Entrevue avec le groupe iranien Arsames

Lorsque j’ai découvert le groupe de death metal iranien ARSAMES, il m’est venu à l’idée qu’il serait intéressant de discuter avec eux de la scène métal dans ce pays où la religion est omniprésente et omnipotente. J’ai donc fait parvenir un petit questionnaire au groupe et à mon plus grand plaisir, j’ai reçu ces réponses. – Lex

 

 

Lex – Arsames is one of several Iranian (Persian) metal bands that hail from Iran, some of them having moved to some other countries since their beginning but you still reside in Iran. I would like you to present your band and sketch a portrait of the metal scene you’re involved in. First of all, could you just present your band. Brush us a short history of the band and tell us the meaning of the name, Arsames.

Ali – ARSAMES is a Persian death metal band from Iran, formed in the winter 2002 by Ali Madarshahi, first band drummer and vocalist since 2008. The meaning of the name ARSAMES is « the powerful hands of a bear » or « bear hands ».

In our persian history Arsames ( 520 BC  ) was father of Hystaspes, satrap of Parthia and of Pharnaces. Arsames would live to see his grandson, Darius I, become the Great King of the Persian Empire, though he would die during his reign. In any case, he must have been one of the longest-surviving royals anywhere in the world at that time, probably living well into his nineties.

Lex – What is the atmosphere in which you want to put the listeners through your music. Where do you get the inspirations for your lyrics?

Ali – We are a  mythological Death Metal bands because most of our lyrics come from our ancient mythology,  ancient Iranian literature and we are going to use some Epic Ancient stories for our upcoming album from a book called  « Epic of the king » (in farsi, our language,  Shahnameh) based on the stories written by one of the mighty persian poet, Ferdowsi (940 – 1020 CE). He is the author of the Shahnameh, the national epic of Iran and the Persian-speaking world.

Lex – What are your musical influences and if you really had to compare your band with some of the well known, where would you fit Arsames?

Ali – From my childhood I grew up with  heavy metal music in the 80’s. I started listening to thrash metal and after that I used to listen to Death metal …. I  tried to bring all those elements from Heavy, thrash and death to our music. If i want to give you a few names for example  I can say : Iron Maiden , Slayer , Exodus ,  Morbid Angel …

But you know you can find some Persian elements in the roots of our music which is a new sound in Metal music ! Of course, the new album would be a true Persian Death Metal Genre that we’ve been working on for 2 years. Shahrami, the main guitar player of Arsames, and I, checking and thinking about every lines in our music.

Lex – Seen from Quebec, Canada, it’s seem obvious that being in a metal band in Iran, where you are under a strict religious regime, must be an everyday challenge. Could you just depict  us the kind of struggle you face on a day-to-day basis as a band and as an individual. Have you ever played in your country and in what occasion?

Ali – We have a small community in Iran and we cherish it but we can’t play in our country. When you can not make music as a job, you can not be Professional. So every one gets distracted. Most of the bands disbanded when they come to serious matters like earning for life .. and the reason behind that is metal music is banned in Iran by Islamic regime as they labeled this kind of music  Satanic. But I am sure they really don’t understand it . Certainly,  they don’t want to understand because  they don’t like us. They don’t like long hair and metal look. At last, they are the enemy of this kind of music!

Living in Iran and managing a metal band is not easy. You have to play and rehearse in a basement far away from the eyes of cops .. even it’s not easy to find and rent a good  place for rehearsal. People don’t want to rent their places to the musicians because they are afraid of being in trouble. So it means that after all these problems to find a good place to rehearse, you have to be careful!

You know, if you see we are alive that’s because we do not get in any sort of political views and we are not going to strike against something. We believe it would be a better fight and victory at the end if we focus and concentrate on our music. Nothing will stop us. We are gonna fight until the end !

Lex – Is there a feminine presence on that underground scene? In bands or in the crowd? I’ve heard about that black metal girl from Irak, Janaza and her band Seeds of Iblis. I know also that Master of Persia is fronted by Anahid but they are not in Iran anymore.

Ali – We have so many female metal musicians in Iran that I’m proud of: the band 5 grs is fronted by female vocalist, Sanam Pacha; Frosted Leaves has Lala B; Niloofar also known as Nelly’s Melody  is an ex-5grs and now fronts The Bug and Unscarred, Bett Hov is in  MaidiomA,  and of course, Anahid from Master of Persia who lives with the band in Armenia. Also behind the bands, we have so many beautiful metal chicks, models, photographers, reporters , journalists ….

Lex – You managed to play shows outside of your country, having played in Turkey, India, Armenia and Nepal as I could see. Once again, is it a problem getting through the borders?

Ali – Actually we had no problems when we wanted to leave Iran. As we are not like typical Iranian people, in airport police have always just asked us the same questions : where are you going to and what kind of music do you play ….? and the answer is we are going to play a concert outside and we are going to play traditional Iranian music …

Lex – What is the reception regarding your band in these countries? And also around the world?

Ali – You know people and fans all around the world really showed their love to us. You know they can see we are living and fighting against all restrictions that we have in our country. So they have always sent us their good vibes and energy  ! They have been very kind all the time when they see us in their country. Now we have about 40,000 fans in myspace, reverbnation and facebook from all over the world and we appreciate that. I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank them for all their support over the years !

Lex – You’ve been involved as a headliner of the first ever « Persian Metalfest » that took place last year in Armenia. Could you tell us more about the fest and your own implication?

Ali – Arsames is the most famous International metal band in Iranian metal music history. So when a Persian Metal festival was going to be held for the first time in history, definitely you need a mighty headliner to show music power of your country! We played there as headlining act and it was a great moment playing with other great bands of our  country specially it was an interesting moment when we saw Iranian audience screaming !

Lex – I know that you just welcomed a new drummer. What lies ahead for Arsames in the nearby future and in the long term? Any plans of recording soon? Is there any ties with major label to bring your merchandise to North America?

Ali – Actually, we have a new Machine in Arsames, Soroush is 19 and a true talented musician. I promise that he is going to be the fastest and the most technical drummer in Iran ! Recently we re-recorded the album, « Immortal Identity » from 2010 with our new drummer. You will hear his parts soon with a High Quality and our new Tuning in « B »  or bariton.

Also we recorded a tribute to Slayer – a cover of « Raining blood » to show our respect to RIP Jeff Hanneman. It will be on for free Download soon and we are going to film this track as a video clip for all the fans. In the meantime, we are working and writing the new music lines for our upcoming album which we believe – would be the most powerful sounds of Arsames. We have put and use some brainy Persian metal scales into this album which made the album very unique. We want to release it with a major Record label to brought everything of Arsames to other parts of the world. We really have high hopes.

Lex – If I ask you to do your own publicity here in a famous last sentence, what would you say to incitate people to look for Arsames in the array of bands that roam the surface of this earth and that are often a lot more accessible through worldwide distribution than your band?

Ali – Metal has No boundaries!

We are ARSAMES! we play metal music – the new wave of Persian Death Metal – a unique sound of Metal music that you’ve never heard before

We love all Metalheads all around the world !

Respect

Lex – I thank you deeply for taking the time to consider this little interview questionnaire.

Ali – Thanks for the Interview Lex

 

Voici 3 pièces pour vous faire découvrir le groupe. D’abord un cover de « The pursuit of Vikings » de Amon Amarth en cliquant le lien, puis plus bas, le vidéo officiel de la pièce titre de leur album « Immortal identity » et finalement un vidéo en spectacle au Persian Metal Fest où ils nous interprètent « Persepolis », un bel exemple de Persian Metal. Enjoy!!!