Persian Black Metal Story, original version

00:09 - You cannot reveal your name or your identity.

00:12 - The government and the Islamic regime will find you in 24 hours They’ll put you in the jail and kill you.

00:42 - My name is Magus Faustoos I am from Persia and technicallly I am half Isralian, half Iranian.

00:52 - My mother was from Israel and my father was from Iran.

00:56 - And the religion of my mother was pagan, she was not Jewish, the religion of my father was Zarathustrian, he was not Muslim.

01:05 - I was born in Tel Aviv December, 1974, and my parents, they were serving the U. S. Airforce.

01:14 - So, my father was a pilot of F14, and my mother was working a teletype radio technology radar in the airport.

01:23 - And because of the necessity of the job they need to be in the airforce camps around the Middle-East.

01:30 - And most of the time they need to work, and I was spending time alone or with some other friends who took care of me.

01:38 - So there was no full time family around. And the memories I have from my childhood are more about experiencing the army camps and the war and military environment which for I have no real feelings over.

01:57 - But I do remember the first day of the school, I was wearing my dress suit and I got my backpack in the middle of the night I was waiting in my room for the morning to go to school! That was so exciting as I remember it.

02:11 - I was raised a short childhood in Israel.

02:16 - And then we moved to Iran. And then in 1979 The revolution - Or we call it the Revolt - Is happening in Iran The Islamic takeover.

03:29 - And then, the Iranian go in the war with the Iraqi without any reason for eight years.

03:35 - I lost my parents in that war they needed to defend the country.

03:40 - And in my really early teenage years I found myself without parents in a foreign country with crazy chaotic concept of new Islamism in the Persian kingdom.

03:58 - I found myself alone… And… I need to…

04:04 - To find… The inspiration how to continue my life with this mess or the reality I need to see how can I face it and survive.

05:13 - I grew up in a… warzone country and uh…

05:18 - During my teenage years my relatives from both sides were taking care of me.

05:24 - So, each year I needed to be in a new city with a new family.

05:28 - Constant moving made my school really difficult the whole twelve years until I made into the university back in 1993.

05:38 - So, I continue to study I begin with chemistry and I study in the Ardakan University and I continue from there to cheramic engineering in Maybod.

05:53 - And then I switch my degree to Philosophy in which I got my masters degree in and for my final degree in Theology I get PhD in Qom Which is the really Islamic centre in Iran.

06:12 - During my studies in the universities I start exploring the countries and the cultures around.

06:19 - I travel to India in India I experience the Vipasana meditation I travel to Egypt, to Kuwait, to Syria in Syria I study the calligraphy writing and in Siberia, North Russia I start to learn about the old Shamanic style breathing and from my father’s Zarathustrian side I learn about the existence of the Fire Temples in Iran In Fire Temples the fire is kept going for thousands of years That’s an old tradition of Persians who make the fire and then don’t let it go out So, I found a Fire Temple and there are teachings from Zurvanism, to Mithraism Mazda, Mithra, Mani all the way to the new Zarathustrianism.

07:16 - I have a chance to see the master and I ask to serve one year in silence in the Fire Temple and learn the ancient techniques as I have.

07:28 - Still after the year being in silence in the Fire Temple I practice silence.

07:34 - I practice it personally I teach it I practice it in groups and that’s the way you can hack in and you can see what’s inside and then you can make your decisions of your day what I am doing here what I need to do and so on…

07:52 - That’s one of the most basic things I learned in the Fire Temple.

07:58 - After my service is finished I thought, now I really need to get back into the life to the busy world and to the not fair world to deal with the life, education and art. Definitely.

08:16 - You can say my art is destructive Wartistic because I experienced the war and I can see how war can be destructive and some part of my art is really loud because I like to overexaggerate it shout it out because of pain but what I really like to show is the conflict so at the end there must be harmony mostly following yin and yang.

08:45 - So, for example in one exhibition I used to show image of an execution that was live all over the world and in an another room it was all about a man sitting and meditating in the absence of time.

