Whispers in Crimson hail from Tehran, Iran and are the brainchild of Amirali Nourbakhsh.

“Putting this album together seemed at times impossible to me with all the restrictions we have in Iran. The music is frowned upon and considered somehow illegal. On top of that, I have my own family and full-time job as the owner of a strategy consulting firm. But not once in my life did I doubt that metal was what I wanted, and with Hadi’s (Hadi Kiani, keys, recording, mix, and mastering) support I did the impossible.” says Amirali, the guitarist, songwriter and leader of the band.
The variety of the songs reflect the hardship Amirali has gone through. Although not a concept album in the classical sense, 6 of the 7 songs are about political events in the Middle East. The interesting title track “Suicide in B Minor” is about how a Palestinian shepherd turns into a suicide bomber after finding his family slaughtered. The over 8-minute progressive epic is melodic, aggressive, with lots of time signatures and even metronome changes—which is by the way present throughout the album.
The most difficult thing about this album is how to describe its inspirations. It has a lot of harmonic minor scales, but it doesn’t sound Middle Eastern. At times it reminds one of Kamelot, at time maybe Symphony X, but there is no one track on the album that could be compared to either band’s tracks.
The second song is about Saddam Hossein’s last ten minutes. The climax is the slow but aggressive solo in the middle of the track which very clearly depicts Saddam’s torture at the poles. “Bow to me and treasure me, at least until I fall.” The over 10-minute track is the most progressive on the album. It starts with an unusual 15/8 rhythm demonstrating many unexpected accents and time signatures.
From a musicianship-performance perspective, the album is full of nice technical pieces with catchy songwriting and a very realistic production. Although progressive, all songs appeal to a vast rock audience. The singer immediately strikes the ear. The German Herbie Langhans—Sinbreed and Seventh Avenue—adds additional power and aggression to the songs. “Sascha Paeth introduced Herbie to me. I didn’t know of Herbie, so I started streaming his work on the internet. The first song was a ballad and I was like ‘No, no, this guy sounds like Brian Adams.. too mellow for me.’ Then I listened to Dust to Dust by Sinbreed. That’s where I discovered his range and thought that’s the guy I have been looking for.” Amirali remembers.
"Do you believe" is the closest to a ballad on the album. It is very melodic with a sing-along chorus, but has a fast guitar solo and aggressive singing.
“For me it was important to write songs that needed technically sophisticated musicians to play them. On the other hand, my songs had to be melodic and aggressive. But perhaps most importantly, I wanted A class lyrics. I wanted to express my democratic views on political events in this part of the world through a medium that conveyed the emotions as well. I think progressive metal is the best vehicle to communicate this emotional knowledge.” says Amirali.
The sound of Whispers In Crimson incorporates a blend of progressive metal, 80s heavy metal, 70’s progressive and hard rock and then just Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio.