Biography
In the ancient Persian calendar of Iran, thirty distinct mansions marked each month, with the moon believed to occupy a different one nightly, each carrying its own designation. Among these, the twenty-sixth bore the name Kahtmayan, which alone survived unchanged following the Arab conquest of Iran fourteen centuries earlier.
Homayoon Majd Zadeh assembled the musicians who became Kahtmayan in Tehran during January 2003, forming the country’s first Thrash Metal band. Although the group’s official start dates to that year, the bulk of the material later collected on the 2004 live album Virtual Existence had already been composed by Homayoon Majd Zadeh on guitar. The original quartet consisted of Homayoon Majd Zadeh on guitar, Ardavan Anzabipour on bass, Khaled Sanad Zadeh on drums, and Ali Khodadoost on keyboards. With this configuration the band performed multiple concerts throughout 2003 and 2004. In mid-winter 2004, Vanik Vartanian replaced Khaled Sanad Zadeh on drums, after which the group entered the studio.
Kahtmayan’s debut official concert, titled “Choose Your Progress,” took place successfully at Farabi Hall in Tehran in 2003 and was followed by another live appearance under the name “Virtual Existence.” In 2005, keyboardist Ali Khodadoost departed and guitarist Ali Azahri joined to sharpen the Thrash sound intended for the first studio album, Exir. When Vanik Vartanian subsequently left Iran, Arash Pajand Moghaddam assumed the drum position. Recording of Exir proceeded with the revised lineup and resulted in the release, via Ava Khorshid in 2005, of the first official Iranian instrumental Thrash Metal album. Several Kahtmayan themes drawn from earlier live performances were chosen by English filmmakers for the soundtrack of a documentary about Iran.
Kahtmayan initially fused metal with Persian folk traditions, allowing its early live performances to be classified as Progressive Metal; the 2005 album Exir, however, stands purely as Thrash. A studio realization of Virtual Existence is slated as the band’s next recording, this time without keyboards. Although recognized as an instrumental metal act, Kahtmayan intends, according to Homayoon Majd Zadeh, to expand its approach by incorporating a vocalist.
Homayoon Majd Zadeh assembled the musicians who became Kahtmayan in Tehran during January 2003, forming the country’s first Thrash Metal band. Although the group’s official start dates to that year, the bulk of the material later collected on the 2004 live album Virtual Existence had already been composed by Homayoon Majd Zadeh on guitar. The original quartet consisted of Homayoon Majd Zadeh on guitar, Ardavan Anzabipour on bass, Khaled Sanad Zadeh on drums, and Ali Khodadoost on keyboards. With this configuration the band performed multiple concerts throughout 2003 and 2004. In mid-winter 2004, Vanik Vartanian replaced Khaled Sanad Zadeh on drums, after which the group entered the studio.
Kahtmayan’s debut official concert, titled “Choose Your Progress,” took place successfully at Farabi Hall in Tehran in 2003 and was followed by another live appearance under the name “Virtual Existence.” In 2005, keyboardist Ali Khodadoost departed and guitarist Ali Azahri joined to sharpen the Thrash sound intended for the first studio album, Exir. When Vanik Vartanian subsequently left Iran, Arash Pajand Moghaddam assumed the drum position. Recording of Exir proceeded with the revised lineup and resulted in the release, via Ava Khorshid in 2005, of the first official Iranian instrumental Thrash Metal album. Several Kahtmayan themes drawn from earlier live performances were chosen by English filmmakers for the soundtrack of a documentary about Iran.
Kahtmayan initially fused metal with Persian folk traditions, allowing its early live performances to be classified as Progressive Metal; the 2005 album Exir, however, stands purely as Thrash. A studio realization of Virtual Existence is slated as the band’s next recording, this time without keyboards. Although recognized as an instrumental metal act, Kahtmayan intends, according to Homayoon Majd Zadeh, to expand its approach by incorporating a vocalist.
Albums
