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Aria first composition. History of the Aria group

Aria first composition. History of the Aria group

15.06.2019

Aria is a domestic heavy metal band, the flagship of this genre in the USSR. Many well-known musicians went through the crucible of the collective, subsequently launching their own projects or joining existing ones: Kipelov, Master, Mavrin, Arteria, Artur Berkut.

History of creation

The founders of "Aria" have been going to this project for a long time, simultaneously engaging in musical activities with other groups. Vladimir Kholstinin and Vitaly Dubinin met while studying at the university. MPEI students founded their own rock group "Magic Twilight", where they invited Artur Berkut as a soloist. But in 1982, Dubinin, absorbed in his studies, left Twilight, followed by Berkut, who accepted an invitation from the Autograph group. "Magic Twilight" ceased to exist. Kholstinin began playing the guitar in the Alfa group, where he met bassist Alik Granovsky. It is these two musicians who are considered the founders of Aria.

The beginning of the 80s was overshadowed by the struggle of the authorities with "illegal" musical groups. To avoid problems, the musicians had to look for work in the "approved" VIA. So fate brought Dubinin, Granovsky, Kholstinin, as well as a member of the collapsed VIA "Leysya Song" (it is curious that Nikolai Rastorguev started his career there) Valery Kipelov in the ensemble "Singing Hearts". Viktor Vekshtein, director of Singing Hearts, wanted to create a team that would better meet the needs of the time. He looked through many aspiring artists, giving them the opportunity to express themselves, allowing them to show their individuality.

Although the future members of the Aria were formally assigned to the Singing Hearts, since 1985 the musicians have been working on an alternative direction, recording songs in the new heavy metal style for the USSR. The name was invented by choosing from favorite words that are easy to pronounce and remember. We needed brevity and sonority without any subtext. Granovsky and Kholstinin supplemented the line-up with colleagues, closing the gaps in each of the positions: Igor Molchanov sat down at the drums, and then retrained as a sound engineer, Kirill Pokrovsky was responsible for keyboards and backing vocals, and Valery Kipelov established himself as a soloist. Vekshtein became the artistic director of the group.

The main stages of creativity

The end of October 1985 - the final formation of the group and the final recording of the debut album "Megalomania". This was the start of the history of "Aria". Unusual sound quickly attracted attention to the team. They began to be invited to festivals and group concerts: the musicians performed at Rock Panorama-86 and Lituanika-86. The team also expanded: the help of a second guitarist was needed, which became Andrey Bolshakov. In this composition, the musicians recorded the next disc "Who are you with?" (1986).

However, soon, due to a conflict with Vekshtein, all the musicians left Aria, except for Kipelov and Kholstinin (who left, they founded their own group, Master). Also, Alexander Elin, who wrote the lyrics, stopped cooperation. But the desire to participate in the project was expressed by Dubinin, who has not parted with the team since then - since 1987 he plays bass, sings along and writes music for Aria. Also at this time, drummer Maxim Udalov and Sergey Mavrin, a talented self-taught man who mastered the guitar and keyboards without special education, joined the group.

Mavrin took part in the recording of three albums, which, according to fans, represent the golden period of Aria: Asphalt Hero, Playing with Fire and Blood for Blood.

In 1988, the third album "Hero of Asphalt" was released. Firm "Melody" released more than a million copies of the disc. The lyrics in the album were written by journalist and poetess Margarita Pushkina.

"Behind America" - the first clip of "Aria" (1987)

During this period, the group begins to tour a lot, gaining a fan base. He went on a tour of the USSR, as well as an outdoor performance in Berlin at the Days of the Wall festival in 1988. At this time, Vekshtein was replaced by Yuri Fishkin: under his leadership, the following albums "Playing with Fire" (1990), released with a circulation of 850 thousand records, and "Blood for Blood" (1991) were recorded. After the departure of Vekshtein, Udalov also left Aria; Alexander Manyakin became the new drummer.

Shortly after the release of the album "Blood for Blood", the USSR collapsed. This could not affect the circulation - only 40 thousand copies were sold in Russia. It was not possible to earn a living with music in the homeland; Mavrin and Dubinin signed a contract with the German group "Lion Heart" and went abroad, Kipelov got a job as a watchman, Kholstinin began to taxi.

In November 1994, the band seemed to be getting out of the dark: they signed a contract with the independent rock label Moroz Records and went on a tour of Germany. But due to the mistake of the organizers, the commercial benefit from the tour turned out to be zero. Perhaps this affected the deterioration of the atmosphere in the group. So, Valery Kipelov stopped appearing at the rehearsals of Aria and began performing with the Master group, citing a lack of money. In early 1995, Mavrin left after him, saying that he did not want to play in a group without Kipelov. Subsequently, Kipelov and Mavrin recorded a joint album "Troubled Times", which included the famous composition "I'm Free".

To work on the album "Night is shorter than day" (1995), the producers of "Aria" invited the soloist of "Legion" Alexei Bulgakov. But the management of Moroz Records did not like the new vocalist. Kipelov was persuaded to return to record a record (more precisely, the CD is the first album of Aria released on this medium), but Mavrin's place was taken by Sergey Terentev, who turned out to be not only a good guitarist, but also a poet. Several of his compositions were included in the album "Generator of Evil" ("Devil's Heat", "Dirt").

During the concert tour in support of the Generator of Evil, Maxim Udalov again took the place behind the drums (Manyakin broke his arm).

Aria - Paradise Lost

The release of the album "Chimera" (2001) took place in a nervous atmosphere. The relationship between the band members was cracking at the seams. The conflict led to the fact that the musicians recorded their songs and parts to them separately (with the exception of the song "Chimera", written by Kipelov and Kholstinin in collaboration). In the spring of 2002, Kipelov announced his resignation. On August 31, the musicians played a farewell concert at Luzhniki, then Valery, Terentyev and Manyakin left the Aria.

"Veterans" Kholstinin and Dubinin began to look for new musicians. So new-old faces appeared in the line-up: Artur Berkut was now the soloist instead of Kipelov, and Maxim Udalov returned to drums. Sergey Popov became the guitarist.

In 2003, the album Baptism by Fire was released, in addition, Aria celebrated the long-awaited victory in the Chart Dozen with the song Coliseum, the first single after the breakup of the group. The video for the song was clearly inspired by the film "Gladiator", but ironically over the present: well-fed patricians were compared with the owners of record labels, and the spitting and raging crowd - with the audience. Kholstinin admitted that the composition and video are largely autobiographical:

We faced the betrayal of our friends and fans, at the same time with support. In general, we had a difficult period, so this is a rather autobiographical story.

In general, the new album, which was dominated by military themes, appealed to both fans of the band and critics.

Aria - Colosseum

Two significant events took place in 2006: the new album "Armagdeddon", which continued the "military" line, and the 20th anniversary of "Aria". All former Aria musicians, except for Valery Kipelov, took part in the large-scale anniversary tour. As a gift, fellow rockers in the person of Vadim and Gleb Samoilov,

"Classic Aria" - how it was

After the album "Through All Times" (2014), "Aria" focused on the celebration of the band's anniversary, as well as collaborative and experimental projects, for example, they performed with a symphony orchestra on a tour called "Symphonic Aria" (2016).

Scandals

Aria quite often changes its line-up, and former musicians leave the band, but not from the stage. They continue to perform the group's songs, which is not liked by their colleagues and causes controversy, both public and private, as well as legal. For example, in 2013, representatives of Aria filed a lawsuit against Artur Berkut for using the compositions Paradise Lost, Will or Reason, Rose Street and others at their concerts, demanding 840 thousand rubles from him.

Discography

"Megalomania" (1985)
"With whom you are?" (1986)
"Hero of Asphalt" (1988)
"Playing with Fire" (1990)
"Blood for Blood" (1991)
"Night is shorter than day" (1995)
"Day Maker" (1998)
"Chimera" (2001)
"Baptism by Fire" (2003)
"Armageddon" (2006)
"Phoenix" (2011)
"Through All Times" (2014)

Aria group now

In 2018, the group performed at the Invasion festival, which they missed for five years for various reasons. The musicians not only performed new and old songs, but also staged a real pyrotechnic show on the stage. For November, the group announced the release of a new, thirteenth album, Curse of the Seas.

