‘At night when we sleep, Mr. Police is awake, We have sweet dreams, He is looking to hunt, Mr. Police is smart, He’s got a gun to his head, Our streets are full of war, Our fear is shameful’ (Zombies Of Tehran)

Siyahkal take their name from a prison break in Iran in 1971, which saw two left-wing political prisoners freed by their comrades only to be later recaptured and executed by government forces along with their rescuers.  This incident was widely viewed as the starting point of organised resistance to the Shah’s regime.  This resistance was ultimately to morph into the 1979 revolution, which replaced an exploitative monarchy with an oppressive theocracy.

Siyahkal have been active in the Toronto hardcore punk scene for approaching a decade, and Days Of Smoke And Ash represents their vinyl debut.  The time spent honing their sound has been thoroughly well spent.  The intensely rhythmic, semi-shouted Farsi incantations are locked in synchronicity with the bludgeoning rhythm section, while the metallic-tinged riffage is shrouded in flaring psychedelic smears, discordant squalls, and dramatically melodic leads.  The fusion of precise brutality with infectiously stomping rhythms proves impossible to resist from the swirling, euphoric invocation of Karbobalaa to the chanted climax of Bootcamp, by way of the desperately surging Zombies Of Tehran.

Lyrically, the album constructs a closely knit narrative that expresses a palpable rage at the theocratic police state repression of the Iranian people as told through the fabric of Tehran, from Evin prison to Toopkhaneh Square.  This fury is placed in the context of the patronising Western attitudes to the country that still permeate much commentary, most notably on A Camel And A Whip.  It also looks to reconcile the emotions of the exiled, who have escaped tyranny, as they contemplate the struggle of those resisting violent oppression in their homeland.  What emerges is a message of powerful universality that speaks to the plight of all those fighting authoritarian persecution.