What’re your highlights of the year so far?
Nikan Khosravi (Vocals, Guitar) - we released our fourth album back in January called Destination Addiction featuring my good friend George Kollias from Nile doing the drums. One of the best metal drummers of all time, so it was an amazing experience. The album was very well received by the fans and the community and we are very proud of that. We did featured on Into The Void docuseries which we got to tell our story next to some of the biggest names in the metal scene and that was an honour. And new we are releasing the remastered version of our second album In Pursuit of Dreams as the 10th anniversary edition which is coming out on November 7. It’s been a big year for Confess.
What are your goals for the rest of the year?
NK - we have a couple of shows in Norway before Christmas. One of them is supporting Narcotic Wasteland. We are gearing up for that.
Which new bands/artists are you into right now?
NK - I try to keep up with the newer bands. Not a big fan of this new wave of metalcore but every once in a while I come across a new band that has that old school sound with a fresh approach. I like Orbit Culture, Kublai Khan as an example. They sound heavy and metal to me.
What was the band or artist that got you into music or inspired you to be a musician?
For me was that 2000s nu metal bands. I was mostly into that. But more on the heavier side. I liked Slipknot, Lamb of God, Devildriver, Trivium. But I was still very interested in groove metal/ thrash metal gods like Pantera, Slayer, Sepultura. These bands were the main inspiration for me to start my own musical journey.
AI has become a bone of contention among creators. What’s your view of it?
NK - I don’t necessarily panic when I see AI keep developing. I actually think it’s a very powerful tool. In the art and music industry, it can become a component. Something that adds to creativity, but also something that could potentially jeopardize certain aspects of artistry. For example, as an independent artist, I think it’s important to learn how to use AI effectively. It can really help with content creation, especially for lower-budget projects where resources are limited. I don’t really see AI as a dark or negative thing overall. Like with any technology, there are people who might use it in harmful ways, but I believe it mostly depends on how we choose to apply it.
How best do you write; in a jam room or a studio?
NK - For me it’s always been my home studio. I’m a lone writer. I write our music and we do some rearrangements in post production. I usually come up with some ideas during the jam room but yeah, I guess I need some privacy to connect with myself in order to pull something profound out.
What was your wildest show so far, and why?
We have played in most of the EU countries and there are some favourite places that I saw some cool shit during our set. Like this festival in Netherlands where the mosh pit and crowd surfing was non stop. Another one that I remember was a year we did a tour with belphegor and we played two dates in Greece. Athens and Thessaloniki. It was crazy! The pit was on from the first second.I like Romanian shows too. Always nice to us. There are a lot of good moments that it makes you smile and say to yourself: “Wow! This is amazing!”
Congratulations on Into The Void. How did that come about?
NK - VICE first reached out to us in October 2024 about a new project they were developing for Hulu, Disney. At the time, the title was still undecided, but later they told us it would be called Into The Void. They explained the concept, and said our story was very compelling and inspiring, one of the major legal events in metal music history. We were really honored to be included.
Filming began in January, when the VICE team came to Norway to interview me and my bandmate, Arash. We spent hours sharing our experiences and stories. They also wanted to bring in others to speak about it, so I reached out to my longtime friend Randy from Lamb of God. He was immediately on board, and they later filmed his interview in the U.S.
Everything went very smoothly, the crew was incredibly professional and great to work with. It’s been an honor to have this platform to tell our story, and the feedback so far has been amazing.
What inspired the lyrical themes behind the record?
NK - Well, the main inspiration came from the injustice and religious oppression in Iran. That’s what really drove me to write the lyrics at the time. I was quite young when I started working on that album, around 19, and it came out when I was 21. I was dealing with a lot — questioning who I was, where I belonged, and what my place in society meant. I’d also been through experiences with drugs, depression, and a lot of internal struggles.
The lyrics were honest, raw, and powerful. A direct reflection of everything I was going through. That eventually led to my arrest in 2015. We wanted to revisit that period, give the album a fresh master, and finally present it the way it deserved. Ironically, just two weeks after its release, we were jailed. So, looking back on it now, it’s about revisiting those times — dark, yes, but filled with both pain and meaning.
What’s the story behind the artwork for In Pursuit Of Dreams.
NK - I came up with the concept, and actually, the title came first. I remember one day, this picture just came to me: a girl holding a balloon, standing still, and a man in a suit with a suitcase – looking very official — trying to cut the string that holds the balloon. It really stuck with me. We never wanted to fully explain the meaning, but to me, the girl represents innocence and vulnerability, something I could relate to as an artist, especially in an oppressive society. The man, on the other hand, represents authority, law, and the commercial pressures that force you to conform to endless new rules. That was the core idea. We went out and shot it, and every time I see it, it still takes me back to those days.
Where is the furthest across the globe you’ve played so far?
NK - So far we haven’t gotten out of Europe but we are working on that. Hopefully we can go and play in North and South America in the near future. And of course Asia would be awesome too. Can’t promise anything yet but if we could we would.