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Biography, life story of the Aria group

The idea of creating a group playing uncompromising heavy metal was born by Vladimir Kholstinin a long time ago, back in the days of his collaboration with Sergey Sarychev and the Alfa group.

In Alpha, Vladimir met Alik Granovsky. Having shared his ideas, Vladimir found a like-minded person in him, and soon the guys started working on their first album. By the beginning of 1985, most of the material was ready, the question of the recording studio and the vocalist remained open. At this time, Alik and Vladimir get acquainted with Viktor Vekshtein - having heard the material, he decides to become the manager of the future group and provides the guys with his studio to record the album. The vocalist was found quickly enough - it was Valery Kipelov.

The name of the group was invented by Vladimir Kholstinin - the word "ARIA", in addition to brevity and convenience of writing, both in Russian and in English, carried a certain meaning: the fans and musicians of the group immediately began to be called "Aryans".

Alexander Lvov (drums) and Kirill Pokrovsky (keyboards) took part in the recording of the first album. The professionally played album turned out to be so different from all the rock that was performed at that time in the USSR that the group was immediately noticed and appreciated by fans of serious, heavy music.

On the album, all parts were recorded by one guitarist, but the band needed a second one to perform at concerts. Andrey Bolshakov became them. Igor Molchanov (played with Vladimir and Alik in Alfa) replaced Alexander Lvov on drums. The first concert of the ARIA took place on February 5, 1986 at the Palace of Culture of the Moscow Aviation Institute. Most of those present agreed that the group was very promising, but there were enough ill-wishers. Pessimistic forecasts did not come true - soon ARIA becomes the laureate of "Rock-Panorama-86", and at the festival "Lituanika-86", held in Vilnius, receives a prize for professionalism. And although the press stubbornly bypasses the group in silence, ARIA continues to rapidly go up, collecting full houses.

In November 1986, the group released their second album "Who are you with?". By the time of its release, a real split had ripened in the group, the causes of which were both dissatisfaction with the administrative policy of Viktor Vekshtein and disagreements between the musicians regarding the further style of the group. After a tour in January 1987, Alik Granovsky, Andrei Bolshakov, Igor Molchanov and Kirill Pokrovsky leave ARIA, expressing a desire to play other music.

CONTINUED BELOW

The first big performance of the renewed ARIA took place in April 1987 at the concert opening the "Melody of Friends" festival. This annual festival was held in the capitals and largest cities of the USSR and lasted about a month. The concerts proved that ARIA, contrary to rumors, did not die. After the festival, ARIA went on a concert tour that lasted until August. During it, in between performances, the musicians worked on songs for the new album.

In August 1987, the band began recording their third album, finishing within a month. After the release of "Hero of Asphalt" (initially the album was to be called "In the Service of the Force of Evil") it became clear that the change in line-up benefited the team. Many characterize the album as one of the band's best albums. The tour in support lasted two years with a full house at every concert. Published a year later with a circulation of more than one million, vinyl sold out instantly, a year later it was almost impossible to find it on the shelves.

A video was shot for the song "Street of Roses", in which the group's fans took part as extras. The clip was directed by Dmitry Mamatov and Sergey Komarov, the clip appeared on the screens in the program "Musical Elevator" and immediately took first place in the hit parade.

In winter, ARIA goes on her first foreign tour, to Berlin. Having given several successful concerts, the group received an invitation to the "Days of the Wall" festival in the summer of 1988, where they performed in front of an audience of 120,000 people.

All this time, relations with the management continued to heat up, another conflict was outlined, the musicians seriously thought about leaving Viktor Vekshtein. The first could not stand Maxim Udalov. In October 1988, he leaves, and in November, Alexander Manyakin is taken in his place.

The album comes out in April 1989. After its release and filming of the video for the song "Give me heat!" (directed by Evgeny Pakhomenkov), the group went on a long tour of Russia and Germany. ARIA took part in the Berlin "Rock Summer" festival and played very successful concerts in four major cities. In the spring of 1990, Vitaly Dubinin and Sergey Mavrin signed a contract with the Lion Heart group and left for Munich, but already in August, having found an opportunity to break the contract, they returned. ARIA, having celebrated its fifth anniversary with concerts at the ZIL Palace of Culture, begins to prepare its fifth album for recording.

"Blood for Blood" comes out in the fall of 1991 at Synthesis Records. With "Krov za Krov" the band's albums were designed by the artist Vasily Gavrilov.

The concert tour "Blood for Blood", in which Maxim Udalov participated as a sound engineer, recorded only 9 cities in his luggage. The musicians decide to take the well-known path - to create their own recording studio. So in the middle of 1994, "ARIA Records" appeared.

In the same year, ARIA enters into a five-year contract with MOROZ Records, one of the results of which is the publication in the summer of 1994 of all five of the group's early albums (including the unreleased "Megalomania" and "Who are you with?").

In the summer of 1994, the band started recording the next album (the first sketches for it appeared already at the end of 1992, and the new song "Angel Dust" recorded in 1993 was released on the compilation "Russian Metal Ballads Vol.1", released in early 1994 by the company "MOROZ records"). In September 1994, having recorded the drums, ARIA for the fourth time went on a two-week tour of Germany, giving concerts in seven cities and in the legendary Berlin Hard Rock Cafe. At the end of the tour, serious friction arose with the organizers, which caused tension within the group itself. After returning to Moscow, Valery Kipelov never appeared at the studio, where work on the album was in full swing. A month later, it became known that he was performing with the Master group. "ARIANS" started looking for a new vocalist, continuing to record instrumental parts for the album. In December, Alexei Bulgakov (soloist of the Legion group) tries to replace Kipelov. And in January 1995, Sergey Mavrin left the group, saying that he did not believe in success with a new vocalist.

As a session musician, Sergey Terentyev was taken to replace Mavrin in ARIA, who later remained in the group. The problem with the vocalist is solved by Alexander Morozov, the president of the company "MOROZ Records", threatening with penalties for breaking the contract. As a result, Valery Kipelov returned to the group and recorded vocal parts for the album "Night is shorter than day", which was released in September 1995.

After the release of the new album, a video for the song "Take my heart" (directed by Dmitry Velikanov) is being shot. At the same time, Sergei Zadora became the manager of the ARIA, who, having gathered a powerful administrative group, organized a series of concerts in Moscow and other cities. During this tour, a double live album "Made in Russia" was recorded and released, which unexpectedly, but firmly and for a long time, took high places in the charts.

On August 20, 2004, ARIA played the last concert of the "Baptism of Fire" tour and immediately began recording a new, already tenth album, the material for which the group began to prepare back in the spring and summer.

However, unlike past studio sessions, the "Aryans" are not going to lock themselves in their studio until they complete the creative process. In confirmation of this, in October the group again sets off on the road, with an updated concert program, conditionally called "The Best". Until the end of 2004, ARIA appeared on stage almost 30 times, first visiting Ukraine, and then driving around her native country from Astrakhan to Orenburg and back. We ended the year with a real festive morning performance - already a traditional New Year's Eve concert at the Moscow CDK MAI, which, without a doubt, became the most original performance of the ARIA of the outgoing year!

A week earlier, they also remembered the most memorable event of the year 2003 - a little more than a year after the grandiose performance in Luzhniki, a double live album and a double DVD "Live Fire" finally went on sale, capturing the historical show.
The coming 2005 is a jubilee year for ARIA, and very promising for its fans: in addition to the new, by the way, already tenth, studio album, which is expected to be released before the summer, and the subsequent tour in support of the disc, a lot of surprises are expected, timed to the 20th anniversary of the legendary band! So the story continues!!!

playing in the heavy metal genre.

"Aria" is one of the oldest and most successful metal bands in Russia, whose music is in the style of the new wave of British heavy metal bands. Winner of the 2007 Fuzz Award for Best Live Band. Its participants formed many other well-known groups ("Master", "Kipelov", "Mavrin", "Arteria"), which together form a galaxy called the "Aria family".

background

Future musicians of "Aria" Vitaly Dubinin And Vladimir Kholstinin met while studying at MPEI, where they created an amateur rock band "Magic Twilight". Dubinin at first was a singing bassist, then Artur Berkut was invited to the role of vocalist. In 1982, Dubinin left the group to complete his education. Soon, Berkut received an invitation to take the place of the vocalist in the popular art-rock group Avtograf, and Magic Twilight disbanded.

