effect on you. Faustcoven: From childhood, I can remember being fascinated by the concept of ghosts and otherworldly phenomena, and I remember the joy of listening to the old radio shows which contained macabre stories. I guess those shows had a certain style reminiscent of old horror movies. Revisiting them today, as many are released on the audio-book market, I must say that they hold up very well, and lying down with your eyes closed listening, and making your imagination work up the images can be a very powerful alternative to movies. Maybe this is part of why I am tired of having the horror spoon fed to me, and like the more subtle approaches, where the horror is more implied and a story has a chance to unfold and become increasingly disturbing rather than being a rollercoaster ride through an amusement park ghost house from the first minute. The over the top horror of these movies remove me from the situation to the point that I cannot identify with what's happening, and I couldn't care less if the brainless teenagers who goes to camp on mount Evil for spring break never came back. That being said, I think that the Japanese horror contains some real gems, and powerful imagery, and certainly enjoy a lot of those movies too. Also older slasher flicks also have a certain charm. Evil Dead, Suspiria and Halloween are all great movies. As for stories I have a few favorites, and feel that its difficult to name just one. MR James ”the Mezzotint”, HP Lovecrafts ”Rats in the Walls”, and ”Down Satan” by Clive Barker are all stories that have given me great pleasure. I'm not a great reader of crime litterature, but I really enjoy Sherlock Holmes-stories, as well as the movies.
Diabolical Conquest: The element of horror in Faustcoven is so palpable and distinct that one cannot help but suspect that you have had your own brushes with the paranormal. Are you a scholar of the occult, and have you communed with supernatural forces in your time? What inspires the affectingly spooky aura of Faustcoven 's music? Skeptics be damned- my own experiments with magick have yielded rather phantasmagoric results! Faustcoven: Well, you know, I do label myself as a sceptic. In some ways, I would like to be proved wrong, and haved seeked out opportunities for that to happen. I've read a lot of litterature about the subjects and it is of course utterly fascinating. There's a certain greyness to the world when perceived as mechanical device, and spiritual/occult/supernatural can be a great source of escape from this, in the same way stories or movies can. Wanting something to be true however, is never a good start for believing or proving it to be so in my opinion. And the realisation that its not the scenery or surroundings that dictate your mental state must be one of my more sobering discoveries. You could be placed in the most fantastical circumstances or worlds, but all in all your just the same guy in a different place. If you were discontent before, you would after a few moments of adjusting yourself to what first was fantastic, og back to being the same miserable person as you were before. Dream yourself away somewhere, but once there you'd find that nothing has changed. Finding something to be dissatisfied about is a trait most human beings have perfected I guess. So, even if my imagination enjoys the supernatural as a nice fantasy, I am not a believer in the true sense of the word. Then again, before rejecting things like that 100%, I have had, in the twilight moments between sleep and wakefulness, experiences that I'm sure others would have thought of as supernatural. I tend to think of them as dreams that ended too late, leaving their imprints on reality around me. There have been a couple of highly disturibing occations where I've had that happen, but they really don't stay with me after the initial shock. Someone later told me that the place where I lived when I experienced this strongest was supposed to be haunted, so I guess you never no, hehe. But as I said, I am a sceptic, and more plausible explanations make it hard to become a believer. I trust Occams razor. But I guess for the music to have an aura of horror, I reach back to childhood, when every shadow was alive and you were never sure if you were alone. In many ways I can still relate to when I believed in all these things.
Diabolical Conquest: As black metal has germinated and sprouted, it has achieved a commercial viability that could not possibly have been foreseen when the art form was taking its first steps in Sweden, Germany and South America. The likes of Emperor are now holding autograph signing sessions in the States, while Satyricon are rather well-known for their stand-offish rock star aloofness. Do you believe that there are principles and ethics in black metal that should not be violated? Is black metal necessarily an underground phenomenon anathema to commercial aspirations? Interestingly, black metal is enjoying a remarkable flux of popularity among indie rock's intelligentsia, thanks largely to the fact that Southern Lord, indie-metal capitalists of the century, have started to license a stream of sub-par norsecore records. What do you think about this development? Faustcoven: There are of course musical and lyrical limits to what can be done and still have it be black metal. But for popularity, I don't know. Its of course sad that what we feel is a misrepresentation of the genre has become the popular image of it, and maybe some of the mystery has gone out of it. But things change, for better or for worse, and this newfound popularity, brief as it may be doesn't lesser the quality of the classics. One has to remember that a Venom, Mercyful Fate, Hellhammer or Sodom didn't set out to be dark mist swirling around in some mysterious underground. At least not obscurity for the sake of being obscure. Their status was a consequence of their musikal and lyrical choices. I think that the mentality that it should be forcefully made into something exlusive and secretive came with later and lesser generations of BM-bands. So let the bands enjoying this brief popularity have their 15 minutes of fame, the result can only be that a few who wouldn't have heard of Bathory or Masters Hammer manage to find them because of this. We might get 1000 lesser bands, but its not all that difficult to filter away the noise. Talanted people play the music they want anyway, and competition is just healthy. History will sort the quality from the garbage.
Diabolical Conquest: Before we conclude this interview, I have to condemn you for the nightmares I've suffered from watching Woman In Black, which I picked up after reading your list of influences in the Halo Of Burning Wings booklet. Awesomely frightening movie, that one. Please use this space to tell us about the endeavors you will be engaging in for the rest of the year. Thanks, Gunnar! Faustcoven: Since I not unexpectedly have been condemned, damned and labeled a pariah in this meeting with the inquisition, I have to give thanks for showing the interest that you have in Faustcoven. The next year will for Faustcoven be about finishing the album. On a personal basis I'm pretty much booked up with my own marriage, traveling and probably moving and changing jobs in the next few months. I wish you the best with this zine, and hope that you will have several more nightmares from both movies and music in the years to come.
- Interview conducted by Nin Chan
August 15th, 2007 |
    
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Which '70s Norwegian record do you treasure the most (I personally think Host 's first album and Aunt Mary 's Loaded take the cake!)? Also, the first time we spoke online, you expressed that you loved Jethro Tull as much as I do (in that sense, you are one of the only people under the age of 43 that shares my yen for the flute-toting bards)- so I have to ask , Stand Up or Aqualung (SU for me…fucking brilliant album!)? Songs From The Wood or Heavy Horses (Again, the former for me, though "Mouse Police…" is a great one!)? A Passion Play, Thick As A Brick or Minstrel In The Gallery ? (certainly not my favorite period of Tull) 
