TEHRAN, Iran (CelebrityAccess) — Arsames, an Iranian melodic death metal band, is reportedly facing inarceration for creating and playing ‘Satanic music.’
According to legal filings provided to metal fan blog Metal Injection, the members of the band are facing up to 5 years in jail for participating in the group and for being anti-government.
The members of the band have been released on bond and are not being held in prison as they await trial, Metal Injection reported.
The group, which was formed in 2002 by vocalist and drummer Ali Madarshah, has played at international festivals including the Sikkim Metal Fest in India and Metal Asylum in Dubai.
In Iran, artists must seek approval from Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance if they wish to publicize their work. Artists who do not seek such approvals before making their work available face sanction.
Arsames isn’t the first metal band in Iran to face legal sanction. In 2018, Nikan Khosravi, a member of the band Confess was forced to flee the country after running foul of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of producing Satanic music following the release of their 2015 album “In Pursuit of Dreams.”
“They [the guard corps] told me I was accused of insulting the prophet. They also arrested Arash [Ilkhani] on the street on his way home from the university. We were interrogated separately by the IRGC for 10 days in Ward 2-A in Evin Prison. I was interrogated by four or five agents,” Khosravi told the Center for Human Rights Iran after his arrest.
