The founders of the group were Vekshtein (artistic director), Kholstinin, Granovsky. Until that moment, Kholstinin and Granovsky played in the Alpha and Singing Heart groups. Then Valery Kipelov was approved as the vocalist. The keyboardist (and backing vocalist) was Kirill Pokrovsky, the drummer was Alexander Lvov (soon he became a sound engineer).
The biography of the group "Aria" began with the release of the album "Megalomania". The first concert of "Aria" took place on February 5, 1986. During the first year of its existence, the group took part in several festivals ("Rock Panorama-86", "Lituanika-86"), declaring itself. The second guitarist, Andrei Bolshakov, was accepted into the group, who then wrote most of the songs for the second album (“Who are you with”).
Due to a conflict with Vekshtein, the musicians were forced to leave the group, forming the next group - "Master", only Kipelov and Kholstinin remained in the "Aria". Taking Vitaly Dubinin, Sergey Mavrin, Maxim Udalov into the group, Aria began working on the next album. It was released in 1987 under the name "Hero of Asphalt", although the musicians originally planned to call it "In the Service of the Force of Evil." The stage of a long tour in the biography of Aria begins.
After another conflict with Vekshtein, Udalov becomes a sound engineer, and Alexander Manyakin joins the group. "Aria" together with the new manager Y. Fishkin releases the album "Playing with Fire".
Then, after some lull in 1990, the album "Blood for Blood" was released.
In 1994, the following important event took place in the biography of Aria: the studio of the same name, ARIA Records, was founded. In 1994, Kipelov left the group (later he returned), a year later - Mavrinin. But Sergei Terentiev was accepted. Then the albums "Made in Russia", "Generator of Evil" were released. Even greater popularity of the group came after the songs "Paradise Lost", as well as the album "Chimera", which were played on the radio. During the recording of this album, disagreements arose again between the musicians, Kipelov again left the group, Artur Berkut has been the vocalist since November 2002. In 2004, the composition "Colosseum" was released with a new line-up of the group, then the albums "Baptized by Fire", "Armageddon" were released.
The composition of the group at the moment:
Vocalist: Artur Berkut.
Bass guitar: Vitaly Dubinin.
Guitar: Sergey Popov.
Guitar: Vladimir Kholstinin.
Drums: Maxim Udalov.
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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"
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 activities. 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 "Elven 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 composer's 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)
334 rebounds, 8 of them this month
Biography
Aria is a Russian metal band. The music of "Aria" is designed in the style of the "new wave of British heavy metal" bands.Aria is one of the oldest and most successful metal bands in Russia. Winner of the 2007 Fuzz Award for Best Live Band. Its participants formed many other well-known groups ("Master", "Kipelov", "Mavrik", "Arteria"), which together form a galaxy called the "Arias" family.
background
The future musicians of "Aria" Vitaly Dubinin and Vladimir Holstinin 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 Singing Hearts 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, choosing it at random as it can be conveniently translated into Latin. Also, according to one version, an important fact when choosing a name was the ease of its chanting. Thanks to this, the musicians and fans of the group subsequently began to be called "Aryans".
Vekshtein, 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, Valery Kipelov (ex-“Leysya, song”) was approved as the permanent vocalist of Aria. Alexander Lvov, the sound engineer of Singing Hearts, became the drummer, Kirill Pokrovsky became the keyboardist and backing vocalist.
The musicians themselves call the band's birthday October 31, 1985, when work on the album "Megalomaniac" was completed. The album was recorded with only one guitarist, Kholstinin. The second guitarist, Andrey Bolshakov (ex-Zigzag, ex-Cocktail) was invited for concert activities. In addition, Igor Molchanov (ex-Alpha) replaced Lvov, who remained the sound engineer of the group, on drums.
The first concert of "Aria" was held in the Palace of Culture MAI on February 5, 1986, as the opening act 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 o") 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 written by them for Aria.
Path to glory
Valery Kipelov and Vladimir Kholstinin remain in Aria. The band invites bassist Vitaly Dubinin, who played with Kholstinin and 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 "Metallakkord ").
In 1987, 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. The final version of the album did not include, due to the volume of the disc, the composition “Give me a hand” 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 it performed at the Days of the Wall festival in Berlin.
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. 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 part-time as a watchman, Kholstinin as a private driver. 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. In September, a two-week tour of Germany was made in seven cities, including a performance at a Berlin hard rock cafe.
By the end of the 1994 tour in Germany, the group had disagreements with the organizers, which affected the relationship within the team. 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 from 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. 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 (Dubinin and Kholstinin were the producers of previous albums).
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 for the first time appears the group's mascot Zhorik, invented by the artist Leo Hao. 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 2001, the group made a tour with "Globalis", which was called "Classic Aria". During the tour, 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 of inciting 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 resolved according to Dubinin, “we resolved some issues regarding the name with him, Valera was aware of everything.” “At the negotiations 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 spoke for it. 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 the "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.
Despite rumors about the demise of the group, in November 2002, the new composition of Aria was announced. The 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, the new Aria released the single "Coliseum", 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.
In 2005-06, Aria celebrated its 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 Best Live Band of the Year nomination. The "anniversary" version of the song "Will and Reason", recorded with the participation of Konstantin Kinchev, the Samoilov brothers, 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 Lobanov (Cash, 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 2007-08, Aria held a concert tour dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Hero of Asphalt album. 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).
