Originally from Iran, Azam Ali has lived in India and, most notably, the United States, where she has forged a solid reputation in the music world. Active for some 30 years, she has released numerous albums, both solo and collaborative, and has also found her way to Hollywood. At the end of 2025, she returned with her latest album, centered around the theme of connection, which she completed in collaboration with several guest musicians.

Azam Ali’s music remains mysterious and deeply infused with an Eastern atmosphere. Her enchanting voice enhances the Ethereal character of the production, where she even dares to deliver a brilliant rendition of the mystical “Song To The Siren,” originally made famous by This Mortal Coil. Sometimes melancholic, often sensual, and always subtle, this album offers a collection of beautiful, understated, and sensitive songs. A certain fragility emanates from the compositions, sounding like an imaginary caress. The whole thing was brought to life with a perfect balance between electro and real instruments

With “Synesthesia”, Azam Ali once again proves herself to be an enchanting artist, bringing out the very best in Ethereal music. (Rating:8½).

Listen to “Hazy Gaze”:

About Azam Ali

Azam Ali is an Iranian singer and multi-instrumentalist, born in Tehran in 1970. She grew up in India, moved to Los Angeles in 1985, and has recorded both solo and with the groups VAS, Niyaz, and Roseland. She signed to COP International in 2024, her first label home since 2019’s “Phantoms”, and her voice has featured in film, television, and video-game soundtracks. “Synesthesia” arrived at the end of 2025 on COP International in digital, CD, and vinyl formats, built around the theme of connection with several guest musicians and a reading of This Mortal Coil’s “Song To The Siren”.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Iranian musician Azam Ali has signed with COP International, and is set to release her first studio album since 2019’s “Phantoms”. You might know Azam Ali also as member of the bands VAS and Niyaz.

“Being an independent artist for years now after breaking away from the industry model of releasing my music through record labels, meeting COP founder Christian Petke and seeing his great passion for the music he meticulously curates and releases on COP International, reawakened the joy I experienced in the early days of my career when I would collaborate with a label to produce a body of work that raised the bar artistically,” explains Ali.

Ali has collaborated either in-studio or on stage with Serj Tankian of System of a Down, Peter Murphy of Bauhaus, The Crystal Method, Mickey Hart, among many others. Her soundtrack work in film and television includes “Thor – The Dark World”, “Matrix- Revolutions”, “300”, “The Fight Club”, “Dawn of the Dead”, “True Blood”, “Alias”, “The Agency”, and “Prison Break”. She is also a well-known musical force in the video game world, having composed music for “Uncharted 3”, “Call of Duty”, “Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands”, and “Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow”.

Currently in the studio, Azam Ali is crafing her new album, planned for release later in 2024. John Fryer will be producing the material.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Electro-Pop, Cinematographic, Experimental.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Jean-Marc Lederman has achieved a new work featuring guest singers. In the past few months he released similar albums like “13 Ghost Stories” and “Letters To Gods And Fallen Angels”, and also “Venus Chariot” as a collaboration between him and Emileigh Rohn. “The Raven” is driven by a new concept where Lederman asked his guests to work on old texts from poets like (Byron, Poe, Plato, Shelley, de Froidmont ao.

Content: The guest singers for this album areMari Kattman (Helix, Mari & The Ghost), Christopher Hall (Stabbing Westward), Mark Hockings (Mesh), Elena Alice Fossi (Kirlian Camera, Spectra*Paris), Azam Ali (Niyaz), Dr. Strangefryer (aka John Fryer), Jim Semonik (Red Locust), Lis Van Den Akker (Misery, Psy’Aviah), Ken Mageman, Jean-Luc De Meyer (Front 242, 32Crash), Stefan Netschio (Beborn Beton), Emileigh Rohn (Chiasm), Christina Z.

Sound-wise the work is pretty eclectic, moving in between a free interpretation of Electro-Pop compositions and more pronounced Cinematographic music. The songs feature numerous, typical Cinema music arrangements, which are sometimes bombastic, but also pretty evasive. I also noticed very Minimal-Electro driven pieces. The songs have been sung/performed in English, French and Italian.

