Hailing from the underground Confess are a heavy metal five-piece whose outspoken stance almost saw the end of their career. For those new to the story, in 2015 Confess dropped their second studio album ‘In Pursuit of Dreams’, and shortly afterwards found themselves facing an imposing sentence of 12 years imprisonment and 74 lashes in Iran due to – as the authorities termed it – 'suspicions of practising satanic worship'.
Their story starts with them looking to shape something new in the metal scene with their annihilating debut EP ‘Back To My Future.’ Since then, their journey has grown to be a noteworthy passage of resistance, strength, and protest.
The story of Confess is unique from start to finish and is the embodiment of a new hope. Between the years 2015 – 2021 the group worked silently in the shadows, as they prepped their return with revolutionary new album ‘Revenge At All Costs’.
We spoke with frontman Nikan Khosravi about his emotions surrounding their seven-year comeback, representation within metal and their exhilarating new album.
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“Success and tragedy are a part of our journey,” Khosravi says.
With the threat of their 12-year prison statement in 2015, it goes without saying, one can only wonder just how scary life was for Confess.
“A lot happened, we were faced with a lawsuit at just 21 years old,” he tells. “We were jailed for our music, came out a year and half later, only for them to try and charge us for another six years. Then they decided to move us, turned the sentence into 12 years and added 74 lashes.”
Emphasising his frustration and discord for what was going to happen next for the group, Khosravi talks about just how traumatising and eventful their false accusation was, and how it took hostage of some of their most important years. “Picture this: the media is focusing on a story, and you don’t even know who you are anymore,” he tells. “You’re growing at the same time as living a very stressful life. The feelings I had in Iran in 2017 were that, if I go out there, I can play for people, but they want to put me in jail. This parallel reality was very stressful, my family were supportive throughout this whole process and that’s the biggest gift I ever had. I had to make a fast decision to leave my home country in one week, we took a lot on during these years, and we try to use music as our outlet to talk about this. Releasing this album has been a great sense of relief, success and tragedy are a part of our journey.”
Confess are a group who’s past has become a stapled factor to who they are today, but by no means sees them defined by it. In late 2016 Khosravi started writing new material, despite the group’s circumstances, by the end of 2017 he had written an enormous total of seventeen tracks. Having successfully managed to flee Iran to seek asylum in Norway in 2018 – after just over three years in prison, and three months in solitary confinement – Confess had left their trauma behind with almost two albums worth of content.
“There were lots of postpones of the new album because I was relocated to three different countries,” he says. “From Iran to Turkey, from Turkey to Norway, until I was bailed out, I had been writing the songs in Iran and the lyrics in Turkey. ‘Revenge at All Costs’, was re-recorded in Norway because our producer said the album had potential, but the sound could be better. So, we recorded the guitars and drums again but by the time we were ready, lockdown happened, so we had to wait again. During that time, we got signed by Swedish label, Rexius. At that point we decided to set the dates and started talking to different people about the album.”
Whilst not all the material features on this album, Khosravi discusses why he can’t see the band using it any time in the future. “I have a rule, which is a standard that I set for myself,” he tells. “I won’t use the material that was written for a previous album in the next, because this is what was relevant in my life at that time, but I have noticed there are some great riffs in there that we can use.”
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Confess are an incredibly authentic band, fighting their way to the top with a hunger for rebellion and freedom of expression. Across their latest album, the band welcome several new chapters as they blossom into a fresh era of personal evolution. Nikan explores what it feels like to be back in the scene. “It’s very refreshing to meet new musicians and to be able to festivals,” he says. “It gives you new ideas and welcomes new horizons, for example, we were able to work with American producer Machine, (Lamb Of God, As It Is, The Amity Affliction). Machine mastered our album, and that’s just one of the amazing experiences we’ve had. If I was in Iran there’s a very low chance of that happening.”
Shaped by their past, grateful for the present, and ambitious for their future, Confess have built a great name for themselves and are encouraging a story of faith and persistence through a godless passage. For Khosravi, his devotion to the rock industry stems from the moment he first watched SlipKnot at the age of twelve. “I was completely mesmerised,” he says. “Nine guys in a mask with energetic music, I’m happy that I’ve been able to talk to Corey a couple of times. Lamb Of God, Slayer, Rage Against The Machine are all big influences in my music. When I started listening to music, I used to listen to Tupac, Biggie, and then when I started listening to metal it was that new-wave 2000s era of Linkin Park, Korn and from there I started listening to heavier music.”
Just three months since ‘Revenge At All Costs’ was unleashed into the world, Confess continue to dominate the rock industry with this profound project of 10 riotous tunes. Dedicating their work to curating a more accepting future for rock music, Confess want to be the hope and public figure that people can look to for inspiration. “The metal scene in Iran is extremely underground,” he emphasises. “There’s no metal festivals or magazines, but at the same time there’s a huge metal fanbase, that lives and breathes this genre just like me. If you want to go on stage or put out music in Iran you have to get permits, and when you get those, they have the right to sensor your music and that’s why we never asked for that – because art doesn’t need permission to be explored. We didn’t want to dumb it down to the point a priest would be satisfied.”
Building their stance in the metal scene with very little influence within their own circle, Confess have learnt to build a connection with their fans and community outside of the suffocating space their younger selves hopelessly found them in. With their identify now found, their voices now heard, and their music dominating the rock industry, Khosravi boastfully concludes on who Confess are.
“We’re a five-piece protest band, who have a lot to say, and we never let our story define us,” he emphasises. “It feels like freedom to be able to put all these problems out through this album – it was a huge sense of relief. I feel lucky to be in this position and to be able to speak for myself and inspire people. Not everyone can resonate about going to jail, but they can resonate with never giving up. Our music is against racism, exploitation via the government, classism and so much more, we have ideas that we put out in our music and hope people can be moved by that.”
This is Confess.
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'Revenge At All Costs' is out now.
Words: Laviea Thomas
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