Merlin (metal band)
| Merlin | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Moscow, Central Region, Russian Federation |
| Genres | Thrash metal, death metal, grindcore |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Labels | Grind it! Records, GWN Records, CD-Maximum |
| Website | merlinmetal |
| Members | Maria Abaza (vocals, bass) Alex Ioffe (guitar) Rinat (guitar) Vlad Vorona (drums) |
| Past members | See below |
Merlin is a death metal band from Russia formed in 1992 by one of pioneering female growling vocalists and bassist Mary Abaza.
Merlin was formed in 1992 by a unique female vocalist and bassist Mary Abaza and one of the best Russian guitarists Alex Ioffe. After a long search, they met Nick Byckoff - the drummer they dreamt of. Before Merlin all of them had a great experience of playing in various styles from hard rock to thrash {1}. The musicians consider the name of their band suitable, because they wanted the name to be original for a death metal band and easy to rememberer for fans, so "merlin” suited the request. Besides they chose Merlin as a symbol of magic power and majesty. Merlin is best known as the warlock featured in Arthurian legends and it is musicians' opinion that he is best of all portrayed in the Stephen King’s book “The Dark Tower”. Also merlin is a predatory bird that tears meat by its claws, its beak in blood and this absolutely reflects their band’s personality. (Incidentally, "merlin" means from French into English "heavy axe", "large hammer", "poleaxe").
Why Mary Abaza is a unique female vocalist? It's because she has got a unique voice of great compass from contralto (overrides male baritone) to soprano (they say, with this rare and uncommon voice, one can be admitted to the Moscow Conservatory without entrance examinations) and withal she is a brilliant growler and added to everything else, she is one of the first female growling vocalists in the world {2}. She got jazz and some classical educations and as she said herself, it helped her to find her own way of singing death metal applying some jazz tricks; by the way it helps her in creating music. When Mary began singing death metal she was crazy about John Tardy (Obituary) as a vocalist and imitated something from his hysterical manner. Then she added to her voice some black metal high tones and worked on timbre and articulation {3}.
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