+ + + :Each time,  Jean-Marc Lederman Experience again sounds like a new and fascinating journey. First there is always an interesting concept and I like this one for mixing old poems together with music, which as an imaginary Soundtrack has been performed by the artist. There’s once again a true symbiosis between music and vocals, seeing Jean-Marc transforming himself into a sonic chameleon. Music and performer are totally complementary, now resulting in a sensual composition like the one with Mari Kattman, then into a kind of Lounge approach with Mark Hockings, becoming totally minimal with Dr. Strangefryer, getting us into a dreamy part with Lis Van Den Akker. But the most surprising- and poignant track is the one with Jean-Luc De Meyer inspired on a poem of Hélinand de Froidmont. It’s an old and tenebrous poem, which has been masterly interpreted by the Front 242 lead singer and adapted into a horror-like music composition. There are several noticeable cuts on this album, which is more an album to listen to instead of dancing.

– – – : The album once more creates the illusion listening to a compilation instead of an album composed by one artist. That’s part of this concept and I’m sure Jean-Marc Lederman still has enough ideas and creativity to move on with it.

Conclusion: Jean-Marc Lederman Experience and his guest singers stand for a true sonic intercourse. This is a new brilliant piece of music and the perfect successor to “Letters To Gods And Fallen Angels”.

Best songs: “The Worms Of Death”, “Invocation”, Frankenstein”, “Smouldering Corpse In The Morning Sun”, “The Cold Heart Slept Below”.

Rate: 8.

Artist: www.jmlederman.com / www.facebook.com/Music-composer-Jean-Marc-Lederman-1585277635023000 / www.facebook.com/jeanmarc.lederman

Label: www.facebook.com/copint

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

(Courtesy Attasalina) Black Needle Noise’s first release on COP International Records is a fact. Out now is a new single “Machine” featuring vocalist Attasalina and violinist Meredith Yayanos. The “Machine” EP features remixes from Christopher Hall (Stabbing Westward), Mark Hockings (Mesh/Blackcarburning), Sick Jokes, Soman and (London DJ) Samantha Togni.

Says Fryer of “Machine”: “It’s taken a while to find the right song for Attasalina so we could collaborate again. She did an amazing job on ‘Messages By Dreams’ and she has done an exceptional job on ‘Machine.’ It’s always a pleasure working with Attasalina, and it’s been great having Meredith Yayanos on board this time around playing violin on the track, adding another dimension.”

Attasalina, best known for her collaboration with Daniel Ash (The Soldiers of Everyday), has also released music with her band The Seraphim Rising and is currently working on her first solo record in collaboration with John Fryer, to be called Freed From Rage and Sorrow. She previously collaborated with Fryer on the Black Needle Noise track “Messages By Dreams.”

See the video for “Machine” below.

About John Fryer

John Fryer started his career in 1979 at London’s Blackwing Studios (London) and soon began working with seminal bands on 4AD, Mute, Rough Trade and Beggars Banquet, including Depeche Mode, The Wolfgang Press and Cocteau Twins. His achievement in helping develop the latter’s pioneering ethereal and ambient sound ultimately led Watts-Russell to recruit Fryer as his partner for This Mortal Coil.

Since then, Fryer has produced many iconic artists, including Love and Rockets, HIM, Cradle of Filth, Clan of Xymox, Nitzer Ebb, Dead Can Dance, Yaz (Yazoo), Xmal Deutschland, Fields of the Nephilim, De/Vision, Stabbing Westward and many others. Fryer has also produced many film soundtracks, such as Seven, Clerks, Johnny Mnemonic, Mortal Kombat, Faust and Resident Evil: Apocalypse.

Currently Fryer also works closely with COP International and its roster and this debut Black Needle Noise release on the label is being hailed by COP founder Christian Petke who says, “I know how much this project means to John and I think it represents some of his finest work. Black Needle Noise is his vehicle to execute his artistic visions. It is not bound by style or fashion but represents the distilled essence of a man honing his craft for 40-plus years. To say it is an honor to represent Black Needle Noise on COP International is an understatement.”

Fryer recently celebrated a #1 entry on the German DAC Charts with the Chiasm & John Fryer album “Missed The Noise”. Good to know, Fryer acts as an A&R and a producer at COP International Records, helming the work of artists such as Stabbing Westward, Azam Ali, Chiasm, Stoneburner, Blackcarburning and more.

For more on John Fryer, see A Cloud Of Ravens release remix EP feat. remixes by Clan of Xymox,… on Side-Line.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com