You mentioned the meaning of Kahtmayan on your website, but what does it mean, or what does it represent to you?
The name means ancient Iranian astronomy, the 26th night of the moon in specific. It is different, because it stems from ancient Iranian beliefs, with astronomical meaning.

You guys had major line-up changes, many people leaving and many joining, why so? And who is the final line up?
We started about 17 years ago, and we had around 6 different line-ups. We started as a progressive metal band; however, the situation in Iran made us an Instrumental band. At that time, we had a keyboardist, and around 2001, a guitar, bassist and a drummer joined in. Then we shifted to a style more of thrash metal with our album Exir. We dis-banded, and then all members changed, except for the bassist. We worked with a lot of vocalists, because of the situation in Iran, in addition to lack of performances.

How did the idea of starting Kahtamayan come to you?

When I was 14, I was flipping channels on a DVD, and I was trying to get the European channels. Suddenly, I found a band called Iron Maiden! And they were IT for me. Simply, DVDs were truly a savior, because at that time there was no Internet or satellite.

When was your first time on stage, and how was it?
12 years ago in Tehran, it was the first live metal gig to take place. We did a lot of concerts at that time, and then all of a sudden, there were no concerts at all.

We heard that you had a concert in Iran not long ago, how was it? And how did you manage to put a concert under this government?
Since we are an old band in Iran, they trust us. Accordingly, we want to start a new state and build a safe atmosphere in line with this genre of music. It was the first real metal concert in 10 years.

You are now rehearsing your new album Rising from The Ashes, when is it expected to be out?
We do not have a release date yet, but we will play some tracks in the next few concerts.

Comparing the two previous albums together, how do you think you guys developed since you started till today? Musical and lyrical wise, in Exir and Virtual Existence.
The first two albums were not exactly an idea. I like to write and compose; it is part of my Middle Eastern identity. But there were a lot of problems. First, it was the ability to complete and use a single Iranian riff in a track. I like harmonies and making real Middle Eastern music, because of my beliefs in mystical themes. I like to use many riffs. Second, the problem was with the vocals. We tried a lot of Iranian vocals, and I was looking for a specific thing. I had in mind someone who can sing tradition Iranian music, alongside the standard metal music, and I just did not find someone like that. I tried to fix everything myself. I tried to sing, and the direction of music, about the concept, and after that. These tracks go back to 10 years earlier. Now, those ten years of hard work are of course way tougher in comparison to the current capability to compose more effortlessly, and in harmony with the other members.

What were the obstacles you faced in Iran in recording and producing your music?
Around 7-8 years ago when we started recording Exir, we did not have anything to help with recording. None of the studios available in Iran can provide what would record an up-to-par metal song. The quality was never good. It was not easy to find our favorite equipment or instruments. The time you would find something you like, the prices were awfully ridiculous! I tried to learn it all by myself, both the mixing and mastering. I tried to read a lot about those. However, these days you cannot do it all by yourself. Conversely, in our upcoming album we are going to have impeccable sound. We learned a lot through the past decade. We are going to use the best of what we have right now. Technology has made a lot of things possible.

How does the Metal Scene in Tehran look like?

The metal Scene in Tehran is growing every day, as a guitar mentor, I see a lot of young people coming to learn how to play the guitar and drums. It is getting huge, still underground, but huge.

Have you performed outside the Middle East region?
No, but we are planning to have live concerts in Europe.

What are the bands that influenced your music?
Everyone has his own style, from thrash and glam metal in the 80s, especially when taking into consideration that Folk Iranian music is a huge influence. We use a lot of Arabic instrumental signatures, in contrast to some Iranian harmonies. Interesting as it is, there is this Arabic music tradition called “Zar” – it’s like a big tradition to dismiss evil spirits from people.

Does your songs come out from personal experience?
I am a big fan of Shaman, magical and mystical things. I had my very own real experience with that. Many times I hear the melody in my head. Coming out from this experience, it transforms into guitar riffs, just as ‘Dark of the skies’ mean sacrifice, it means a lot for me.

Share with us your funniest moment on stage.
Once at a concert, the fans were sitting down, acting conservative, while we can see them eager to move and head-bang. It is just not possible because of the government.

A word to the bands who just started?
Be you! Believe in your music, and play from your heart, and have some fun.

What is your dream?

The first goal in our lives is music. Everything else revolves around it. We want to be the biggest rockstars! We want to preform at the biggest festivals on huge stages. We believe in our music, and I wish it reaches everyone around the world.