03.10.08 the tour "Give the heat" started. During the tour, Aria performed songs that she had not performed for a long time, or had not performed at all, since the moment of writing. The tour ended very successfully with a concert in Moscow on 22.05.09.
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. The popularity 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.
The main genre of "Aria" is traditional heavy metal in its "English" school: "gallop" guitar riffs, high-pitched vocals, long guitar solos. The band started playing by imitating such heavy metal classics as Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Judas Priest. Because of this, critics accused Aria of imitating and unoriginal, as well as borrowing musical moves from these groups. The musicians themselves deny such accusations: Vladimir Kholstinin in an interview with Dylan Troy: “Most of our music doesn’t really know anything. We heard once “Iron Maiden”, and let's persuade us. The triplet rhythm was also played by “Deep Purple”, a lot of similar moments can be found on "Jethro Tull" as well. For once they wrote that I ripped off something from "Jethro Tull". At least some variety ... Original logic: what if "Aria" played condo rock and roll, then it turns out that we are ripping off Chuck Berry? All over the world, the discussion on this topic is long over."
Since the late 1990s, the group's style has become more independent. 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.
"Aria" has three published cover versions of songs by foreign performers. All covers were performed translated into Russian and have names taken from the text. These are Manowar Return of the Warlord ("The hour has struck"), Golden Earring Going to the Run ("Careless angel") and White Lion Cry for Freedom (Freedom). All three songs in the Russian translation by Pushkina are dedicated to bikers. "The Hour Has Struck" and "Careless Angel" were originally released on the first Tribute to Harley-Davidson disc, "Freedom" on the second, and all three were later re-released on the Calm album of rare tracks. The song "Careless Angel" for some time led the "Chart Dozen" and entered the permanent repertoire of the group.
In addition, at several concerts after 2003, Aria performed a cover version of the Iron Maiden song "The Trooper". However, this song did not appear on the recording.
In turn, the songs of the Aria group became the object of cover versions of other groups. In particular, in 2003, the Rammstein group released a rare single Schtiel containing a cover version of the song "Calm", processed in an industrial style. The German heavy metal band Solemnity released a cover version of the song "Will and Reason" under the title "Will and Reason". The Russian group "Slot" recorded their version of the song "Street of Roses". In 2001, the album A Tribute to Aria was released with recordings of cover versions of Aria songs recorded by Russian metal bands. "Aria" is a favorite target of comic cover versions of the group "Boni NEM".
"Aria" is rooted in the youth of its future participants, when they were students of the Moscow Power Engineering Institute. The trial team, created by the future musicians of Aria, did not live long and soon broke up. When, finally, Vladimir Kholstinin and Alik Granovsky, under the strict guidance of Viktor Vekshtein, formed their own team, luring Kipelov, Lvov and Pokrovsky to their side, and recorded their first studio album, Delusions of Grandeur, in 1985, then the legendary group was born.
A little later, Bolshakov came to Aria, and Molchanov replaced Lvov on drums. At first, the group led a somewhat underground lifestyle, but since 1986, active tours and recording of the new album “Whom are you with?” in the current composition. The group is gaining popularity, conquering the radio.
By the next year, the composition changes again. The ranks of the "Aryans" are replenished by Vitaly Dubinin and Maxim Udalov - the new drummer of the group. Mavrin also comes. The group is recording a vinyl record "Hero of Asphalt".
In 1988, the first video clip "Aria" was filmed for the song "Streets of Roses". Before recording the next album, the team goes on a large-scale foreign tour to Germany and Bulgaria. The conflict intensifies within the band due to the musicians' dissatisfaction with Viktor Vekshtein's policy. As a result, the group is forced to part ways with their manager. As part of the "Aria" transformations are also taking place, and the team is recording its fourth album with a new drummer - Alexander Manyakin.
Dubinin and Mavrin leave for Germany for a few months, and during this time the group successfully tours with session musicians. Later, the most famous albums became the result of the painstaking work of the "Aryans": "Blood for Blood" in 1991, then - "Night is shorter than day" in 1993.
1994 was marked for Aria by a major contract with Moroz Records. Old albums of the group are being re-released. In 1996, the first live album "Aria" was released.
The following year, the musicians are engaged in solo projects. In 1998, the group gathered again to record another disc - "Generator of Evil". In 1999, the band recorded the best ballads and covers in a single collection "2000 and One Night".
The beginning of the new century "Aria" meets with a new album "Chimera" in 2001, as well as the first performance at the "Invasion" festival. Valery Kipelov leaves the group along with Mavrin and Manyakin. Further work takes place in the following composition: Dubinin, Kholstinin, Berkut, Udalov and Popov.
By 2006, Aria is gaining more and more popularity, releasing singles and giving numerous concerts. The band's next album, Armageddon, is released.
In 2008, for a large-scale tour dedicated to the twentieth anniversary of the Hero of Asphalt album, the band teamed up with Kipelov and Mavrin. It was a milestone event for both groups. In 2010, "Aria" gives a lot of major concerts in different cities of Russia.
In 2011, a new vocalist, Mikhail Zhitnyakov, joined the group. With this line-up, the group records its eleventh album - "Phoenix", continuing to exist to this day, delighting its fans.
Contribution to the development of Russian rock music
Aria is a unique team with a long history. This group is one of the ten most popular Russian rock bands. She made a significant contribution to the development of the musical direction of heavy metal in its traditional, English manner.
Former members of the group have created their own musical projects and are successfully engaged in the work of a similar direction. These are such groups as: "Kipelov", "Mavrin", "Master", "Artur Berkut" and "Artery".
