"Aria" (Aria) is a rock band that gave us a number of hits such as "Paradise Lost", "Colosseum", "Take My Heart", "Shard of Ice", "Stil" and others. They wrote a whole chronicle of the formation of Russian rock, building a genre culture and giving a number of other heavy metal bands. There were many difficulties in their history: lineup changes, internal conflicts, non-compliance with censorship. But the musicians overcame everything, having managed to create a decent discography, to gather a whole army of fans, to conquer the largest stages and stadiums of Russia, CIS countries and foreign countries.
Refined style and originality of motives
The main genre of the band is undoubtedly heavy-metal. Long guitar solos and "galloping" riffs, high pitched vocals - these qualities bring their 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, not once gave rise to criticism and even accusations of musicians. Those, in turn, do not agree. 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 of "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 incalculable number of fans who are far from rock. Their ballads were able to win the hearts of both the older and younger generation. At one time, their "flying away angel" sounded literally from everywhere. Many songs of metallists allowed in TV and radio broadcasts, which greatly expanded the circle of listeners. This is a great merit not only of the artists themselves, but also of their leader.
History of the formation and compositions of the band
Throughout the existence of the musical collective, most of the participants who came into the composition were "exes". Almost each of them before "Aria" had already been in some band, had musical skills, had his own style, and his own understanding of the genre.
In 1982, MPEI students Vitaly Dubinin and Vladimir Kholstinin made the first step towards the formation of "Aria". They called themselves "Magic Twilight" and took Artur Berkut to themselves. But they lasted very little and split up.
Three years later Kholstinin joined the collective "Singing Hearts", which was led by Viktor Vekshtein. Then came Valery Kipelov and Alik Granovsky. At first they sang in the style of a traditional vocal-instrumental ensemble, but in their hearts they dreamed of quite different music.
Kholstinin and Granovsky were the first to dare to play hard rock. Not all the participants supported and appreciated such changes, so there were some changes in the team. The guys called themselves "Aria" and started to realize all their ideas. By October 1985 they recorded their debut studio album "Mania of Greatness". Its release is considered to be the date of the group's foundation. At that time the band consisted of vocalist Valery Kipelov, drummer Igor Molchanov, backing vocalist Kirill Pokrovsky and two guitarists - Vladimir Kholstinin and Andrey Bolshakov. Alexander Lvov was responsible for the sound.
Already in half a year they were invited to the festival "Rock-Panorama-86". Before that they had a few minor performances, but the broadcast on television greatly expanded the audience of the band.
The main problem at that time was considered to be genre "unformat". Too much of their rock was heavy. The band more often performed at the warm-ups of other bands, rather than giving their own concerts.
To break through to a wider audience, their director Vekshtein used any methods: compositions were supplemented with real arias of world-famous operas, authorship of texts was attributed to famous poets. And it worked, the artistic council began to approve the program of the group "Aria".
At that time there was a conflict in the band, as a result of which only Kipelov and Kholstinin remained from the former line-up. The musicians took Vitaly Dubinin, Sergey Mavrin and Maxim Udalov to their team. It is this lineup that can be called "golden", it brought the greatest fame to the band. 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 arrival of the "dashing" 90's, the group began a difficult period. Financial difficulties and a decrease in demand for artists of this genre led to the fact that the members were looking for ways to earn money in other areas. Kipelov began to sing in rock clubs, which caused anger in the collective. It was decided to replace the vocalist. Relationships were spoiled, and Valery left. And after him - and Sergei Mavrin.
But without the "main Aryan" Kipelov, many recording studios did not want to work with musicians. And the leader of the band managed to persuade them to return.
Since 1998, the second wave of fame began. The band began to release new hits, fill the radio airwaves, shoot clips and occupy the top places of 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 undoubted hit was the symbolic composition "I am free".
The new and no less successful vocalist was Artur Berkut. With him the band continued to produce hits, gather stadiums and keep the army of fans. He stayed in the band for ten years. In 2011, the new vocalist was Mikhail Zhitnyakov, who occupies this place today.
Among the achievements, unfamiliar to other heavy metal bands, it can be considered that Aria managed to become part of the drama: they acted as an accompaniment to the play. This unconventionality brought success to both the production and the artists. Later on, the musicians performed many times together with the symphony orchestra and several times made entire tours.
"Aria" made an invaluable contribution to Russian rock. Such "maestros" of metal as Solemnity and Rammstein created covers for its compositions, they occupy a special niche in classical music, among the band's awards are Fuzz, several "Chart Dozens" and dozens of nominations with the prefix "Best". Today the guys continue their creative activity, which you can follow in the catalog of artists on the website kontramarka.de.
Discography:
1985 - "Delusions of grandeur"
1986 - "Who Are You With?"
1987 - "Hero of Asphalt"
1989 - "Playing with Fire"
1991 - "Blood for Blood"
1995 - "Night is shorter than day"
♪ 1998 ♪
2001 - "Chimera"
2003 - "Baptism of Fire"
2006 - "Armageddon"
2011's "Phoenix."
2014's "Through All Time."
2018 - "Curse of the Seas"
