ABOUT

Iranian/Norwegian groove metal/hardcore band Confess describe themselves as a “five-piece street protest”. It's not a figure of speech! Nikan Khosravi (vocals/guitar) and Arash Ilkhani (DJ / Sampler) have experienced political persecution first-hand. The band's upcoming album “Revenge at All Costs” is a cry of outrage in the form of chunky down-tuned riffs marinated with some powerful lyrics!

 

Nikan started the band as a teenager in 2010, releasing their first album "Beginning of Dominion" in 2012. Their early sound gravitated towards old-school death metal and 90s hardcore, always with some grooviness to it.

 

Arrest and prison followed the release of the band's second album "In Pursuit of Dreams" in 2015. The experience of solitary confinement in one of Iran's harshest prisons inspired songs like "Evin". Facing charges such as ‘Blasphemy’ and Propaganda Against The State’ through the lyrics, forced Nikan and Arash, two original members of Confess to stay in jail for 18 months! Later Nikan was sentenced to 12 years and 6 months in jail plus 74 lashes and Arash to 2 years of imprisonment! During that time many of the major media had been covering their story.

 

Fast forward to 2018, when both Nikan and Arash obtained refugee status in Norway. Confess started experimenting with seven strings and adding modern death metal sounds. But the groovy headbanging spirit of their musical DNA is very much alive. After some changes in the line-up in 2022, Dennis Alexander Olsen, Ole Stensgård and Håkon Løberg 3 new Norwegian musicians joined the band.

 

They’ve been playing in public without fear of repercussions ever since. After several concerts in Norway, their latest milestone has been the Norwegian mini tour in April 2022. They also opened for Mayhem at Festspillene i Nord-Norge and have had sold-out shows in Oslo, Larvik, and Harstad between 2020 to 2022.

 

Finally Confess released their long-waited album “Revenge at All Costs”, their third studio album on January 21st of 2022! The feedback on the new album has been phenomenal! Metal Hammer UK magazine gave the album 8/10 and called it “One Of The Holty Pillars Of Metal in 2022!” Also, they added “Revenge At All Costs” to “Top 50 Most-Anticipated Metal Albums Of 2022”! In March of 2022 Metal Hammer magazine picked our last album, “Revenge At All Costs” as “One Of The Best Metal Albums Of The Year!”

 

The other respected Rock and Metal magazines which interviewed the band and reviewed the album are Hard Rock Italy (8/10), PowerPlay UK (8/10), Metal Hammer Germany (5/6), RockTribune Belgium (8/10), Metal.de (8/10), Devolution magazine UK (8/10) and so many more! Also during the new album campaign, Nikan did many interviews with big media outlets (newspapers, websites, podcasts, TV shows, radio channels) such as The Guardian, BBC (Newshour), BBC (Cultural Frontline), SkyNews, CBC (As It Happenes), Manoto TV, Voice of America, Iran International, Clash Magazine UK.