The Iranian metal band Confess' third album, Revenge at All Costs, is so brutal that the Iranian government sentenced them to 74 lashes, which is probably—horrifyingly—a better advertisement for it than any promotional materials their record label could cook up.
In 2015, Iranian authorities arrested Confess singer and guitarist Nikan Khosravi and his bandmate Arash Ilkhani. The two metalheads were charged with blasphemy and anti-government propaganda for the band's pointed anti-religious lyrics and criticisms of the state. Khosravi spent 18 months in Tehran's infamous Evin prison while awaiting trial, three of them in solitary confinement.