Kholstinin, along with bass guitarist Alik Granovsky, became members of the Alfa group, which performed hard rock. The group only lasted a few years. During the period of struggle with amateur groups in 1982-84, musicians were forced to look for work in official VIA. Kholstinin, Dubinin and Granovsky joined the VIA "Singing Hearts" in 1985. Valery Kipelov also moved there from the collapsed VIA “Leisya, song”. Dubinin left the Singing Hearts group a few months later to study as a vocalist at the Academy. Gnesins.

Early history

While playing in Singing Hearts, Kholstinin and Granovsky created a side project in parallel: a group that was supposed to perform heavy metal. Viktor Vekshtein, the director of Singing Hearts, became the manager and artistic director of the new group, who provided the musicians with his studio. The name of the group was invented by Kholstinin.
Vladimir Kholstinin:
... I came up with the name by reading the arm-thick Dictionary of Foreign Words. It took three days, all the names that I liked, I wrote out on a piece of paper, then thought about it. I tried to make names out of two words, etc. I wanted the name to be easily chanted, so that it would not have to be translated into English, I wanted it to start with the letter “A” (the first letter of the alphabet, do not forget about megalomania) and to have a hidden meaning.

Thanks to this, the musicians and fans of the group subsequently began to be called "Aryans". Wekshtein, Kholstinin And Granovsky began to select the composition of the group. During this period, guitarist Sergei Potemkin (ex-Alpha), vocalist Nikolai Noskov (then in Gorky Park), keyboardist Alexander Myasnikov (ex-Accent) auditioned for it. In February 1985, Aria was approved as the permanent vocalist of Aria Valery Kipelov(ex-“Leisya, song”). The sound engineer of "Singing Hearts" became the drummer Alexander Lvov, keyboardist and backing vocalist - Kirill Pokrovsky.

The musicians themselves call the band's birthday October 31, 1985, when work on the first studio album "Megalomaniac" was completed. The samizdat material released on magnetic cassette was traditional heavy metal in the vein of fashionable English and American bands such as Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath at the time. The album was recorded with only one guitarist in the composition - Kholstinin. The second guitarist, Andrey Bolshakov (ex-Zigzag, ex-Cocktail) was invited for concert activity. In addition, Igor Molchanov (ex-Alpha) replaced Lvov, who remained the sound engineer of the group, on drums.

Aria's first concert was held at the MAI Palace of Culture on February 5, 1986, opening for themselves as "Singing Hearts". In the same year, the group, already solo, took part in the Rock Panorama-86 and Lituanika-86 festivals. At the festivals, the group was met with approval and immediately won several awards and some underground popularity.

Aria's second album, Who Are You With?, was recorded the following year. It differed from the first in a weighted sound. Most of the compositions were written by Bolshakov, a fan of Judas Priest, influenced by the style of this group. The author of the texts for most of the songs (except for “Without You” - Margarita Pushkina - and the instrumental “Memory of ...”) was Alexander Yelin, which is connected with the acute social and anti-war theme of the album (“Will and Reason”, “Get Up, Overcome Fear” , "Who are you with?", "Games are not for us"). Former drummer of the group Alexander Lvov again acted as a sound engineer.

After a series of sold-out concerts at the Aria, a conflict occurs between the new guitarist Andrei Bolshakov and manager Viktor Vekshtein. Most of the group, except Kholstinin and Kipelov, takes the side of Andrei and breaks off relations with Vekshtein, but Viktor retains the rights to the name. Granovsky, Bolshakov, Molchanov and Pokrovsky created the Master group and in 1987 released their self-titled debut album, including several songs they wrote for Aria.

Composition with Mavrin

Valery Kipelov and Vladimir Kholstinin remain in Aria. The band invites bassist Vitaly Dubinin, who played with Kholstinin and Artur Berkut in Magic Twilight and Alpha back in the early 80s, as well as guitarist Sergei Mavrin and drummer Maxim Udalov (both ex-"Black Coffee" and " Metalaccord).

In 1988, the new composition of Aria recorded an album, which was originally supposed to be called "In the service of the forces of evil." It was the first album released by the state monopoly company Melodiya, so significant changes were made to it: the album was renamed Hero of Asphalt and the cover was changed accordingly, some texts were censored. Due to the volume of the disc, the composition “Give me a hand” was not included in the final version of the album - later it was published on the collections of Aria “Calm” and “Legends of Russian Rock”. The circulation of the third album on vinyl amounted to more than 1,000,000 copies and sold out in a few months. The disc is considered one of the best in the history of the group, it is often included among the "classic" for "Aria". The first video clip in the history of the group was filmed for the song "Street of Roses".

During 1987-88, Aria made a tour throughout the USSR and the first trip abroad, to Germany, where she performed at the Days of the Wall festival in Berlin. Newspapers call Aria "Russian Iron Maiden" and "Cossacks with guitars."

At this time, the relationship of the band members with the manager again and completely deteriorated. The musicians insisted on recording a new album, while Vekshtein demanded more and more new concert tours. In October 1988, due to the conflict, Udalov left Aria and in November Alexander Manyakin was invited instead. At that time, Udalov remained in the group as a sound engineer. In 1989, the group released another album called "Playing with Fire" with Yuri Fishkin as a manager. The circulation of the album on phonograph records was 850,000 copies. Viktor Vekshtein retained the formal rights to the name, which is why the group performed as "Aria-89" all year. However, Victor did not make claims to the group for the name, and a year later he died.

In the early 90s, due to the economic crisis, the group experienced a decline in their activities, sharply reducing the number of concerts. Musicians are forced to look for additional sources of income. Kipelov during this period worked as a watchman, Kholstinin - as a private cab. In 1990, Dubinin and Mavrin signed a contract with the Lion Heart group and left for Munich for a while (as part of the group they were replaced by session Gorbatikov and Bulkin), but returned to the group in August. After celebrating their fifth anniversary and several live shows, the band began working on their fifth album, Blood for Blood, which was released in 1991.

In 1994, he founded his own studio, ARIA Records, and signed a five-year contract with Moroz Records. On this label, in the summer of 1994, the first five albums of the group were re-released, including the early, unreleased, Delusions of Grandeur and Who Are You With? The albums were designed by the artist Vasily Gavrilov.

"Time of Troubles": the second split

In September 1994, they made a two-week tour of Germany in seven cities, including a performance at Berlin's Hard Rock Cafe. Through the fault of the organizers, the tour took place in terrible conditions and did not bring the "Aryans" a penny. The scandal with the organizers was reflected in the state of affairs in the group.

After the end of the tour, Valery Kipelov actually left the group: he stopped appearing at rehearsals and recording the album in the studio, and held several concerts with the Master group. In December, Alexei Bulgakov (vocalist and leader of the Legion) auditioned as a replacement for Kipelov. In January 1995, Sergei Mavrin left the band, stating that he refused to continue performing without Kipelov. In place of Mavrin, first as a session musician, Sergey Terentyev was invited, later he became a permanent member of the group.

Kipelov and Mavrin performed together for several months with the Back to the Future program with cover versions of songs by foreign rock bands (Slade, Black Sabbath, etc.), as well as songs by Aria. There is a bootleg of one of these concerts. But the project was not successful, and at the end of 1995 Kipelov returned to Aria under the threat of sanctions for breaking the contract by Moroz Records. He recorded vocals for the new album "Night is shorter than day", released in September 1995. "Aria" held a series of concerts in the Moscow region with Sergei Zadora as a new manager, recording a live album "Made in Russia", which became the leader of the charts.

In 1997, Kipelov and Mavrin again joined forces, recording the album "Time of Troubles" in a duet, in which Alik Granovsky also took part. Dubinin and Kholstinin recorded their own, called "AvAriya", where Vitaly also took part as a vocalist.

Composition with Terentiev

Sergey Terentiev, who at first simply replaced Mavrin, soon established himself in the permanent composition of the group and began to actively write songs. In 1998, Aria released "Generator of Evil", where for the first time Terentyev's songs were present and for the first time the producers were not indicated (the producers of the previous albums were Dubinin and Kholstinin). The tour in support of the album was almost canceled due to an accident that drummer Manyakin got into, so within six months he was replaced by Maxim Udalov.

