Arkona (band)
| Arkona Аркона |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Moscow, Russia |
| Genres | Pagan metal, Folk metal |
| Years active | 2002–present |
| Labels | Sound Age, Napalm |
| Website | arkona-russia |
| Members |
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| Past members |
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Arkona (Russian: Аркона) is a Russian pagan metal band. Their lyrics are heavily influenced by Russian folklore and Slavic mythology, and their music incorporates several traditional Russian musical instruments. The name of the band "Arkona" refers to the last pagan Slavic city-castle.
Their singer and songwriter, Maria "Masha Scream" Arkhipova, is one of relatively few successful female vocalists to sing in a death growl style. She is married to fellow band member Sergei "Lazar" Atrashkevich, with whom she has two children.
The band was founded in February 2002 by two members of Dolgoprudny Slavic Neopaganism Society: Masha "Scream" Arkhipova and Alexander "Warlock" Korolyov, originally as Giperboreya (Гиперборея – Hyperborea). At the end of 2002 the group (featuring also Evgeny Knyazev on guitar, Evgeny Borzov on bass and Olga Loginova on keyboards, and now as Arkona) entered the Moscow CDM Studios. Having recorded the Rus' demo (its three tracks re-surfaced in 2006 as bonuses for the live set Zhizn vo Slavu), the band started playing live, performing with fellow Russian folk metal bands, like Butterfly Temple, Pagan Reign, Svarga, and Rossomahaar.
In September 2003 Arkona disbanded, due to the general lack of enthusiasm on the part of some of Maria's colleagues. Arkhipova opted to continue and wrote the material for a solo album, which she presented to the members of Nargathrond, another project she was singing for at the time. The resulting debut album Vozrozhdeniye came out in March 2004 on Soundage Production. By this time the band featured three new members: guitarist Sergey "Lazar", bassist Ruslan "Knyaz" and drummer Vlad "Artist". Recorded in the autumn, their second album, Lepta, was released in December.
2005 saw the release of the band's third and highly diverse album Vo slavu velikim!, featuring an acclaimed Russian folk multi-instrumentalist Vladimir Cherepovsky (Mevent, Voinstvo Sadov, Veter Vody) as well various members of Svarga and Alkonost groups. In September 2005 the album went gold in Russia. The group's October performance at the CD's presentation ceremony was recorded, to be released in March 2006 as live DVD/CD Zhizn Vo Slavu. Arkona's fourth studio album Ot serdtsa k nebu, recorded again with Cherepovsky (various members of the Belorussian folk choir Gostitsa also took part) was released by Soundage Productions in 2007. The artwork for the sleeve was provided by the Belgian artist Kris Verwimp who's continued working for the band ever since.
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