09:00 - So I want to show all these paradoxical things and always I like to remind the person ‘Hello, you are a fucking human’ ‘don’t go too far’ ‘don’t do this shit. ’ But generally art is a lie we have to accept that.

09:18 - It shows the chaos of the world in an order which doesn’t exist! So we are just gaming, just playing, you know to englighten you or it would be better to say to endarken your perspective to see and feel who are you, what the hell are you doing here and what’s the goal? Warriors of Peace [name of the group in Farsi] That was a Persian art group we formed This group was happening in my basement back in Tehran I invited the artists, and the musicians to work together and to practice and then in order to make exhibitions I invited painters and designers and gradually without first even noticing it it turned into a cultural centre or underground art centre.

10:25 - Later I even see some bands coming to practice I don’t even know them and at one point I notice that we have about 50 people with food automatically served there is a sleeping place technically the place was going on for 24-7 and I was just the host over there.

10:45 - From time to time I was leaving the country, visiting a seminare, or teaching somewhere and when I come back I see the place is running.

10:54 - So it was, without any direction, just art, art just attacking us over there Tears of Fire was my very first music band project back in Iran 1998 We tried to combine kind of Kurdish melodies Folkish stuff with Black Metal We were succesful to play two shows and one of them was in a religious conference we were invited there by some contact we had and middle of the show the secret police came in and they cut the lights and broke the instruments and the people were just running out Some of us managed to escape out of the university building with the help of the students but I was arrested with some of my friends they kept me in a jail for one night but the next day, because we were officially booked by the religious conference, they had to let me go.

13:35 - The next week after that, we did another show it was in one of the ancient Iranian ceremonies, Mehregan That was in a Ziggurat, in Chogha Zanbil and at the end of the show over there it was a private ceremony we get into trouble again with the police so we have to leave the city and head back to Tehran.

14:02 - Black Metal, for me, is a lifestyle. It’s the way of thinking.

14:07 - It’s the way of analysing the truths around you.

14:12 - It’s harsh. It’s loud. And it is extreme. It’s fast! And it’s just like a slap to the face you know, you need that slap to wake up The connection between the whole silence practice and producing, or playing harsh Black Metal Fast, crazy, 300 bpm, shouting, hard riffing and all that, hopefully the noise is…

14:42 - When you practice the silence, you go really deep and at the deep I hear the noises, and the melodies, all this hardness it’s so dark inside so with my meditation, I go inside I discover new things and I bring them back.

15:16 - In 2005 during winter it was me, another Iranian artist called Aras and Abinar who are the first wave of Black Metal in Iran we cooperate together and form Beaten Victoriouses.

15:35 - And it was really challenging to find a studio I mean, we tried to book a studio but no-one accepted us because they said why the hell would you want to record this track this is crazy music! We don’t wanna hear that, we don’t wanna do that We don’t wanna risk our lives because of your shitty band, but finally we found through connections someone who accepted us so, we get in and the slot we got was at midnight which to I say okay, that’s the only chance we have and then around 10pm we are invited to come in to the studio and soon we start recording the bass, the drums, the vocals… We are just a recording a single track that’s finished around 5 or 6 am, and…

16:21 - The best memory I have the Armenian guy who owned studio during the recording he just asked us “Can I make a phone call?” And I said, dude, he’s crazy we are just wasting the time but in the morning we found out his son was born and his wife was in the hospital and we realize… Wow such a person, who has understanding over the passion we have! That for us was a very emotional moment and the next day he said he would send us the mix and so on.

16:58 - So we said, lets have a party, a celebration in my house and by the way, the band has no name at that time we came up with this name after our record released when we were celebrating at home the secret police entrapped us took us to jail and over there beat us to hell We had blood in our mouths, some broken ribs but we still felt really victorious that time, we decided to call the band Beaten Victoriouses.

18:08 - I start to collaborate and run many art groups in different formats and present them in conceptual exhibitions.

18:17 - And the last of the episodes I tried to make was in Reza Abbasi Museum.

18:25 - We were selling the tickets and the people were on the line until the day of the show.

