Ahoora - Iranian Metal
by Amanda J. Carlson
Metal seems to be coming from every corner and crevice of the world, and here we have a band from the strict Islamic country of Iran. This brave four-piece comes forth with some hard-hitting, true heavy metal. I took the opportunity to ask guitarist Milad Tangshir about his band and how they’re combating the limitations they’re faced with.
Can you describe for readers your style of metal?
Yes. If you let me, I'd call it progressive power metal. Mostly it’s power metal but I think everywhere you'll see the traces of progression.
I can hear the strong Iced Earth resemblance in your songs. How did you discover their music and that of other heavy metal groups that have influenced you?
You know we are all diehard music fans here. We do listen to a lot of stuff, and we're doing it now for years. Yeah, mostly we're influenced by Iced Earth. We used to cover their songs years ago. We believe the musical atmosphere that they created in metal music was unique. Sabbath, Maiden, Death, Savatage, King Diamond...etc. you know we do love a lot of bands but we don't know exactly how much that we're influenced by them. Also there are a lot of rock bands too: Pink Floyd, Camel, Eloy, Dire Straits, etc. But the music that Ahoora plays...I don't know how much it is influenced by them.
What brought about the start of your band?
Me and my friend formed the band in 2001. We were old friends and were a lot into music. And just like every diehard music fan who carries the dream of being creative, we wanted to play our own music, write our own lyrics. These are the things that shake the heart of any music lover. The hunger within, the passion to live as a producer, not always a consumer. To feel the sacred nature of art, to be a lover. So we formed Ahoora.
How did you record this album? Was there actually a studio, or did you do it with your own equipment?
Actually there is no studio. We recorded the album in my home with no real professional equipment. There were two major reasons that we did not record the album in a studio: first, there are lots of studios in Tehran, but you can not find a suitable sound in them. Iran is very poor in terms of sound engineering. For example, you cannot record your drum parts if you are a rock or metal band! Because simply they don't know how to do it. Miserable. Second, for recording guitars and vocals we could go to a studio (even with their poor quality), but we couldn't afford that. It’s very expensive to record an album in a studio, and when you play metal music that can not be sold, you’ll have no income and no money to record in a studio.
I saw on your website that you played a live concert. If metal is banned in your country, how were you able to perform live?
That was very unique in Iranian music history. In Iran you need a permission to play or publish an art piece, and you've to get it from the government. We did that live gig without the permission of authorities. The interesting point is that the manager of the concert hall also didn't know that we were going to play metal! And this created a lot of problems back then, and one of them was the cancellation of our next gig. We were to play two nights, but we only did one ‘cause they did not let us play and we are banned to play live again. There were also few more metal gigs here and there but we were, and yet we are, the only band that's played with vocals. Anyhow, we played two sets that night. In the first one we played six Iced Earth songs and in the second half we played our own stuff plus a Maiden cover.
Are there a good number of metal fans in your country?
Hell yeah. I assure you that Iran is a metal country. More than many other countries that you may guess. We’ve experienced an eight-year war and a revolution in past 25 years. We are a miserable people. We’ve seen lots of bloodshed. We understand art, and more than that, we feel that. Daily life is not easy here. And you know better than me that metal is about resistance and is about human nature. So believe me, we have a lot of diehard fans here.
What does the name Ahoora mean in English?
In ancient Persian language it means "pure pureness,” or "total pureness."
How does the political system of Iran, as well as current events in the Middle East influence your music?
Definitely it does influence. You know we are in a closed-minded country. But please consider that I talk about the government, not the people. This political system forces us deeper and deeper into the darkness. You know they do not want the people to think. Thinking is dangerous for them. Every serious art won't see the light of the day in this country, because when you think, you’ll see what's going on around you, and once you realize what's going on, you won't remain silent, and that’s dangerous for them. Although this is not just for my country, you can see that in every part of the world, you see the media and the censorship in its different forms everywhere. But we all knew from the day one that we started this band that we got almost no chance to be heard here, to play, or to perform, and the political situations made us believe that. So this is within every move you make. In every hour you know that you are forced back. So this will crawl into your music, into your lyrics. I think that's obvious there is no chance here, and our strength is fading day by day, though we will never give up I’m sure. But let me tell you something - once there were near a hundred metal bands in my city, here in Tehran. But you know, every month you notice that a lot of them are really dead, disbanded. ‘Cause you see no light, no future, and you need a life to live! You know what I mean? You lose anything in order to reach your target, and once you do it there is no space to present, no air to breathe. There is no freedom to talk, to offer what you have lost your life for. All this depression is injected in every work you do.
I must say I am impressed with the musicianship and talent of Ahoora. If you gain a lot of worldwide attention in the future, how will you break free of the governmental restrictions in order to really get your music out there?
You know we got to get outta here. If we notice a positive signal from outside Iran, a market or a deal that gives us the chance to be heard, we will get out of here as soon as possible. Though that won’t be easy.
Under such restrictions, if you were to get in trouble for releasing your album illegally in Iran, what would happen to you?
I don't know really! Anything could happen, and any day it may happen. I don't know what really waits for us then, but I don't think that would be anything sweet.
What are your plans for the future?
Actually I've written 90% of the second album. The first album, self titled Ahoora, is the result of past four years. I had written a lot of the new stuff even before the recording of the first album, but I don't think we we'd release them at least till next year, because I think our debut album needs more promotion. We’ll try to be heard more and more. We’ll try to find someone interested in our music. We’ll search for a chance, for a miracle. We need that. There is no huge future left in Iran for us. We’ve reached the limits here.
Lastly, is there anything in particular that you'd like Ultimate Metal readers to know about Ahoora?
I just want to thank you Amanda, and UltimateMetal.com, for being so supportive, that means a lot to us. There is no space here. Thank you for giving us that. And to the readers: thanks for being patient, man! Please spread the word, and Stay Metal!
Ahoora Official Website