In 1999, the book “Aria. The Legend of the Dinosaur, whose authors - Dylan Troy, Margarita Pushkina and Viktor Troegubov - tried to write a "realistic" biography of the group, in which increased attention was paid to conflicts between musicians and various curiosities. In 2002, another book about the Aria of Margarita group by Margarita Pushkina was published, where, in addition to the history of the group, the details of Pushkina's writing texts were described.

Until the end of the 1990s, Aria's songs were rarely broadcast on central radio stations. The first to decide to include Aria in the regular rotation of Our Radio, headed by Mikhail Kozyrev. Already in 2000, the single "Paradise Lost" brought the group success in the Nashe Radio chart, and the video for this song first brought the group to the MTV Russia channel. The general format of both Nashe Radio and MTV Russia was aimed at a wide range of listeners and was generally very far from the rock music of the 80s, in the style of which the group continued to play. Nevertheless, the rotation on these media resources allowed the group to regain popularity and gain fans among a new generation of listeners.

At this time, Valery Kipelov, who gave interviews on behalf of the entire team, became the "face" of the group. In 2001, Aria released the album "Chimera", on the cover of which the group's mascot, Zhorik, invented by the artist Leo Hao, first appears. The songs "Calm", "The Sky Will Find You" and "Shard of Ice", which immediately fell into the rotation of radio stations, repeated the success of "Paradise Lost". In support of the album, Aria held a tour with Udo Dirkschneider as a guest. The group became the headliner of the Invasion-2001 festival, where they performed together with the Globalis Symphony Orchestra by Konstantin Krimts, a conductor known for his original appearance and expressive behavior suitable for a rock show. In 2002, the group made a tour with "Globalis", which was called "Classical Aria".

Judgment Day

At the end of 2001, the tension in the relationship between the musicians grew. According to Valery Kipelov, there was already an unhealthy atmosphere in the group during the recording of the Chimera album, where each author recorded and mixed his songs separately. He suggested that Dubinin and Kholstinin temporarily suspend the activities of the group and engage in solo work. They refused, as the material for the new album was almost ready. Then Kipelov refused to participate in the recording of the album. Sergey Terentiev, Alexander Manyakin and the group's manager Rina Li supported Kipelov, speaking out against the two leaders of the group and producers Yuri Sokolov and Sergey Shunyaev. Dubinin and Kholstinin, in turn, accused Kipelov of disrupting the recording of the album and releasing old albums in Germany, as well as the group's manager Rina Lee - that she had incited Terentyev and Manyakin to break with the group.

There was also the question of the rights to the name "Aria". Kipelov in an interview stated a kind of "gentleman's agreement" that no one would use him in his future career. He also attributed to colleagues plans to perform under the name "Chimera", in honor of the latest album. Dubinin and Kholstinin categorically rejected such intentions, insisting that the rights to the name belong to them, and that this issue was settled - according to Dubinin, "we resolved some issues regarding the name with him, Valera was aware of everything." “At the talks with Shunyaev, we offered Valera to become a co-owner of the title.” A group called "Chimera" was indeed founded in 2002 with the support of Alexander Yelin and the "Aryans", but none of them ever performed in its composition. At the same time, the vocalist of Chimera, Andrei Khramov, held one concert with Dubinin, Kholstinin and Udalov, performing "Aryan" songs.

The last release of the old line-up was an album of rare tracks and covers "Calm". In August, the farewell tour of the Green Mile group took place. After the final concert on August 31, 2002 in Luzhniki, which was called "Judgment Day" (which gave the name to the split), Kipelov, Terentyev and Manyakin left Aria. The next day, having included Sergey Mavrin and Alexey Kharkov in their composition, they announced the creation of a new group called Kipelov. Kholstinin made an attempt in September to return Kipelov to the group, Valery came to the studio for negotiations, but refused to reunite without Terentyev and Manyakin, who were not invited.

Modern composition of Aria

Despite rumors about the demise of the group, in November 2002, the new composition of Aria was announced. Former musician of "Master" Sergey Popov became the second guitarist, Artur Berkut (ex-"Autograph", ex-"Mavrik") was invited as a new vocalist, drummer Maxim Udalov also returned to "Aria". On December 5, Aria released the single Colosseum, which preceded the album Baptism by Fire. The release was successful, the songs "Colosseum", "There, High" and "Baptism by Fire" reached the first places in the rock charts. A video was also shot for the song "Colosseum", which was broadcast on MTV Russia and reached the first place in the channel's charts. However, some of the old fans did not accept the change of vocalist, believing that Berkut's voice did not match the music of Aria.

Berkut and Kholstinin took part in "The Elvish Manuscript" (2004), a metal opera by the "Epidemiya" group. Arthur played the role of Irdis, an elven wizard, while Vladimir played the mandolin and acted as an opera producer. In 2007, Arthur again sang the part of Irdis in the continuation of the opera, Elvish Manuscript: A Tale for All Seasons, and also sang a duet with Kipelov in Margarita Pushkina's Dynasty of the Initiates project.

In 2005-06, Aria celebrated her twentieth anniversary with a new concert tour, together with the Mavrik group. Former members of the group were invited to participate in a festive concert in Luzhniki. "Master" and Sergei Mavrin responded to the invitation, but Kipelov refused because of the busy schedule of his own tour. For this tour in 2007, Aria was awarded the Fuzz magazine award in the nomination "Best Live Band of the Year". The "anniversary" version of the song "Will and Reason", recorded with the participation of Konstantin Kinchev, Vadim and Gleb Samoilovs, Yuri Shevchuk, Vyacheslav Butusov, as well as Mavrin and the author of the song Bolshakov, reached the first lines in the "Chart Dozen".

At the same time, the musicians signed a long-term contract with the CD-Maximum label, which, according to them, provided more favorable conditions than Moroz Records, with which they have collaborated for the past ten years. Aria's next album, Armageddon, was released in September 2006. To create it, the group invited two new lyricists - Nina Kokoreva and Igor "KESH" Lobanov (vocalist of the alternative group Slot), and Berkut made his debut as a composer. The songs “Alien” and “The Light of Past Love” topped the “Chart Dozen”.

In 2007-2008, Aria held a concert tour dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the album Hero of Asphalt. The final concert of the tour in Moscow and St. Petersburg featured Kipelov and Mavrin as guests (this concert was released on DVD and CD in the same year). In November 2008, the “Give Heat” tour started, in which songs that had not been performed for a long time and did not sound live at all were performed.

In 2009-2010, the musicians began to compose songs for a new album, which is expected to be released in 2011. In anticipation of the album, the single "Battlefield" was released. Also, the band's vocalist Artur Berkut takes part in the recording of the album "On the approaches to the sky" by the Permian heavy metal band "Vikont". Berkut performed the part of Perun in the composition "Two Thunderstorms".

In honor of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the group in 2010, the concert "Aria Fest" was organized, at which all members of the "Aria family" gathered.
Most of the group's lyrics were written by poets Margarita Pushkina and Alexander Yelin.

On June 27, 2011 Artur Berkut's departure from the group was announced. Even before this statement, there were rumors about the possible return of Valery Kipelov, which were later not confirmed. Valery Aleksandrovich declared that he would not return to Aria. Vitaly Dubinin later said that the issue of reunification was discussed with Kipelov two years ago, but he refused to leave his group. Dubinin also said that the musicians were forced to part with Berkut, because they needed a vocalist of a slightly different plan. The last concert with the participation of Berkut took place on August 31 in Ryazan.

