Kasra Goodarznezha was born and raised in Tehran, where he studied graphic design before moving to Canada. Now, Goodarznezha works as a new media artist, and he also fronts Siyahkal, a righteously angry hardcore punk band named after a 1971 uprising in which a group of guerilla fighters briefly took over an Iranian police station. Goodarznezha snarls all of his lyrics in Farsi. As you might imagine, he's got a lot of reasons to be pissed off right now.
Siyahkal released their full-length debut Days Of Smoke And Ash / روزای دود و خاکستر last year, and now they've announced plans to follow it with a new 12" EP called Corrupt / فاسد. The band recorded it in January, just before the US and Israel launched a bloodthirsty and directionless bombing campaign against Iran, killing thousands of civilians. Here's what the band says in the Bandcamp description of the new EP:
This album was recorded in January 2026, but before February 28, 2026. Writing about this album, now, is proving harder than writing the album itself.
Many pages and iterations and still nothing comes to mind that feels right other than speaking on how we feel personally.
This album is about contradictions and paradoxes. They are at war now. But we have been fighting the evil known as the Islamic Republic for decades in any way, shape, or form. Now we are getting carpet bombed by big beautiful bombs their B2 bombers drop on our heads.
We see some devastated by this war and some that sing songs as bombs fall on their neighbourhoods. What’s brought us to this point? We are happy to hear Khamenei has evaporated and joined the rest of the cohort in hell. That happiness lasts for only a moment, as we remember that our people are being bombed at the same time.
We/they attack our bodies with every means possible. Drugs, alcohol, razors, ropes, bullets, batons, bombs, sirens, rubble, … .
We cherish life even if they don't want to let us live it. Only in the moments when we are gathered together - when we get high, drunk, or dissociate - do we feel alive. All of those moments end with a kiss, a big hug, a deep sigh and a sliver of hope that maybe one day we will be free. We owe this to the people that aren't here with us when the spring comes each year.
Outside Iran we are eating like shit. Glued to our phones. News cranked on the TV. Articles open on our computers. We do anything to feel something. Inside Iran, they shoot us in the street. They bomb us from the sky. We are watching our bodies deteriorate day by day. No one gives a fuck about us, but us.
There is nothing else left to say. To all the lives lost and the life that follows!
Yours Corrupted,
Siyahkal
Below, check out "Full Moon / ماه کامل," a harsh and frantic two-minute song about a motorcycle crash, and the tracklist for Corrupt / فاسد.
TRACKLIST:
01 "At The Grave / Freaky Bedbugs / سر قبر / ساس و شپش"
02 "Anarchy In Iran / آنارشی تو ایران"
03 "Time To Hunt / وقت شکار."
04 "Full Moon / ماه کامل."
05 "They Decide For Us / برامون تصمیم میگیرن"
Corrupt / فاسد. is out 5/29 on Static Shock.
