You may remember the story of Iranian metal band Confess from 2016. The musicians were arrested the previous year for blasphemy and other reasons, and were potentially facing execution. Thankfully, Confess have confirmed they’re safe from the death penalty in a new interview with Metal Injection.

The formal charges against Confess included “blasphemy; advertising against the system; forming and running an illegal and underground label in the satanic metal and rock style; writing anti-religious, atheistic, political and anarchistic lyrics; and interviewing with forbidden radio stations.” The two members of Confess, Nikan ‘Siyanor’ Khosravi and Arash ‘Chemical’ Ilkhani, paid approximately $30,000 each to make bail and laid low since.

When Khosravi was asked by Metal Injection if he was safe, the Confess member replied, “If by being safe you mean not worried about losing your life, yes we are safe. We are with our families and our loved ones living day by day. But if being safe is having peace of mind, then no, we are not. We don't know what is going to happen to us, as human beings and as artists.”

After going to district court on two occasions, Khosravi and Ilkhani were sentenced for the apparent crimes and the result sounds disturbing. “The sentence is not good at all,” Khosravi says. “We objected and are waiting for an appeals court date. We still have hope that everything will be resolved with our new lawyers.”

Once again, Confess are not facing execution, but Khosravi declined to elaborate on the sentence, fearful it would affect the appeals process.

Adding some levity to the conversation, Khosravi spoke of the various metal musicians who’ve reached out during this difficult time. They include Corey Taylor, Marty Friedman, Alissa White-Gluz, Randy Blythe, Stone Sour drummer Roy Mayorga, All That RemainsPhil Labonte and Gojira’s Mario Duplantier. Khosravi says he’s even talked with Eminem since Confess’ story was made public.

If you’d like to keep up with Confess, you can follow the Instagram accounts of the band, Khosravi and Arash. If there are any updates in the band's appeal process, we will keep you posted. Take a listen to Confess’ “I’m Your God Now” in the player below.

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