Confess delivered an unforgettable performance at Quantic on September 11, 2024, joining forces with Belphegor and Malevolent Creation for an intense night of extreme metal. Before the chaos began, we sat down with Confess to discuss the band’s journey, influences, and what fans can expect from their upcoming album.
Confess performing in Quantic Pub, 11.09.2024
© Ștefan Lupașcu
Hail, and well met! It is a pleasure to speak with you today. Let us go to your very beginning… Can you tell us the story behind the formation of Confess and what sparked the initial vision for the band?
We started in 2010, we recorded our first album and it came out in 2012. From the beginning, our vision was that we want to talk about political things, and like, criticizing organized religion, and things that we were experiencing as youngsters in Iran. We didn’t really have any limits for that, even though we knew the risks and everything, we still felt like obligated to speak about it. That’s why my writing, when it comes to lyrics, is about the things that I experienced myself. I kept that same vision over the years. And in our upcoming album, I’m still talking about the social political issues around the world, because, you know, we were moving from one place to another.
Yes, Confess has quite a story when it comes to this. How have the location changes influenced your music and creative process?
The biggest difference is that you have the freedom of expression that will allow you to be more focused on the art that you’re making, without the fear of being harassed or persecuted. Also, another thing is that you are able to collaborate with other artists. In Iran, it feels like all these metal musicians are separated islands. So, it’s hard to connect with them through social media and everything, despite the fact we know each other. You cannot even plan tours with them.
So, I would say these two things are the highlights when we are talking about the differences between Iran and Norway, when it comes to art.
What aspects of Norwegian culture have felt most unfamiliar or surprising compared to what you were used to in Iran?
We’re different, for sure. We are more expressive, I guess. Norwegians are introverts, so when you want to complete your lineup, the cultural difference is more visible. But I’ve been living in Norway around seven years now, so I’m starting to get used to it, I’m finding a balance, so, yeah.
Was it hard for you at the beginning?
Yes. Sometimes it gets hard even right now. It’s like you have a different tempo, you have a different way of doing your job. Sometimes you have to find a way to be able to express yourself better, so the other person can really understand you and stuff like that. It is that cultural difference. But I see it as something interesting, because you can learn new things, you know.
Absolutely! I know about you that you have started to listen to metal at a very young age. What is your favourite era of metal, and which bands or artists from that period have had the most influence on your music?
For me, it’s from mid-90s to mid-2000s, sometimes 2010s. In my teenage years, when I was 12, first things I heard were Slipknot, Korn, and System of a Down, and Linkin Park. A little bit later, I was like, “Ok, now I gotta go and discover what happened before the bands I have mentioned.”. Pantera, Slayer, and Metallica came into the picture. Somehow, I was familiar with some of them, but was not into them really. I was also listening to rap music for a while, but after I listened to bands like Slipknot, I was impressed. Like, the aggression is just so raw and it just spoke to me in a way that no other genre of music could. It was an outlet for me to be able to express myself, and I think that’s the same story for a lot of other people that are from the same generation as I am. I was born in ’93, so, you know, the first things I heard were from the 90s, but being a kid, I didn’t quite experience them. I was only seven years old.
Back to the topic, Slipknot, System of a Down, Pantera and so on were the bands I started this journey.
And you’re still listening to them, because today you’re having a Pantera T-shirt.
Yeah! It’s like paying respects.
With your debut full-length album “Beginning of Dominion”, released in 2012, you made a powerful entrance into the metal scene. How did you approach crafting this album, and what were your goals for making such a strong statement with it?
It’s very interesting, because if I say that from the very beginning we had an absolute clear idea of what we’re doing, I’ve been lying. It was more like experimenting. Like… You know what you want to do, but you don’t really know how to do it, so at first, you try to do various things.
I was 16 years old, and I was like “Right, I have to figure out how to sound like my favorite bands, but not in a way that I am imitating them. Then I figured out how to play it, how to record it, wrote down something that I can be able to perform. And that album was something that we started to learn a lot of things from it. My main thing was that the writing process, the process of writing music, it should be more like, you know, unconscious, but when you want to pick your songs for the album, it must be subconsciously, because I do believe that art should come out of you without any strategy. It is a very long story of how we managed to record it.
Please, tell us the whole story!
We didn’t know a lot of things. On top of that, we were in a home studio. I had a semi-home studio; just the necessary things to be able to record the album with, and I recorded the vocals in my bedroom. You know, lots of blankets and stuff to be able to separate the sound, and my mom was asking: “When are you guys gonna finish, like it’s 8 p.m.”. You can imagine the whole picture— a bunch of guys screaming, playing guitars…
If it was something that I learned from that process was that it’s good that you just start from somewhere. Sometimes is good to not be too idealistic and really obsessed with the sound and everything. Haha, I am that way right now, but still I try to keep the same vision that sometimes you just gotta do the best that you can at that moment.
