| Ahoora | |
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 Ahoora. From left to right: (bassist Mamy Baei, vocalist Ashkan Hadavand and guitarist/backing vocalist Milad Tangshir)
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Tehran, Iran |
| Genres | Rock, Progressive Metal, New Wave[1] |
| Years active | 2001–present |
| Labels | Real2Can, Zirzamin |
| Website | www.ahoora-band.com |
| Members | |
| Milad Tangshir Ashkan Hadavand Mamy Baei |
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| Former members | |
| Kiavash Kia Alireza Saeidian Ali Masoomi Farhad Khosroshahian Ario Noorfardy (See: full listing) |
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Ahoora is an Iranian Indie Rock / Metal band formed in 2001 in Tehran, Iran. The band has released three studio albums to date. The band currently features the guitarist and backing vocalist Milad Tangshir, vocalist Ashkan Hadavand and bassist Mamy Baei.[2][3]
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Back in 2001 Kia and Tangshir, joined by a bassist and a singer started to play Heavy Metal music with Persian lyrics. After some efforts the lyrics changed to English which led them to erase all the previous works. This change resulted the singer and the bassist’s separation from Ahoora.
The remaining duet started to cover songs from the bands such as Iced Earth, Metallica and Iron Maiden; Meanwhile composing tracks “Gods of War”, followed by “In a Word: SIN” which debuted the English era. In summer of 2003, long time friend Ashkan Hadavand joined the band as the singer.
After a private gig in the winter of 2003, Ahoora decided to record their first demo following a guy’s promise to get the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance permission for them. 7 written songs, plus an Iced Earth cover “The Coming Curse” made a demo called The Call of Beneath; but the whole story turned out to be a lie and the aforementioned guy disappeared.
Few months later bassist Farhad Khosroshahian and drummer Ali Masoomi were added. Throughout that period, the first compositions for an album were done. In Early 2005 Farhad Khosroshahian - who later sought classical music studies as a violinist in Barcelona - was replaced by Mamy Baei.
In the same year the lead guitar player Kiavash Kia was parted too, leaving the rhythm guitarist Milad Tangshir being the only original member who was remained to handle nearly all the song writings and leading the band.
In June 2005 Ahoora performed the first ever metal gig including vocals in an institute in Iran.[4] Since then all of the scheduled gigs have been devastated by the authorities. The band played its first official live performance in two sets and though they had booked two nights, the manager of the institue forced to cancel the second night because of the up-coming presidential elections that year and the probable jeopardy.
By the time Kiavash Kia left in summer 2005, and after testing few guitarists, the band decided to record the album with only one guitar player, and Milad Tangshir recorded both the rhythms and the solo parts.
On February 13th 2006, exactly 36 years after Black Sabbath had released their self-titled debut album, The Iranians released their debut and it was simply called Ahoora.[5],[6] There was no other chance for the band but to independently record and produce their album. They produced their melodic power metal album, which was influenced by bands like Iced Earth and Iron Maiden.[7]
“This album was consisted of six tracks for a total of 53'. With vocals versatile for the genre, agile drums, an electric bass that sometimes doubles the riffs and sometimes goes into counterpoint mode, and the guitars: clear, ringing arpeggiated parts; throaty, distorted riffs; and clear leads.” – Clouds & Clocks Web Magazine[8]
Although the band was originally Persian, there has been more foreign feedbacks. American art magazine Brainwashed called it "a nice break from all the doom and black metal that is so popular these days.”[9] ; Italian clouds & clocks also wrote: "The album manages to communicate quite well. The arrangements are quite complex, the musicians obviously know each other well, the material was properly rehearsed".[8]
6 month after the first album; Ahoora was invited to play at Evergreen Music Festival in Washington. The band was given almost an hour to play for several thousands of people at Washington's open air festival of the year but missed this chance because of exit laws. The band started practicing to do a live performance of their debut for Iranian fans. September 19th 2006 was booked at Rahil Hall, Tehran. Ario Noorfardy was called to join the rehearsals because the original drummer had immigrated to Canada but 24 hours before the concert, authorities forced to cancel the gig. They even closed the oldest music store in Tehran which used to sell underground music and also the music institute at which Ahoora had played a year before. In early 2008 the British label Real2Can released Ahoora’s self titled debut album digitally worldwide.[10],[11]
The new lead guitar player Alireza Saeidian joined Ahoora in 2007. After few months of rehearsing, Ahoora recorded the second album during April and June 2007. All in Blood with You came out September 30th 2007. The album also features Ida Norheim-Hagtun on female vocals in the closing song “Hunger Within”.[12][13] In the second album, Ahoora showed influences from Iced Earth, Iron Maiden, and even the likes of Death. The production is the main down point which can be attributed to their geographical location. Besides the power metal influences, the album sounds early and mid-90's doom scene, especially the likes of Black Sabbath and even, more lately, the gothic doom vocal style of Peter Steele and Type O Negative, as can be heard especially in the track “Out of Mind Walls”.[4] In All In Blood With You, there has been improvements in the band’s production, songwriting, arrangements and performance including the use of more progressive elements than before. [14]
This album was also reviewed by critics. Tartarian Desire rated it 9 out of 10: “They've got their very own style which can hardly be pegged as something”[15] Metal Mayhem UK wrote "...already one of my favorites this year”[16] ; Brazilian Progressive Rock & Metal described it as “A surprisingly quality metal masterpiece”[17] while famous Metal Invader rated the album 4 out of 5 and wrote: “AHOORA is a band with inspiration; their songs are interesting and well crafted while they seem to move through different styles with ease.”[18] Power Metal.de referred the album to some colors of Nevermore, Control Denied and Coroner and also wrote: “The interesting aspect here is that with these strange influences there is uncertainty for them to pull off without any further music publications. But as it seems, the boys have produced a hard piece; melodic metal in a technically advanced quality that thoroughly offers comparison possibilities”.[19]
In early 2008 Ahoora contributed in a Book/Cd project called Rock Comics presented by Cypher Arts. The band composed a song for the second volume in these series, that’s based on the 16th century’s pirates. The track was titled “Limb by Limb” which is about a French famous pirate named François l'Olonnais. “Limb by Limb” was recorded in Tehran, Lou Molino recorded the drums and the song was mastered by Billy Sherwood in San Francesco.[3]
A Tribute to Slayer 25 years came out in September 2008 as a tribute album to the band Slayer featuring musicians from different countries and different continents including Ahoora with the cover song “Blood Red”. This album was released worldwide with a terrorist picture instead of the Iranian band’s real picture in the booklet. On this shocking act Milad Tangshir tells Metal Underground:
“we were contacted by a guy from Russian Slayer fan club. We were told that he was going to prepare a tribute album with worldwide participants, celebrating 25 years of slayer. We accepted the offer and recorded Blood Red off the classic Seasons in the Abyss. After almost a year of sending e-mails and receiving nothing, we were finally informed that the album was going to be out early September 2008. Through internet we found a promo video for this album which represents the bands involved in the Cd, Sliding the images while captioning the band names. When it comes to Ahoora, you'll see a picture of four suicide bombers with name Ahoora! This picture was also used in the booklet of the CDs too!”[20]
Awkward Diary, the band’s third album, was written in 2008. The recording sessions started in April 2009 and were delayed for 3 months because of personal problems and the abnormal situation of the country. It was resumed soon and was finished by October. In 26th of October, Ahoora released its first ever single, “Crimson Baby”, dedicated to Neda Agha-soltan & all the victims of post election conflicts in June 2009. “Crimson Baby” was selected #1 by Zirzamin, #3 at This Just In and #6 at Prime Cuts Radios. This was followed by the 2nd single; “Closure” which was out on November 25th and reached the first place at Short Takes. The singles were released through the Italian free label KO-REC, and was put for free download.[3],[21]
Awkward Diary also features Farzad Golpayegani on a guitar solo, Darren Motamedy and Parviz Norouzi on sax, all as guest musicians.[22] This album will be released in February via Washington.D.C’s Iranian label; Zirzamin. And will be available worldwide on CD and also digitally on internet music stores.[3],[22] On this album, Classic Rock Magazine writes: ”Imagine Muse and Tool getting all cosy around Iced Earth and you’ve got the drift here.”[23]
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