On February 10th, 2012, I reviewed Janaza's album "Burning Quran Ceremony". It was pretty primitive, but I still loved it, especially that terrifyingly violent monument to blasphemy, 'Burn the Pages of Quran'. A few months later, a large internet publication called The Atlantic ended up talking about it. I was quite amazed that such obscure metal could be covered in such a mainstream publication. Praise be to the Internet!
A few days later, the people on the internet started saying, "The images were plagiarized! Janaza is a hoax!" Personally, I always knew the pictures were plagiarized, but I don't care. The music is more important than the image. Sometime later, a metal webzine called Metalluminati did some investigating and stated that her story doesn't check out and concluded that Janaza might just be some guy from America who's pulling an elaborate prank on everyone. However, there is one flaw in his argument: if the frontwoman, Anahita, was truly in no real danger, why doesn't she use a real picture of herself?
I believe people are jumping to conclusions way too quickly. I know quickly jumping to conclusions is secondhand nature to the internet, but hear me out. Try putting yourself in her shoes. You're an atheist living in Iraq, but you want to present a blasphemous image in order to complement your blasphemous music. You can't just put a sheet over your head and take a picture, because with the anti-Islamic messages you're sending, something like that could be misconstrued as a burqa. In order to keep herself safe, she has to either use no images at all (so as to remain mysterious like Obolus) or take pictures from the internet and distort them in some way. She could have gone with the former, but we all make stupid mistakes now and again, now don't we?
There's also this argument:
Do they really expect us to believe that two Seeds of Iblis members immigrated to post-war Iraq to start the band? Especially since Anahita has stated on record that they’re actively trying to score a record deal. (I doubt many A&R’s hang out in Baghdad — where Anahita claims Iblis have played concerts)
The author conveniently forgets that we now live in the age of the internet. Bands no longer have to be in the same room in order to rehearse or record. (This is why some of the veteran metalheads hate the internet; it has completely fucked up their oldest and most deeply-held traditions.) Just look at bands like Deep-pression, Malodorous, Means to an End, and many others. Bands can now create music together from oceans away. I'm pretty certain that Anahita and her friends recorded their music in the same manner.
Not only that, but thanks to the internet, you don't even need a traditional record label anymore. There are countless web labels floating around such as Torn Flesh Records. Or, if all else fails, you can just put up your music on Bandcamp and make money through name-your-price downloads. There are countless ways to record music and make money in this internet age, but I digress.
Radical thinkers and artists have a long history of using pseudonyms and false identities in order to protect themselves from persecution, and they used various underground methods in order to collaborate and spread their subversive messages. Why not Anahita and her friends? Even if Janaza does turn out to be a hoax, I say, "So what?" I still love her music. Besides, I can't name many other bands who so boldly blaspheme against Islam, can you?
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