Composition with Zhitnyakov

On July 26, 2011, it was announced that the title of the new album would be "Phoenix" and that the tour would begin on October 15. The song "Battlefield", released as a single in 2009, will not be included in the album. The name of the album was perceived by many as tied to the events in the group (the group will continue to exist without Berkut), and by many - as a "symbol of return" (meaning Valery Kipelov). Some considered the title a continuation of "Armageddon" (after Armageddon, mankind was reborn). Kholstinin himself denies the connection of the album title with the events in the group:
The songs for our new album were rehearsed and even mostly recorded before the change. The fact is that in our youth, Vitaly Dubinin and I were fans of the Grand Funk Rail Road group, which in 1972 released the amazing Phoenix disc. We played a huge number of Grand Funk songs and always dreamed of getting closer to our idols. Therefore, when Vitaly With Margarita Pushkina wrote the song "Phoenix", the name of the album was a foregone conclusion. - Interactive with Vladimir Kholstinin on the official website of the group

The intrigue about the new vocalist Aria participating in the recording of the album was resolved on September 16, 2011. They became Mikhail Zhitnyakov (vocalist of the Gran Courage group), which was announced in the Nashe Radio studio. Also on the air was a studio version of the song "Fights without Rules" (from the upcoming album "Phoenix") with Michael's vocals, and the song "Calm" (album "Chimera" of 2001) was performed to the accompaniment of two acoustic guitars.

Mikhail himself, while still a member of the Gran Courage group, recorded a cover version of the unreleased composition "Volcano" by the Aria group for the tribute album A Tribute to Aria. XXV".

On March 1, 2012, the band's official website announced the release of the album "Live in studio" with old songs re-performed by the new vocalist, Mikhail Zhitnyakov. On April 1, 2012, the album “Live in studio” is released on the CD Land label, the autograph session will take place in the AUCHAN Gagarinsky hypermarket at 14.00.

In April 2012, the group left on a tour of the cities of Germany, and after returning to their homeland, they performed for the first time with an updated line-up in Moscow at the Arena Moscow club on April 14, 2012 and in St. Petersburg at the GlavClub club on April 21, 2012. The official DVD was filmed at the Moscow concert.

On January 28, 2013, the group announced its intention to ban Artur Berkut from using the material of the Aria group authored by Vitaly Dubinin, Vladimir Kholstinin, Margarita Pushkina, Sergey Popov and Sergey Terentyev in his concerts and recordings. The reason for this decision was that Berkut, according to the group, performed the songs of Aria solo at his concerts without the permission of the copyright holders.

In June 2013, the musicians took part in the second Ostrov rock festival in the city of Arkhangelsk.

On August 23, 2013 the group took part in the XVIII International Bike Show "Sevastopol - Stalingrad" in Volgograd. On November 9, the band held "Aria-fest" - a metal festival, to which both Russian bands (Black Obelisk, Catharsis) and foreign bands (Rage, Sirenia and Symfomania) were invited.

In November and December 2013, the band performed for the first time in the US and Canada. Performances were held in New York (11/29/2013), Boston (11/30/2013), Toronto (12/01/2013).

At the end of November 2014, the group released their next album Through All Times, this album was already the twelfth in a row. Mikhail Zhitnyakov made his debut as a composer in the new album, having written, in collaboration with Vitaly Dubinin, the music for the song "Point of No Return". The new album was released by M2BA on November 25, 2014. Since that day, the album has been available in the iTunes music store and was released on November 27 on physical media.

On November 5, 2014, it became known that Vladimir Kholstinin was forced to temporarily suspend his participation in the group due to health problems, and Mikhail Bugaev would temporarily take his place. He announced this in his address:

" Dear friends!
I am currently undergoing treatment at the clinic and will not be able to participate in the next concerts. Temporarily my place on the stage will be occupied by the guitarist of the group Grand Courage Mikhail Bugaev. Hope you like it and support it. I promise to get back up and running soon.

Contribution to music

Aria became the first (and, according to some, the only) nationally famous and commercially successful metal band in the USSR and Russia. According to polls, Aria is one of the ten most popular rock bands in Russia. The success of "Aria" to a large extent contributed to the development of the corresponding direction of "heavy" music in Russia. Aria is one of the few Russian rock bands known and touring outside the former USSR.

Style

The main genre of "Aria" is traditional heavy metal in its "English" school ("classic heavy metal of the British spill", according to Dubinin): "gallop" guitar riffs, high-pitched vocals, long guitar solos. The band began to play, imitating such metal classics as Rainbow, Scorpions, Deep Purple, Iron Maiden (the musicians themselves highlight the influence of "Iron Maiden" and "Judas Priest" for themselves, saying: "At one time, these two bands seemed to us as landmarks") . Because of this, critics accused Aria of imitating and unoriginal, as well as borrowing musical moves from these groups.

Vitaly Dubinin in the book "The Legend of the Dinosaur" noted the melodiousness and melody of the vocal lines of the songs of "Aria", characteristic of the Russian folk song tradition, which significantly distinguishes the band's music from the same Iron Maiden. In addition, Aria was influenced by classical music. In some compositions, for example, “Playing with Fire”, “In the Service of the Force of Evil”, fragments from the classical works of Borodin, Paganini and others are quoted.

In subsequent years, the group's style became more independent. According to the former guitarist of the group, Bolshakov, Aria owes her success to the composing talent of Vitaly Dubinin: “After all, the main composer of Aria is Vitaly Dubinin. Kholstinin comes up with spectacular riffs, while Dubinin is just a wonderful melodist… His melodies look like our traditional Russian songs with a guitar.” Kholstinin also acknowledged that the group uses "Russian harmonic and melodic turns". At the same time, Aria developed a penchant for lyrical rock ballads, thanks to which, in many ways, the group managed to gain wide popularity. The ballads "Paradise Lost", "Calm", "Shard of Ice" were broadcast by radio stations, while more "hard" compositions for the most part remained "non-format".

With the change of line-up and the arrival of a new vocalist, "heavy" compositions again began to prevail in the repertoire of Aria, and some elements of power metal also appeared (however, the musicians themselves deny the group's involvement in this genre).

The average length of the songs is about 4.5-6 minutes. The shortest track is "Megalomania" - 1 minute 49 seconds, and the longest - "Playing with Fire" - 9 minutes 4 seconds.

Aria's family

A number of side projects and full-fledged groups have been formed by former and current members of Aria over the years. With the light hand of Sergei Mavrin, these groups are called according to his cycle of radio programs about them: "Aria's Family" (or "Aria's Family"). In English, the term family is applied to groups that are accompanied by a large number of related projects (Deep Purple family, Black Sabbath family, Slipknot family).

The "family" refers to:

Master - a group of Alik Granovsky, formed after a split in 1987. Andrei Bolshakov, co-founder of Master, subsequently left the group. In the late 1980s, she was the most popular thrash metal performer in the USSR. Sergey Popov and Artur Berkut (session), the current members of Aria, have previously been in the "Master". The two groups have collaborated on various projects on numerous occasions.

Mavrin is a solo project by Sergei Mavrin, founded in May 1998 after the success of the Time of Troubles side project. Mavrin performs heavy metal, more melodic and with some progressive metal influence. Arthur Berkut was the first vocalist of this group.

Kipelov - a group led by Valery Kipelov, who broke away from Aria in 2002. Mavrin, Terentiev and Manyakin also participated in its creation.

Arteria is a project of Sergei Terentyev, founded in 2004 after Terentyev parted ways with Kipelov.
Solo albums "Time of Troubles" and "Accident", released in 1997.

Current line-up

Mikhail Zhitnyakov - vocals (since 2011)
Vladimir Holstinin - guitar (since 1985)
Sergey Popov - guitar (since 2002)
Vitaly Dubinin - bass guitar, backing vocals, less often vocals (since 1987)
Maxim Udalov - drums (1987-1988, 1998, since 2002)

Former members

Artur Berkut - vocals (2002-2011)
Valery Kipelov - vocals (1985-2002)
Andrey Bolshakov - guitar (1985-1986)
Sergey Mavrin - guitar (1987-1995)
Sergey Terentiev - guitar (1995-2002)
Alik Granovsky - bass guitar (1985-1986)
Alexander Lvov - drums (1985)
Igor Molchanov - drums (1985-1986)
Alexander Manyakin - drums (1988-2002)
Kirill Pokrovsky - keyboards (1985-1986)

Session members

Dmitry Gorbatikov - guitar (1990, temporarily replaced Mavrin)
Alexey Bulkin - bass guitar (1990, temporarily replaced Dubinin)
Alexei Bulgakov - vocals (1994, replaced Kipelov, recorded 6 songs on a demo CD)
Evgeny Shidlovsky - keyboards (until 2002)
Alexander "Serpent" Tsvetkov - keyboards (2006-2008)

History of creation and composition

Speaking of prehistory, we should remember 1982, when MPEI students Vitaly Dubinin and Vladimir Kholstinin created the amateur rock band Magic Twilight. Dubinin soloed and played the bass guitar, then Artur Berkut came to the role of vocalist. However, the team quickly fell apart.

