AHOORA – All In Blood With You

In past days there were many incidents where Metal bands were banned out of countries because of their material and especially their lyrical themes. Cannibal Corpse is still a band that is banned from several countries because of their lyrics and provocative album cover art.

Ahoora is not like that at all. Ahoora is a Metal band who is not using provocative elements to stun or capture listeners, they are writing ordinary themes just like any other band. But the main difference between most bands and Ahoora is the hostile environment in which they live in. Under the Islamic law in Iran, Rock and Metal are banned throughout the country; Metal fans can’t even wear a Metal T-shirt in the streets without interference. But, although this factor is harsh and troublesome, Ahoora are making Metal underground with a purpose to continue their works as a struggle against the norms.

Ahoora was formed in Tehran in 2002. This band is the first Progressive Power / Thrash Metal band from Iran, from their release you can find influences of the power of Iced Earth , the progressiveness and creativity of the Swiss Artillery, classic Doom Metal and Iron Maiden’s Heavy Metal melodies.  All their works are being distributed in the small underground scene in Iran.

In 2004 they released a demo named The Call Of Beneath that also contained a cover of Iced Earth’s “The Coming Curse”. Two Years later, Ahoora released their first self titled album. In 2008 this album was re-released under the Real2can Records worldwide because of the band’s ban in their country. In 2007, Ahoora did it first with their second album, All In Blood With You which will be reviewed here.

All In Blood With You was recorded at Digital Circus, Tehran by the producer Mohamed Baei, who was also in charge of the mixing and mastering. The album’s recording quality is not that good but it seems to suit the band’s musical intent. All around the album the sound is very dark and dim, especially the guitars which are a hybrid between Iced Earth’s early days and Artillery’s By Inheritance era. The drum sound is very thin, which is quite suited to this mixture of sub-genre. A positive factor on the album is the match of the vocals and guitar sound. The vocals, in various areas, are low and full, which goes very well with low end depth guitars.

Despite the sound’s quality, Ahoora’s material is well constructed. Their Progressive Metal elements are shown with lots of pace breaks , unexpectedly out comes strong Thrashy rhythm sections and great melodies by keyboards. From the beginning until album’s end , Ahoora is attacking, fearing, crying and feeling pain. The material channels lots of emotions, which can be felt within the music, but also by the great vocal ability of Ashkan Hadavandkhani, who is a real “Peter Steele meets Matt Barlow” kind of singer. His low moans mixed with evil demonic chants, shows both anger and despair.

Ahoora has some good tracks around the album, which shows their creativity. But there is a problem with some of them. As the band keeps on making lengthy songs, there is the problem of having “dead” parts or even boring ones.
The track “Hunger Within” is an example among others. It starts off very good, a real Iced Earth’s Burnt Offerings era, but it begins to sour in the middle of it. It’s very nice that Ahoora added a female appearance to reflect more emotions but they just didn’t make it with this track.

However, there are positive things regarding their tracks. “Out Of Mind Wall” is a great track, a well constructed Iced Earth like tune, it’s like hearing 1995 again. This track has everything from explosive speedy / heavy rhythm sections along with charging keyboards through nice acoustic verses. The opening track, “Heart Of Darkness” is a well done Power / Thrash number, a real Artillery strike, that runs with great kick downs, chorus enchanted rhythms and great bass work. “A History Of Extinction”  is an unexpected instrumental – a wonderful Progressive Thrasher with speed , power and softness. “Between Maybe And Never” sounds like it continues where “A History Of Extinction” left off , but now it’s with vocals, a very nice tune which is constructed the same as the other progressive tracks around the album.

Ahoora is a story of a struggle against an unforgiving environment; they are a story, which presents Metal a savior from all the ordeals they must be going through as Metalheads in a strange land. May their way be as easy and safe as it can be. Good luck dudes!