Gardarika - Biography
This band's profile is 'invisible', meaning that it's much less prominent on the site - either because it's incomplete, or maybe doesn't entirely fit MS format.
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1995-
Biography
Forming in Moscow in 1995, GARDARIKA's first release was as part of cassette collection entitled TTM-V (1997). Their first demo recordings "Gayda" (Гайда) came out two years later. In 2008 the group released their first full album, Kupava (Купава). It consisted of eight songs, all in Russian. With their second album, Chthonica the band switched to writing and singing in English. The year 2013 finds GARDARIKA working on their third album and getting ready to resume concert activity.
The current lineup of the band is Alex Izgarny (vocals), Ivan Aleshin (guitars), Serge Kuryavin (bass) and Nikita Anulov (drums). The guitar parts on the Chthonica album mostly were performed by Ivan Aleshin except some of guitar solos provided by Eugene Orlov. All the guitar parts on Kupava were performed by Denis Katasonov.
The group philosophy of GARDARIKA is that while heavy metal has been around for a long time, there is still a lot of mileage left in the beast. They feel that with passion and introduction of new musical ideas and influences from outside the metal realm, creativity and originality are still possible in heavy metal, and believe that proper melding of different genre into heavy metal can create spectacular results. Accordingly, the musical style of GARDARIKA is the mix of modern and classic metal with strong influence of Russian and old European classical music. Also the music (and lyrics) is quite provocative and full of hidden quotations, allusions and allegories.
An important consideration when understanding any musical act is that their core values and ideals are often reflected in the sound and vision of the group. When it comes to such ideas for GARDARIKA, that means a lot of intriguing concepts showing up in the music. In some ways the group reflects (as does the human condition, really) a duality. They understand what destructive hatred is and know how to enjoy it. Yet, they also express compassion and intolerance for the suffering of others. They understand despair and anguish, yet also understand eternal hope. In addition, on the one hand, the band members consider themselves to be cynical and sarcastic in regard to trends in society. But, at the same time, they realize that struggle with trends is also being a trend and find this situation quite funny.
While GARDARIKA is not recognizable across the world yet, the band keeps working on it. That might be a lofty goal, but the band has a talent, vision and drive to make the effort toward making it happen. Through their passionate and genuine expression and love of music (and particularly heavy metal) they create a sound that is powerful and unique. It is such kind of commitment that ultimately brings success. Those looking to learn about all things GARDARIKA can point their web-browsers to gardarika.com.
Full songs are available for streaming there and at gardarika.bandcamp.com and soundcloud.com/gardarikametal.
The current lineup of the band is Alex Izgarny (vocals), Ivan Aleshin (guitars), Serge Kuryavin (bass) and Nikita Anulov (drums). The guitar parts on the Chthonica album mostly were performed by Ivan Aleshin except some of guitar solos provided by Eugene Orlov. All the guitar parts on Kupava were performed by Denis Katasonov.
The group philosophy of GARDARIKA is that while heavy metal has been around for a long time, there is still a lot of mileage left in the beast. They feel that with passion and introduction of new musical ideas and influences from outside the metal realm, creativity and originality are still possible in heavy metal, and believe that proper melding of different genre into heavy metal can create spectacular results. Accordingly, the musical style of GARDARIKA is the mix of modern and classic metal with strong influence of Russian and old European classical music. Also the music (and lyrics) is quite provocative and full of hidden quotations, allusions and allegories.
An important consideration when understanding any musical act is that their core values and ideals are often reflected in the sound and vision of the group. When it comes to such ideas for GARDARIKA, that means a lot of intriguing concepts showing up in the music. In some ways the group reflects (as does the human condition, really) a duality. They understand what destructive hatred is and know how to enjoy it. Yet, they also express compassion and intolerance for the suffering of others. They understand despair and anguish, yet also understand eternal hope. In addition, on the one hand, the band members consider themselves to be cynical and sarcastic in regard to trends in society. But, at the same time, they realize that struggle with trends is also being a trend and find this situation quite funny.
While GARDARIKA is not recognizable across the world yet, the band keeps working on it. That might be a lofty goal, but the band has a talent, vision and drive to make the effort toward making it happen. Through their passionate and genuine expression and love of music (and particularly heavy metal) they create a sound that is powerful and unique. It is such kind of commitment that ultimately brings success. Those looking to learn about all things GARDARIKA can point their web-browsers to gardarika.com.
Full songs are available for streaming there and at gardarika.bandcamp.com and soundcloud.com/gardarikametal.