In 1985, Kholstinin joined the VIA "Singing Hearts", led by Viktor Vekshtein. He was followed by Alik Granovsky and Valery Kipelov as an accompaniment. The guys played VIA, but they dreamed of completely different music.

The idea to create their own male band playing in the style of hard rock was embodied by Kholstinin and Granovsky. The new group was named "Aria". The idea of the name belonged to Vladimir, who appreciated its conciseness and the same spelling in Cyrillic and Latin.

The founding date of the band is October 31, 1985 - the day the first studio album "Megalomania" was released. By this time, the composition had finally become this: soloist - Valery Kipelov, drummer - Igor Molchanov, sound engineer - Alexander Lvov, backing vocalist - Kirill Pokrovsky, guitarists - Vladimir Kholstinin and Andrey Bolshakov.

In 1986, the group held their first concert, took part in several festivals, including Rock Panorama-86, thanks to the latter, the performance of the guys first hit TV. However, the activities of the team could not be called complete. The guys played as the opening act at sanctioned concerts. Genre "non-format" was not allowed for ideological reasons.

The director of the group, Vekshtein, showed miracles of ingenuity in order to approve the musical concert program "Arias" from the all-powerful artistic council. The material was “veiled” with real arias from famous operas, “justifying” the name, and prescribed by the authors of compositions by respected songwriters.

And here is the victory! On September 12, 1986, the commission approved the group's solo program and its name. Then no one thought that already in December of the same year the group would be left without the main line-up.

The split has been brewing for a long time. Kholstinin and Bolshakov did not agree on creative views. The musicians were dissatisfied with small earnings and eternal censorship, making claims to Vekshtein. As a result, Bolshakov, Granovsky, Molchanov and Pokrovsky leave and form the "Master". Alexander Lvov also leaves the team at the invitation of the Gorky Park group.

Kipelov and Kholstinin, who remained in Aria, were joined by Vitaly Dubinin, who played in Magic Twilight, as well as guitarist Sergei Mavrin and drummer Maxim Udalov. This composition will later be called "classic", and the third album recorded by the musicians - "Hero of Asphalt" (1987) - will also become a classic in the group's discography. The vinyl record has a circulation of 1 million copies. It's time for Aria to rise.

In 1987-1988, Aria made a tour of the USSR and traveled to Germany for the first time. In October 1988, the musicians, dissatisfied with Vekshtein's management, went to the new director, Yuri Fishkin. And in 1989, under his auspices, the new album of the "Aryans" "Playing with Fire" was released.

The 90s were a difficult period for the band. Concerts, tours - everything that yesterday still filled the life of musicians, suddenly began to disappear. Financial difficulties led to the fact that the group again split. In 1994, the "Aryans" returned after a tour of Germany without actually earning anything.

Having quarreled with the organizers, the musicians began to look for ways to earn extra money. At the suggestion of friends from the Master group, Valery Kipelov began performing in clubs to earn money. Other "Aryans" did not like it. They announced a replacement vocalist. Offended, Kipelov broke off relations with his former colleagues. Sergey Mavrin leaves after him. Sergei Terentiev takes his place.

However, Kipelov leaves not for long. Aria did not work out with new vocalists, and the record company did not want to work with the Aryans without Kipelov. Under the threat of sanctions, Dubinin and Kholstinin agree with him to return. Together they recorded the sixth album Night is Shorter than Day (1995).

Since 1998, namely with the release of the album "Generator of Evil", the media glory of the group "Aria" begins. The clip "The Hermit" got into the rotation of the Muz-TV channel and for a long time took the top lines of the hit parade. In 1999, "Aria" fills the radio airwaves, this is facilitated by the success of the song "Careless Angel". Such a wide rotation allowed the musicians to gain fans of a new generation.

The year 2001 was marked by the release of the Chimera album, many songs from which instantly became hits. At this time, one of the leaders, Valery Kipelov, who had previously been fond of solo projects, finally decided to break away from the team.

Thus, in the summer of 2002, after the group's farewell tour and the final concert at Luzhniki, Kipelov and Terentiev and Manyakin, who supported him, left Aria, announcing the creation of a new Kipelov group. The first album of the musicians was marked by the ballad “I am free” (it was written back in 1997 and was included in the joint album of Mavrin and Kipelov “Time of Troubles”), which brought the group to the top of the rock charts.

Meanwhile, "Aria" also reaped the benefits of success. The group's album Baptism by Fire, recorded with the new vocalist Artur Berkut, became the leader of the rock charts. Together with Berkut, Aria spent almost 10 fruitful years, during which wonderful projects were implemented: participation in the metal opera Elvish Manuscript (2004), the Dance of Hell concert tour (2006-2007), a concert tour dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the album "Hero of asphalt" (2007-2008), the festival "Aria Fest", which later became traditional, and many others.

In 2011, the group announced the departure of Artur Berkut. The intrigue around the name of the new vocalist was fueled by rumors about the return of Kipelov. But he immediately refused: his team was already famous and was preparing to celebrate a decade.

Mikhail Zhitnyakov from the group "Grand Courage" became the new vocalist of "Aria". With a new soloist, Aria released the album Live in Studio in 2012, where the group's old hits were covered. After that, the team began active concert and touring activities in Russia and abroad.

In 2016, in the biography of the group - an outstanding event: "Aria" performed for the first time in the Kremlin at a concert dedicated to Cosmonautics Day. The "Aryans" performed the hit "Point of no return", the music for which was written by Mikhail Zhitnyakov.

Music

The band began playing in the style of classic heavy metal. And in the early stages, such giants as Rainbow, Scorpions, Deep Purple, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest were reference points in creativity. On their first foreign trip to Germany, the group was even called the Russian Iron Maiden.

Frequently changing composition, new trends, increasing competition - all this influenced the transformation of the musical genre "Arias". Soon, traditional Russian overflows become her hallmark.

The end of the 90s and the beginning of the “zero” is the time of the first lyrical rock ballads (“Paradise Lost”, “Shard of Ice”), thanks to which the group increased the circle of listeners at times.

In 2001, the team begins experiments with the classics. At the Invasion-2001 rock festival, Aria performed for the first time together with the Globalis Symphony Orchestra by Konstantin Krimts, and in 2002 held a joint tour, which they called Classical Aria. In 2015, as part of the celebration of the group's 30th anniversary, the musicians revived the Classical Aria project, working with the Swedish conductor Ulf Wadenbrandt. And in 2017, the rockers went on a tour of the same name.

"Aria" now

Now "Aria" is working on a new album, the release of which is scheduled for autumn 2018. The group still includes permanent Vladimir Kholstinin and Vitaly Dubinin (guitar and bass guitar), as well as guitarist Sergei Popov, drummer Maxim Udalov and vocalist Mikhail Zhitnyakov.

Fans follow the work of the "Aryans" on the official website, as well as on Instagram, where fresh photographic material is always available.

Discography (studio albums)

1985 - Megalomania

1986 - "Who are you with?"

1988 - "Hero of Asphalt"

1990 - "Playing with fire"

1991 - "Blood for Blood"

1995 - Night is shorter than day

1998 - "Evil Generator"

2001 - "Chimera"

2003 - Baptism by Fire

2006 - "Armageddon"

2011 - "Phoenix"

2014 - "Through all the times"

Clips

1987 - Behind America

1988 - Rose Street

1989 - "Gimme the heat!"

1991 - "Everything that was"

1995 - "Take my heart"

1998 - "The Hermit"

2000 - "Careless Angel"

2000 - Paradise Lost

2001 - "Calm"

2002 - "Shard of Ice"

2003 - "Colosseum"

2004 - Baptism by Fire

2005 - "There high"

2006 - "The Last Sunset"

2015 - "Point of no return"

dum spiro spero
MILA 2008-02-23 14:03:46

I really hope that ARIA will live a very long life in this composition. They are all SUPER! The inexhaustible energy of Arthur Berkut and the charming smile of Max Udalov inspire hope for the best. Good luck and great creative success to you, "ARYANS"

And the group was formed due to the intersection of the interests of three people: Vladimir Kholstinin, Alexander (Alik) Granovsky and Viktor Yakovlevich Vekshtein. Vladimir and Alik were good friends and colleagues (they played together in the Alfa group), Viktor Vekshtein, before ARIA, led the VIA Singing Hearts for 15 years, a very successful ensemble through which many musicians and vocalists went.

