Gaahl Says Faust Was the First Black Metal Musician to Show Support for His Coming Out

Given that, in 1992, Faust (né Bård Eithun) murdered a gay man by stabbing him 37 times, you probably would not expect the former Emperor drummer to be an ally of the gay community. And yet, in a new interview with Metal Injection, Kristian Espedal — known to most of us as Gaahl (ex-Gorgoroth, Gaahls Wyrd) — says that after he came out, Faust was the first black metal musician from whom he heard:

“[W]ithin metal, I think the metal community is one of the most open communities there is. I have never seen any disturbances there. Of course, they are linking things back to the early days with Dissection and Faust and Emperor. The first person to send me a message after the media caught up with me being gay, was Faust. He sent me a message of support. So people can imagine whatever they want, I don’t know anyone in the Norwegian black metal scene that is against gays. It’s an extremely liberal scene.”

I think saying Norwegian black metal, at least back in its heyday, was an “extremely liberal scene” is to employ an extremely liberal definition of the phrase “extremely liberal.” That being said, here on MS we have always argued that people can change and atone for their past sins. So it’s nice to hear that Faust was okay with Gaahl coming out. If nothing else, you can now feel less guilty the next time you wanna enjoy In the Nightside Eclipse.

You can check out Metal Injection’s entire interview below.