Wise words. I remember myself listening quite a lot to “Infinite Pain” from the aforementioned album and I was always curious about the drive behind this track. What was the inspiration behind this tune, and how do you connect these themes with the overall message of the album?
The vision I had, as far as I remember, was that I wanted to make a song that is not doom metal or black metal, but I wanted it to sound like that. I wanted to give that type of feeling, and it’s talking about something very deep. I think I wrote that song in 2010, and then a year later we started recording it, and it’s one of our favorite songs. In fact, it’s my favorite song from that album.
Your album “Beginning of Dominion” includes covers of “Ruin” by Lamb of God and “Disciple” by Slayer. Are there any other songs or bands you’re particularly interested in covering, and what draws you to those tracks?
Yeah! We’ve been discussing about that recently. Me and Arash, my other bandmate who is also an original member of Confess, would love to do a tribute album at one point in our career. There are so many songs that we really like to perform on stage! Last night, in Brașov, we played “Territory” by Sepultura. Well, just a quick part of it, but it was great!
If we were able to go to the studio and record some of our favorite songs, not necessarily the big hit songs that everybody knows, but maybe deep cuts from some of these favorite bands that we grew up with, it would be so cool!
Your latest album, “Revenge at All Costs”, features tracks like “Evin”, “Phoenix Rises” and “Ransom Note”. How did you select the themes for this album, and what message or story were you aiming to convey with this release?
I think the last one is pretty special, because it was an album that was very cathartic. We had to do that, because it’s a very storytelling album. The first one felt more like you are testing out the water, and you’re just trying to get used with the stuff. You just have brainstorming sessions, and you just want to write everything down on a piece of paper and later talk about it.
The way that we approach it from the first album to the last one that came out two, three years ago, it’s very different, and in the next one that we are going to release hopefully by the beginning of next year includes a lot of personal stuff. I mean, in it, I talk a lot about the personal issues and things that so many people can relate to it. You know, at some point, you learn that it’s okay to be more expressive and just talk about stuff that you don’t necessarily feel comfortable to talk about. Even sometimes when I listen to these new songs, I’m like, “Hmmm, maybe it’s too much, maybe I’m speaking about too many things that I just don’t really want everybody to know”, but then I remind myself that it is good to have these themes discussed.
One more thing, I choose to sing in English because we didn’t want to limit our music to a specific region. Of course, a lot of things that we were talking about and still do talk about, because we’re still very attached to a background, are kind of related to what is happening in Iran, but not all of them. For example, the song like “Army of Pigs!” is about police brutality, and that song was kind of like inspired by all the Black Lives Matter movement in the US. A lot of other stuff was related to the human rights violations that were happening in the other side of the world. The whole thing inspired me to write that song and I wanted everyone from anywhere to relate to it.
If you take a song like “Evin“, you can say that is maybe related to Iran. I understand, the song is about jail, and maybe not a lot of people can relate to that, to go to prison for their beliefs, but still the message is that no matter what you’re facing in your life, you can always prevail that, and you can always turn it to positivity, and turn tragedy into triumph.
I think me being here playing with my band is a testimony to the fact that we never gave up on our dreams. No matter what we faced, we always found a way to kind of overcome that and keep continuing.
Speaking of dreams, I know that your childhood dream was to be on tour. What has been the most memorable tour experience you’ve had so far?
I would say that I really love this tour. I love everyone, all the bands. They are sweet people, great musicians. Also, the tour with Nile was very awesome! George Kollias, the drummer, is a great guy, great musician, one of our idols, and at the end of that tour, we started working together on the next album. He’s playing the drums on the next album.
Oh, and we had a tour in Norway that I really liked, three years ago. Impressive days!
Nice, with whom did you have the tour in Norway?
In Norway, it was with some of our friends. Basically local bands. We were going to many cities, and they were opening for us.
Truly fascinating! I hope you will enjoy this concert as well. And, I’m curious, what are you most looking forward to about this show?
The crowd to go crazy! Moshpits, circle pits, headbanging, all of the stuff!
Confess performing in Quantic Pub, 11.09.2024
© Ștefan Lupașcu
Which songs from your setlist are you particularly excited to perform tonight, and why do they hold a special place for you?
There’s a song called “Megalodon” that is one of the tracks we would love to play here. Also, “Phoenix Rises” from our last album, found its way to the setlist. These are songs that I think are great for playing in a venue that is like, you know, with a big capacity, like Quantic.
Confess performing in Quantic Pub, 11.09.2024
© Ștefan Lupașcu
Can’t wait to hear them tonight! What are your upcoming plans or projects after this tour, and what can fans look forward to from Confess in the near future?
After this tour is finished, after we will play in Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, and a bunch of other places, we’re going back home, we’re finishing the stuff related to the upcoming album, releasing the album, and then going back on road.
As we wrap up, do you have any message for your fans?
We’re so happy that your audience is reading this! For those who have already heard of Confess, thank you for the support. For those who didn’t, we hope you’ll enjoy our music. We’re just getting started, and there’s a lot of exciting stuff on the way.