The idea of creating a group playing uncompromising heavy metal was born by Vladimir Kholstinin a long time ago, back in the days of his collaboration with Sergey Sarychev and the Alfa group.
In Alpha, Vladimir met Alik Granovsky. Having shared his ideas, Vladimir found a like-minded person in him, and soon the guys started working on their first album. By the beginning of 1985, most of the material was ready, the question of the recording studio and the vocalist remained open. At this time, Alik and Vladimir get acquainted with Viktor Vekshtein - having heard the material, he decides to become the manager of the future group and provides the guys with his studio to record the album. The vocalist was found quickly enough - it was Valery Kipelov.
The name of the group was invented by Vladimir Kholstinin - the word "ARIA", in addition to brevity and convenience of writing, both in Russian and in English, carried a certain meaning: the fans and musicians of the group immediately began to be called "Aryans".
Alexander Lvov (drums) and Kirill Pokrovsky (keyboards) took part in the recording of the first album. The professionally played album turned out to be so different from all the rock that was performed at that time in the USSR that the group was immediately noticed and appreciated by fans of serious, heavy music.
On the album, all parts were recorded by one guitarist, but the band needed a second one to perform at concerts. Andrey Bolshakov became them. Igor Molchanov (played with Vladimir and Alik in Alfa) replaced Alexander Lvov on drums.
The first concert of the ARIA took place on February 5, 1986 at the Palace of Culture of the Moscow Aviation Institute. Most of those present agreed that the group was very promising, but there were enough ill-wishers. Pessimistic forecasts did not come true - soon ARIA becomes the laureate of "Rock-Panorama-86", and at the festival "Lituanika-86", held in Vilnius, receives a prize for professionalism. And although the press stubbornly bypasses the group in silence, ARIA continues to rapidly go up, collecting full houses.

Soon, Vitaly Dubinin (Vladimir's friend from the institute and colleague in "Magic Twilight") takes the place of the bass player in the group, Sergey Mavrin becomes the second guitarist, and Maxim Udalov becomes the drummer. The latter before ARIA played together in "Black Coffee" and "Metallaccord".
The first big performance of the renewed ARIA took place in April 1987 at the concert opening the "Melody of Friends" festival. This annual festival was held in the capitals and largest cities of the USSR and lasted about a month. The concerts proved that ARIA, contrary to rumors, did not die. After the festival, ARIA went on a concert tour that lasted until August. During it, in between performances, the musicians worked on songs for the new album.
In August 1987, the band began recording their third album, finishing within a month. After the release of "Hero of Asphalt" (initially the album was to be called "In the Service of the Force of Evil") it became clear that the change in line-up benefited the team. Many characterize the album as one of the band's best albums. The tour in support lasted two years with a full house at every concert. Published a year later with a circulation of more than one million, vinyl sold out instantly, a year later it was almost impossible to find it on the shelves.
A video was shot for the song "Street of Roses", in which the group's fans took part as extras. The clip was directed by Dmitry Mamatov and Sergey Komarov, the clip appeared on the screens in the program "Musical Elevator" and immediately took first place in the hit parade.
In winter, ARIA goes on her first foreign tour, to Berlin. Having given several successful concerts, the group received an invitation to the "Days of the Wall" festival in the summer of 1988, where they performed in front of an audience of 120,000 people.
All this time, relations with the management continued to heat up, another conflict was outlined, the musicians seriously thought about leaving Viktor Vekshtein. The first could not stand Maxim Udalov. In October 1988, he leaves, and in November, Alexander Manyakin is taken in his place.

In January 1989, the group, already without the support of Viktor Vekshtein, begins recording the fourth album - "Playing with Fire". Yury Fishkin (an acquaintance of Kholstinin and Dubinin from the Magic Twilight group) becomes the manager of ARIA.
The album comes out in April 1989. After its release and filming of the video for the song "Give me heat!" (directed by Evgeny Pakhomenkov), the group went on a long tour of Russia and Germany. ARIA took part in the Berlin "Rock Summer" festival and played very successful concerts in four major cities. In the spring of 1990, Vitaly Dubinin and Sergey Mavrin signed a contract with the Lion Heart group and left for Munich, but already in August, having found an opportunity to break the contract, they returned. ARIA, having celebrated its fifth anniversary with concerts at the ZIL Palace of Culture, begins to prepare its fifth album for recording.
"Blood for Blood" comes out in the fall of 1991 at Synthesis Records. With "Blood for Blood" the artist Vasily Gavrilov is engaged in the design of the group's albums.

In the early 90s, ARIA (like many other bands) drastically reduced the number of performances. The concert tour "Blood for Blood", in which Maxim Udalov participated as a sound engineer, recorded only 9 cities in his luggage. The musicians decide to take the well-known path - to create their own recording studio. So in the middle of 1994, "ARIA Records" appeared.
In the same year, ARIA enters into a five-year contract with MOROZ Records, one of the results of which is the publication in the summer of 1994 of all five of the group's early albums (including the unreleased "Megalomania" and "Who are you with?").
In the summer of 1994, the band started recording the next album (the first sketches for it appeared already at the end of 1992, and the new song "Angel Dust" recorded in 1993 was released on the compilation "Russian Metal Ballads Vol.1", released in early 1994 by the company "MOROZ records"). In September 1994, having recorded the drums, ARIA for the fourth time went on a two-week tour of Germany, giving concerts in seven cities and in the legendary Berlin Hard Rock Cafe. At the end of the tour, serious friction arose with the organizers, which caused tension within the group itself. After returning to Moscow, Valery Kipelov never appeared at the studio, where work on the album was in full swing. A month later, it became known that he was performing with the Master group. "ARIANS" started looking for a new vocalist, continuing to record instrumental parts for the album. In December, Alexei Bulgakov (soloist of the Legion group) tries to replace Kipelov. And in January 1995, Sergey Mavrin left the group, saying that he did not believe in success with a new vocalist.
As a session musician, Sergey Terentyev was taken to replace Mavrin in ARIA, who later remained in the group. The problem with the vocalist is solved by Alexander Morozov, the president of the company "MOROZ Records", threatening with penalties for breaking the contract. As a result, Valery Kipelov returned to the group and recorded vocal parts for the album "Night is shorter than day", which was released in September 1995.
After the release of the new album, a video for the song "Take my heart" (directed by Dmitry Velikanov) is being shot. At the same time, Sergei Zadora became the manager of the ARIA, who, having gathered a powerful administrative group, organized a series of concerts in Moscow and other cities. During this tour, a double live album "Made in Russia" was recorded and released, which unexpectedly, but firmly and for a long time, took high places in the charts.

At the beginning of 1997, "MOROZ Records" printed the second issue of the "Legends of Russian Rock" series on six discs, which this time included ARIA. The collection includes the best songs of the group, the bonus track of the album was "Give a Hand to Me", "lost" during the release of the vinyl "Asphalt Hero". Also, the album was supplied with a booklet with the first sufficiently detailed history of the group. All songs for the collection have been carefully remastered.

In the summer, the musicians began work on the next, seventh album, called "Generator of Evil". The album was released on May 2, 1998.
Soon ARIA receives sponsorship in the person of the directorate of the Russian representative office of Harley Davidson. It is under their patronage that ARIA performs for the first time at the famous Moscow bike show in August. ARIA celebrates her 13th birthday with a big concert at the Gorbunova Palace of Culture. In the same year, the first concert video of the group was released - "Made in Russia" (the recording was made during the tour "Night is shorter than day").
In February 1999, a concert tour in support of "Generator" starts, behind the drums - Maxim Udalov (Alexander Manyakin broke his arm before the tour), who played all the concerts, except for the final Moscow one.

