Summon: How did the band get started?
Admetos: The band started as a need to express myself through music, an inner need to be creative by praising nature’s greatness. In the beginning it was just a few riffs, but then I really got into it and thought that I would like to make this type of music. There were no plans for releases etc, but after a while I decided that I wanted to release this stuff, and that how the band was created.
Summon: What kind of music do you play?
Admetos: The music style is mainly ambient post-black metal, mixed with some shoe-gaze and doom metal influences. The main goal is to make the listener find an atmosphere that will allow him to make a spiritual journey through the nature’s eternal circle between life and death.
Summon: How has the fan response been?
Admetos: The band gets a lot of positive feedback from people that listen to the music, and this is very encouraging.
Summon: Where did the band name come from?
Admetos: The band’s name comes from the ancient Roman god of the forests, the plains and the fields. Half man and half goat, this horned God was often depicted in a natural landscape, surrounded by similarly looking creatures, called Fauns. Faunus was the equivalent of the ancient Greek god Pan, two deities that are often related to mysticism.
Summon: Introduce the band members and what they do in the band.
Admetos: Faunus is a one-man band, and the sole member is Admetos.
Summon: Who writes the music? Lyrics?
Admetos: All lyrics and music are written by Admetos.
Summon: And where do the lyric ideas come from?
Admetos: The lyrical themes of the band are inspired by nature’s greatness and the mysteries of the wilderness. The debut album that was released recently is influenced by the circulation of the seasons and how they are reflected in the circle between life and death.
Summon: What is your view in Satanism and Occultism?
Admetos: Occultism has followed humanity since the dawn of civilization. This was often expressed via rituals celebrating the greatness of nature, like the ancient Greek rituals to the gods Dionysus, Demeter, Pan etc., and subsequently by ancient Romans towards the respective Roman gods, where Faunus also belonged. So it seems that human nature and occultism have been and are still closely related, shaping the course of humanity.
Summon: How many albums/CD’s have you released?
Admetos: The band has released one full album, called “Where Everything Begins with an End” in November, 2015. It has been digitally released in bandcamp (https://faunusband.bandcamp.com/releases), and a tape release will follow sometime in 2016.
Summon: Tell me about some the songs on the latest CD?
Admetos: The album consists of 4 songs, which are about the four seasons of the year and how the seasons are tightly connected to the life circle in nature. In this concept, the titles of the songs are:
I. Autumn – Death
II. Winter – Gestation
III. Spring – Birth
IV. Summer – Maturation
Summon: Do you have any side projects?
Admetos: Apart from Faunus, I also play in another band, Elegos. In fact, Elegos is the main band that I participate, and Faunus is more like my side-project from Elegos.
Summon: Who are some of your musical influences?
Admetos: The music influences cover a great variety of black metal, post metal and shoe-gaze bands. Doom metal is also a major influence. To make the long story short, I tried to blend a mixture of all the music styles that I like listening to, and making it sound exactly as I would enjoy listening to it, hoping that others will also like it.
Summon: Which current bands?
Admetos: If I could name of few bands that influence me the most I would surely refer to the Altar of Plagues, Agalloch, Burzum and of course one of my favorite bands, My Dying Bride.
Summon: What is the band like when you play live?
Admetos: The band is a non-live band, so at least for the moment we did not have the pleasure to perform on stage.
Summon: What do you think of the US Black Metal/Death Metal scene?
Admetos: The US Black Metal scene has its own uniqueness, both in the style and the sound. This is hard to find nowadays. I really like many bands from the USA, like Agalloch as I’ve mentioned earlier, Woods of Desolation, Deafheaven, just to name a few.
Summon: What do you think of the Overseas scenes?
Admetos: The Black Metal scene in Europe is of high quality. I really like the UK’s scene, with new great bands appearing quite frequently. Of course I also enjoy the scene of my country, Greece, which has always been producing high quality bands.
Summon: What are some of new favorite black metal/death metal bands?
Admetos: Well, apart from the bands that I’ve already mentioned, some of the relatively new bands that I like are Saor, The Great Old Ones, and I really liked listening to the debut album of Batushka.
Summon: When do you guys plan on writing any new material?
Admetos: There are no plans regarding the writing of new material. These days I’m working on the recordings of the debut full album release of Elegos, so it’s quite hard to start composing new material.
Summon: What does the future hold for the band??
Admetos: For the near future the plans are to release the debut album in tape format, and most probably in CD format as well. After that, I hope that new material will be written and released in the future. It will take some time, since it’s a not a fully active band, but I hope that the waiting will be compensated by good quality.
Contact them at:
https://www.facebook.com/faunusband
http://faunusband.bandcamp.com/releases