18:31 - And just 20 minutes before, the secret police came decided the show needed to be shut down without prolonging it and demanded who is responsible, about to take everyone in I said “no, no, no, this is my art thing, so you can take me- these people are just participating this thing. ” So they took me and they blindfolded me with handcuffs on they put in a back of a van without a number and they close everything, the people were on the line, that was a big mess.

19:07 - I experienced 6 weeks in a jail and I had no idea where am I I had no cellphone, I had no connections I was cut from the society and activity.

19:20 - They don’t inform me which jail I’m in or why I’m there but it was a really small room, full of people mixed with criminals, the addicts and the crazy ones and they call your name they call it two times, and when you hear it, you need to go out.

19:38 - So when they called my name, I said finally, lets go check it out what’s going on? When you go out of this room from the left and right, for the next 5 meters or so from both sides they start hitting you with their fists and then you reach the other room and over there, there is the judge sitting in there the islamic judge and they are wearing white, and they are laughing “What you did you do, my son?” “You know this is a crime here, you are a criminal.

” And that moment they start talking to you nicely I was bleeding, I can’t hear, I have a buzz in my ear I’ve broken ribs and broken legs and I had blood in my mouth but I respond I didn’t do anything wrong, I am an artist I present exhibitions, and I do this and that.

20:30 - And they don’t- I don’t see any response from them so, they ordered to take me back, because I was like impolite, you need to beg over there.

20:41 - The way back to the cell it’s the same story from left and right they start hitting you.

20:47 - They open the door and you get in. It all felt so crucial and I was physically damaged and couple of days later, again they called me same story, but this time- and, uh, while in there you can not visit a doctor there is no doctor, or telephone, there is nothing it’s just you and the darkness.

21:12 - And… After the second hitting we got a permission to go to the yard, and just, see the sky I wasn’t sure how many days and weeks had passed because it was always dark, there was no window and in the yard there was a person who came to me he said “Ah son, you are young, you can do many things - - why are you doing this - - kind of - - art, this kind of imagenary, why are you making these movies - why are you doing all this?” And I wondered how in the hell he knew about my history? So this kind of art is really an issue here.

21:50 - So I told him I lost my father, he was kind of a martyr who vanished because of the war so feel it’s my duty to bring the war art to the scene and talk about it.

22:05 - And he said “Go drink alcohol, go to the girls - - get to the villas, you know, do whatever shit, drugs, things - - but c’mon, it’s not time for these things, let this war go! it’s fine. ” And then I figured, okay they’re giving me a hint on how to get clear of this situation.

22:28 - So the next time they call my name, I just try to focus when I reach over there, I need to say I’m fucking sorry so when I’m back in the office, with pain and blood even before they give me the form, I just said I am sorry, I have done something wrong, please forgive me.

22:52 - Because… The next round I’m gonna be dead and no-one cares if you’re dead maybe they want you dead…

22:59 - So, and they said “ah, ok, now I see you’re wise - - so you can confess the shit you did. ” So, I just signed a form stating I am sorry for this I’ll never do this art again! So, art is like never again! I signed it.

23:20 - And I see the smile again the guy read the paper, and showed “That room. ” So they moved me to another room and over there was a doctor, who checked me, took care of the blood and things and that night they just shove me out to the streets in Tehran, I don’t know where exactly and, after I got out, I called my friend I said - “Take me out of the country - - this sucks, I cannot - - stay here, I’m not allowed here, I’m not welcome to my homeland.

” And then, he just said he will call me in 10 minutes.

24:04 - He called me back, and said “Here’s a passport, and a visa, I got you an Indian visa - - because you were there, so, you know a better… - - environment or chance - - just give me the money, just, tomorrow you need to fly. ” The next day I fly to India as a…

24:22 - political refugee. I claim my asylum, and that was like a new country new start new experience.