What about today’s show? Are you excited?
We never played in Dubai or a club before. It is very exciting. Usually in Iran, there are a lot of guards, big stage, and only one band playing. So this is must be very cool, and I am looking forward to it.

So, tell us a little bit about it. How did you get in contact with Metal East Records and the idea of playing in Dubai?

Our manager Amir does most of the planning. He has a lot of good connections with great event managers. We want to introduce the real meaning of Kahtmayan to the people, and because we never played abroad, we thought Dubai would be a good start. After all, they gave us the green light and here we are!

What do you guys expect from the metal music scene in Dubai?

I do not know what to expect! This is a completely new metal scene to me, and different music standards from both the bands and the fans. We are strange for them, and I am worried about their reaction towards us. That is why we thought we should play many of our instrumental tracks tonight.

There’s something confusing your fans is that they don’t know the exact genre of your band. Give us the final thing.
Oriental, technical and eastern metal.

Interviewed by: Jimmy Bakr and Mustafa Knoxville.
Written by: NJ Bakr
Edited by: Duha Mousa

Kahtmayan is based in Tehran and it was formed in 2003, and the meaning of the name of the band according to the band’s history section in their official website is the 26th night of the Persian calendar. This album is only instrumental metal which would mean that this review will only focus on their musical technicality and execution, since the band claimed in their official website the following:

“The main idea behind Kahtmayan was creating music that was based upon eastern melodies and rhythms along with a dark magical atmosphere.”

And after reading a bit more about the band’s history, they mentioned that their line up got changed and so their genre of music changed since Thrash Metal is the main genre of metal in Iran, and that the government stood against having vocals in their band which lead to them taking the path of playing Instrumental Thrash Metal, which would show the struggle that metal music faces in the Persian lands.

When I first hit the play button on my music player , I wasn’t really impressed with the first 2 or 3 tracks , but then the album got really interesting with the way it was played and executed. To start off with in general on how the album sounded like, it was atmospheric with a lot of keyboard synths which was the interesting part of the whole album – it even reminded me a bit with the synth sounds that some of the main stream Iranian music that I saw on TV when I was bored and flicking through channels on my satellite receiver for some reason – and with a very slight hint of folk keys in there, but I’m not really sure about that part.

The technicality of the guitarist gained my respect since it sounded really professional and with a whole lot of taping techniques, hammering, and interesting licks and slides that for some reason sounded a bit like what would Joe Satriani do if he joined a Thrash Metal band. I also noticed that the band didn’t keep the album Thrashy all the way. That would indicate that they were more on the progressive side of things, the sounds went from atmospheric to dark to somewhat mystical, which I have to say that the keyboardist nailed it with his choices of synths.

The missing element in all of this – and I know it’s not the band’s fault – is the vocals and what would be their own lyrical theme, if that element was present in the band I would feel that it would bridge the gap in their music that I would say with all due respect is really good, but I feel that they made the music this way so when they have the chance of having a vocalist, they would have the music ready for him to rip out his vocal abilities onto them.

In conclusion, they are a skillful band that with better luck would be band to wait for net album to see how they would grow musically.

Here is one of their tracks that caught my attention from their album, ‘Irreversible’. Check below.

Brave enough to make their music downloadable for free through their official website, they opened the availability to us to officially review their first full-length album, Exir, which was released back in 2005 under the shades of –mainly- thrash metal.

‘Degeneration’ is your kick start to the all-instrumental, well-recorded album. Smooth acoustic guitar opener accompanied with sad electric guitar and drums paving the way to bass guitar’s aggressive appearance midway into the track. Few are the eastern touches in the track but traceable in each riff or solo.

‘Xenophobia’ gets you in doubtful moods once it starts, living up to its name, the track swings between anxiety and relaxation all through its 09:46 minuets lifespan. Continuing the fussy nature of thrash metal and the whole album we meet Fogyist, which means: an extremely fussy, old-fashioned, or conservative person… Well it makes sense for the very fast and hard hitting pace to the track.

After that you can skip ‘Mind Cancer’ and ‘Hydra’, no offence boys but I listened to it numerous times and never got any feeling out of them. Sorry for that.

Wrapping up with ‘The final station’, with little imagination you can see the band saying “That’s all folks!” in this track as it’s the finish line to this thrashy long-run-well put melodic track consists of multiple solos and nicely layered riffs, closing the Exir.