"Aria" is a rock band that gave us a number of hits such as "Paradise Lost", "Colosseum", "Take My Heart", "Shard of Ice", "Calm", etc. They wrote a whole chronicle of the formation of Russian rock, building a genre culture and presenting a number of other heavy metal bands. There have been many difficulties in their history: line-up changes, internal conflicts, inconsistency with censorship. But the musicians overcame everything, managing to create a decent discography, gather an army of fans, conquer the largest stages and stadiums in Russia, CIS countries and far abroad.
Sophisticated style and originality of motifs
The band's main genre is undoubtedly heavy metal. Long guitar solos and "galloping" riffs, high–pitched vocals - these qualities bring their creative style closer to traditional British metal. At the beginning of the band's active activity, its main inspirations were such bands as Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Judas Priest.
Some similarities with these groups, which can be traced in their work, have repeatedly generated criticism and even accusations of the musicians. Those, in turn, disagree. They are sure that their compositions are original, and all the musical moves are the artists' own property.
Depending on the composition, at different stages of the creative biography, "Aria" had its own style. At one time they played lyrical rock ballads, then returned to heavy and even power metal.
The main asset of "Aria" is that, despite performing mostly heavy metal, they have an innumerable number of fans who are far from rock. Their ballads were able to win the hearts of both the older and younger generations. At one time, their "angel flying into the distance" sounded literally from everywhere. Many of the metallers' songs were allowed in TV and radio rotation, which significantly expanded the circle of listeners. This is a great merit not only of the artists themselves, but also of their leader.
The history of the formation and composition of the group
Throughout the existence of the musical group, most of the members who joined the band were "exes". Almost every one of them had already been in a band before "Aria", had musical skills, had their own style, and their own understanding of the genre.
In 1982, MEI students Vitaly Dubinin and Vladimir Holstinin took the first step towards becoming "Aria". They called themselves "Magic Twilight" and took in Arthur Berkut. But they lasted very little and dispersed.
Three years later, Holstinin joined the Singing Hearts collective, which was led by Viktor Vekshtein. Then Valery Kipelov and Alik Granovsky came. At first they sang in the style of a traditional vocal and instrumental ensemble, but in their hearts they dreamed of a completely different music.
Holstinin and Granovsky were the first to decide to play hard rock. Not all participants supported and appreciated such changes, so there were some changes in the team. The guys called themselves "Aria" and began to turn all their ideas into reality. By October 1985, they had recorded their debut studio album, Megalomania. It is his release that is considered the date of the founding of the group. At that time, the band consisted of vocalist Valery Kipelov, drummer Igor Molchanov, backing vocalist Kirill Pokrovsky and two guitarists – Vladimir Holstinin and Andrei Bolshakov. Alexander Lvov was responsible for the sound.
Six months later, they were invited to the Rock Panorama 86 festival. Before that, they had a few minor performances, but the broadcast on television significantly expanded the audience of the band.
The main problem at that time was considered to be genre "non-format". Their fate was too heavy. The band performed more often as warm-ups for other bands than they gave their concerts.
To reach a wider audience, their artistic director Vekstein used any methods: compositions were supplemented with real arias of world-famous operas, the authorship of the texts was attributed to famous poets. And it worked, the artistic council began to approve the program of the Aria group.
At that time, a conflict had matured in the team, as a result of which only Kipelov and Holstinin remained from the previous composition. The musicians take Vitaly Dubinin, Sergey Mavrin and Maxim Udalov to their team. It is this line-up that can be called "golden", it brought the greatest fame to the group. The band released a vinyl record with a circulation of 1 million copies, recorded the cult albums "Hero of Asphalt" and "Playing with Fire". By the end of the 80s, everyone knew "Aria". She made a large-scale tour of the USSR, performed in Germany.
With the advent of the "dashing" 90s, the band began a difficult period. Financial difficulties and a decrease in demand for artists of this genre led to the fact that participants were looking for ways to earn money in other areas. Kipelov began singing in rock clubs, which caused anger in the band. It was decided to replace the vocalist. The relationship was ruined, and Valery left. And Sergey Mavrin followed him.
But without the "main Aryan" Kipelov, many recording studios did not want to work with musicians. And the leader of the group was persuaded to return.
Since 1998, the second wave of fame began. The band began to release new hits, fill the radio airwaves, shoot music videos and occupy the top places of the music charts.
In 2002, almost at the peak of popularity, Valery Kipelov announced the beginning of a solo project. In the summer they gave a farewell concert and together with Manyakin created their own band "Kipelov". The first song and an absolute hit was the symbolic composition "I am free".
Artur Berkut became a new and equally successful vocalist. With him, the band continued to produce hits, assemble stadiums and retain an army of fans. He stayed in the team for ten years. In 2011, Mikhail Zhitnyakov became the new vocalist, who still holds this place today.
Among the achievements unknown to other heavy metal bands, it can be considered that "Aria" managed to become a part of the drama: they acted as an accompaniment to the performance. This originality brought success to both the production and the artists. In the future, the musicians performed many times with the symphony orchestra and made entire tours several times.
"Aria" has made an invaluable contribution to Russian rock. Such "masters" of metal as Solemnity and Rammstein created covers for her compositions, they occupy a special niche in classical music, among the group's awards are Fuzz, several "Chart dozens" and dozens of nominations with the prefix "Best". Today, the guys continue their creative activities, which can be monitored in the catalog of artists on the website kontramarka.de .
Discography:
1985 – "Megalomania"
1986 – "Who are you with?"
1987 – "Hero of asphalt"
1989 – "Playing with Fire"
1991 – "Blood for Blood"
1995 – "Night is shorter than day"
1998 – "Generator of Evil"
2001 – "Chimera"
2003 – "Baptism of Fire"
2006 – "Armageddon"
2011 – "Phoenix"
2014 – "Through All Times"
2018 – "Curse of the Seas"