24:55 - When I got to India I start to travel and research about the meditation and the techniques so for me it was a good place to further develop my techniques I was visiting many temples and Ashrams and I started teaching whatever I had experienced and during the travel back in 2006 I formed Mogh as a band and project The main goal was oriental Black Metal I tried to express my feelings in a free way since it was not Iran So I wouldn’t get arrested because of the music so, at some point I moved into Anti-Islamic Black Metal and I started alone few albums were recorded with the help of local musicians as collaborations and then later Indian guitarist Debraj joined me and together we continued with the recordings I was doing the bass, and the lyrics, and chose the melodies and Debraj was playing the guitar together we did a few shows back in India and the next album was with a new member, Noor a genius guy from Mumbai and he programmed the drums, handled the recording and the keyboard and all the technical stuff.

26:21 - That was the beginning of a new music career for me.

27:53 - In 2017 I received the news that Noor had committed suicide.

28:00 - Noor, means “light”, but he was such a dark person and he was raised in a really extremist Islamist community and family and when he heard about Mogh being active and writing Anti-Islamic stuff he joined us to continue this project and…

28:23 - After I heard he had committed suicide as a friend, I have lots of good memories and good recordings I feel sad, but at the end, I am so happy (for him) and I kinda admire him because he chose himself when to end his own chapter.

28:49 - Back in Iran I was consuming healthy food I was in shape I was practicing meditation I was even doing the yoga and…

29:00 - when I moved to India the whole story changed completely I smoked my first cigarette and then I moved to consume alcohol and I gradually moved up trying different drugs.

29:20 - From cigarettes I moved to Hashish, which is holy in India and they have gods, and temples to use the Hashish over there I couldn’t catch much of a deep experience with this substance so I needed to move on and I found Opium which was kinda down tempo it didn’t change my cycle so I needed to move into the psychedelic drugs which were like peyote and LSD and magic mushrooms which were natural in India available and cheap I was combining acids and magic mushrooms with my rituals, part of my personal meditation and this act brought me to deep darkness and I end up to using Heroin and the Heroin lifestyle isn’t isn’t the thing you should search in ritualistic and occult way which I wasn’t aware about at the time and it took me out of myself for a couple of months and in my last ritual which reached to the point where I started cutting myself and I was using a mix of these drugs with really deep breathing techniques and I saw the blood just flowing in a really slow motion out of my body and I was capturing the fragment of each second of these events because I wanted to see the edge of the life and the death I don’t want to kill myself I want to see the end point and to understand the concept of life.

31:23 - The next thing I know is that I passed out in my ritual circle in my home and my friends found me the next day and took me to the hospital and after a couple of months of coma I woke up in the hospital unable to walk and something had happened to my brain and there was liquid coming out of my ear and I couldn’t find my balance to stand and walk and it took many more months to heal this part and to be able to walk again and I experience pain I experience pain in bones I experience too many heavy things psychologically and physically but still after this time I was back in full health and I feel clean.

32:22 - In March 2011 I meet a German pornstar in India which interested me to come to the idea of marriage she was on tour to record some porn series and…

32:38 - What connected us was the topic of freedom.

32:42 - I mean, porn I see it as a kind of art that’s more directed to the self-extremism and there’s a similarity between porn and Black Metal for me, it’s the way you step into the nihilism so you need to be really strong and when I saw she was flying like a bird, and without censorship or any limitations and the way she talked and the way she was seeing the society and the humanism that was kind of a occult nihilistic version and for me it was really interesting to see it in a pornstar soul with completely different way of earning money and expressing herself to the other part of society.

33:37 - After experiencing Iran and India we though maybe we could bring this music to different countries Well, Europe was one of the targets and we found out Germany has kind of freedom of speech and expression so we said why not.

34:52 - When we come to Germany and we try to express our feelings our ideology, our music and our history we see crazy things happening here and Europe embracing Islam and when you go back to your history and you see how this Quran and how these terrorist Mosques can destroy your life and change your destiny you get angry it’s simple, when it doesn’t exist I’ve better life, I’ve parents at least and I don’t need to run all around different countries begging for a passport That’s a fact.

37:39 - I love Iran that’s my home country I love the people I don’t like the government.

37:50 - I don’t like the things that have happened there I hate religion in any form but especially Islam because they really ruined the humanity there Iran after 1979 was the first country to test this kind of extremism.

38:09 - Look how they did to the people the people aren’t normal there they destroyed their mentality! they destroyed the history! They brainwashed them… .