Especially for the Harley-Davidson-Party at the end of April 1999, the group recorded the first "Tribute to Harley-Davidson" - on the album, in addition to the new version of the "Aryan" song itself, there are two cover versions: "Return of the Warlord" by the "Manowar" group (" The hour has struck") and "Going to the Run" by Golden Earring ("Careless Angel"). Thus, ARIA added "cover art" to her arsenal.
Soon "Careless Angel" appears on "Our Radio" and unexpectedly takes the top lines, and the clip, released almost a year later, is delayed for a long time on MTV air. ARIA is finally noticed, the group's songs are beginning to attract interest from representatives of the music media. ARIA finally returns to serious concert venues.
At the end of 1999 "MOROZ Records" released a collection of the best songs of the group on two discs, and in January 2000 ARIA released the album "2000 and One Night", which, in addition to the well-known ballads re-recorded "live" in the studio, includes two new songs. On one of them - "Paradise Lost", a clip is being shot. In addition, ARIA tries her hand for the first time in collaboration with a symphony orchestra. The version of "Paradise Lost", recorded together with the Presidential Orchestra of the Russian Federation, soon appears on the single of the same name.
Anniversary year 2000 (ARIA turned 15 years old) the group celebrated with a big concert tour. April-May concerts were held together with the German band RAGE, who acted as an invited guest. The anniversary tour ended with a grandiose concert on October 30 in Moscow, at Luzhniki; almost all the musicians who have ever played in the ARIA took part in this concert. The poets of the group also rose to the Luzhniki stage with welcoming words to the audience.

The next album - "Chimera" - was released on April 12, 2001. The album was designed by the Moscow artist Leo Hao, with whom the collaboration continues to this day.
At the same time, the group received an offer to record a soundtrack for the computer game "Truckers-2". In order for the instrumental versions of the songs to sound as good as their originals, the musicians had to work hard on them. The track list includes 12 songs, 10 of which are the old songs of the group, and two are from the new, just released album.
Udo Dirkschneider (U.D.O. group) took part in the concert tour in support of the "Chimera" album as an invited guest. For the second "Tribute to Harley-Davidson" a version of the song "Calm" was recorded, sung by Udo Dirkschneider and Valery Kipelov duet (the album was not on sale, it was released in a limited edition and distributed only on Harley-Davidson-Party).
By this time, Yuri Sokolov, with whom ARIA has repeatedly collaborated, officially becomes the producer of the group. He proposes to continue the symphonic line begun by Paradise Lost. A trial balloon was thrown at the "Invasion-2001" festival, where the group performed several songs together with the "Globalis" orchestra (conductor Konstantin Krimets), Kirill Umansky arranged the songs for the orchestra. The experiment was more than successful: ARIA's performance was named the brightest event of the festival. Soon the group gives the public the first serious staged concert, which took place on December 1, 2001 in Luzhniki.

In early 2002, Valery Kipelov announced his desire to leave the group in order to engage in solo work.
Despite this, in mid-May 2002, the Classical Aria project starts. Concerts in the largest cities of Russia are held together with local symphony groups, the tour ends with a grandiose (in terms of the number of artistic techniques and special effects used) staged concert in Moscow. On June 1, at the Green Theater of the Gorky Park, ARIA, together with the "Globalis" orchestra, performed their best songs. The last number of the concert was the premiere of the band's new video clip for the song "Shard of Ice".
In August, ARIA took part in the next festival "Invasion". The final concert tour, called the "Green Mile", ended with a big performance in Moscow on the stage of the Luzhniki Sports Palace on August 31. After Doomsday, Valery Kipelov, Sergey Terentyev and Alexander Manyakin left the group.
Following the Kipel line-up, on November 22 "MOROZ Records" releases a collection of rare songs "Calm", which includes versions of famous compositions that did not appear on the numbered albums, cover versions from "Tribute to Harley-Davidson" and one previously unreleased song; and in February 2003 the "Classic Company" company released the second live album "In Search of a New Victim..." (recording of the performance on December 1st in Luzhniki).

At the beginning of November 2002, ARIA announces its new line-up: Maxim Udalov, who has already played in ARIA once, sits on the drums, Sergey Popov (ex-"Master") becomes the new guitarist, Artur Berkut (ex-"Autograph") becomes the vocalist. The musicians immediately start working on a new album.
Soon the group presents to the attention of the listeners a new song "Coliseum". The single of the same name leaves the recording studio on December 5th. In addition to the song "Coliseum", it features two old compositions, re-recorded by the updated line-up of the group: "Deception" and an instrumental version of the song "Antichrist", recorded together with the symphony orchestra "Globalis".
The first performance of the new ARIA lineup took place on December 7 in the city of Tver at the event "The Tver Tribute to ARIA", and the next day the presentation of the single was held in the Moscow club B-2. Before the performance, the musicians and poets of the group gave a press conference to accredited journalists, talking about their immediate creative plans.
On December 13, ARIA took part in the Friday the 13th festival, held at Luzhniki, for the first time appearing in a new line-up before the general public. On February 8, 2003, the group performed as a headliner at the Chart's Dozen festival.
At the end of March, ARIA starts mixing a new album. In early April, at the studio. Gorky are shooting a video for the song "Coliseum". Fans of the group take part in them as extras. At the same time, the group begins to prepare for a tour in support of the new album, holding the first concerts even before the official release.

On May 20, "MOROZ Records" releases the second collection of ARIA's songs in the "Legends of Russian Rock" series.

The release of the ninth ARIA album - "Baptism by Fire" - took place on May 29, 2003. The day before, a radio presentation of the album took place on the air of Nashe Radio, 6 out of 9 songs were played on the air, the musicians said a few words about the creation of each of them.

After the release of the album, the group went on a concert tour of the cities of Russia and neighboring countries with a new program "Baptism by Fire". During the tour, the group also took part in several festivals: - in August, they opened the rock section of the concert program of the New Wave festival in Jurmala with their performance; - became a participant of the festival "Invasion - version 2003. Free access". This time the festival took place not in the open air in Ramenskoye, but in the studio of Nashe Radio; - in September she performed as a headliner at the youth rock festival in Vladimir; - On October 17, she took part in the Moscow festival "RokFest", where she presented a specially prepared English-language program; in addition to ARIA, such bands as Helloween, Paradise Lost, Masterplan, Zodiac Mindwarp, as well as the young Moscow group Chimera took part in the festival.

On November 18, a solo concert of the ARIA group took place at the Luzhniki Sports Palace - a large staged show with a lot of special effects, artistic techniques and a carefully developed script. Yuri Sokolov acted as the main producer and director of the show.
According to the results of 2003, the "Soundtrack" of the newspaper "Moskovsky Komsomolets" called this performance the "Concert of the Year".
In the final "Chart Dozen" on "Our Radio", the song "Coliseum" also took the top line of the hit parade.

The 2003 tour ended with two New Year's concerts at the MAI SDK. A New Year's gift was a new concert video of the group for the song "Baptism of Fire" - a recording of a performance in Luzhniki. Especially for their fans, the group posted it on their website even before the clip appeared on the air of the MTV channel (scheduled for mid-January 2004).
In the summer of 2004, an animated video clip for the song "Tam Vysoko..." was presented on the CDK MAI stage. At the end of December, the label "Moroz Records" releases a double live album "Live Fire", and on December 24, the first New Year's performance of the group "Aria" takes place on the CDK MAI stage.

In 2005, the group recorded a new version of the song "Will and Reason", in the recording of which such vocalists of rock groups as Yuri Shevchuk, Konstantin Kinchev, the Samoilva brothers and others took part. December 24 is the next New Year's performance of the group. This time, a costume contest was held on the stage, in which regular visitors to the site participated. www.aria-best.ru.

At the very beginning of January 2006, the group performed with an hour-long program on the stage of the legendary R-Club, and in February, a new song "Alien" was presented on the CDK MAI stage. In the summer, a new single "Alien" is released, containing the composition of the same name, a piano version of the song "There High...", as well as a new version of the song "Will and Reason" with the participation of invited musicians. In September, the group's new album called "Armageddon" is released. In November, the presentation of the group's new album takes place on the stage of the Luzhniki Small Sports Arena, and on December 30, the New Year's performance, which has already become traditional, takes place on the CDK MAI stage.

In February 2007, the group performed at the club "Shadow". With the organizers of the festival "Invasion" the group had disagreements, in connection with which the group refused to participate in this event. But the group successfully performed at the festivals "Emmaus" and "Wings".

It's only begining...