At the age of 16, black metal musician Atash immigrated from Iran to Norway seeking refuge from his home country due to “lack of freedom” and “religious restriction on expression.” His Satanic one-man project Kaaboos (“nightmare” in Farsi) drew attention while recently protest-performing “against the cultural totalitarianism of the Islamic Republic of Iran” through his original “Wrath of Gods” as well as a Taake cover.
Atash states: “Black metal is a powerful weapon for rebellion and my goal with the protest show outside of the Iranian embassy in Oslo was to give the Islamic regime a slap in the face. To show them that one can only blossom and discover oneself in freedom.”
Roughly a month after the Kaaboos protest performance, Atash was declined asylum and ordered by the Norwegian government to return to Iran. It is understood that Atash’s affiliation with metal music could lead to imprisonment and potential execution due to Basij blasphemy laws.