Arisk Priest☆

History

The group began its activities in 1999 in Moscow as a duet: Alexander Morgen (guitar, vocals) and bass guitar player Ahriman. The first attempts of strength, the guys noted, creating a desperately heavy, with an extremely hard sound, the group Satanist.

From the first creative steps, only the rehearsal tapes are preserved, which were never published. And after a while, I got full archival material for the album "Fuck Black Night", which was released in 2001, and not much later than "Experiments With Religions" 2002.

In the ranks of this bizarre duet (later the trio), which was born at the end of 2001, the already mentioned guitarist and vocalist Alexander Arisk Priest and his partner in Satanist Iskander, performing under the pseudonym Ahriman (bass, drums), play. After the release of their debut album "Forest Filosofem", the style of Arisk Priest was called the terms "art-rock pagan metal" and "ritual Aryan metal". Comparatively, it does not resemble anyone, although the group was attributed to the followers of Burzum, even reproached with plagiarism of ideas (in the title of the album the word "Filosofem" - gives a hint at the great Norg).

In 2003, a new participant appeared in the composition, a young and mysterious figure of Astika, who introduced new twists and turns to the band's music. According to the musicians themselves - she found what we had been looking for so long and long ago - originality. The new album "Pagan Brothers" is incredibly sophisticated, with a variety of instruments, twisted melodies in the spirit of art groups of the seventies Camel, Pink Floyd, and especially the Golden Earring of their album "Moontan". There was a surprise in music, that is, you listen, and you do not know what will happen next and how to perceive it, which is very unusual for pagan, where monotony and consistency are considered the best quality. The quality of the keyboard parts became much better, and it was in them that the whole complex musical amplitude of the sound of the group disappeared. The album was quickly sold out and new circulations were received, of course, with black copies. In general, the group was constantly pursued by this pirate force, which of course only played into the hands, but not in the sense of the budget. The group has its supporters, fans and even followers, such as: Finist, Morbid, Sherhell and German Folksturm.

Such a successful year 2003 ended with the release of a collection of singles, under the strange name "Presence I".

In early 2004, the album "Thunders And Lightings Veda" was released, which is considered to be the height of keyboard skill; it creates an unearthly vibrating sound, bursting into the subconscious, creating the impression of open space. Probably the bootlegs of this full-length album were sold ten times more than the official release, and not surprisingly.

The album opens with a magnificent three minute composition "Good Morning, Veda", which immediately fascinates - only the keys and the shaman tambourine, it all twists and vibrates, leading the listener to mystery and nebula. The next composition - “Thunder And Lightning of the Vedas” is the longest in the history of the group (16 minutes 43 seconds), in which, apart from the keys, you can immediately note the high level of vocals (unfortunately, before that, the group did not have a good studio to do its quality). Finally, everything fell into place, like Burzum "Forest Filosofem", not fully endured by "Pagan Brothers" immediately fade into the background - "Thunders And Lightings Veda" - That's what turned out to be power!

The group got into courage and instantly get behind the recording of the next full-length album - "The Great Fire" (hereafter the single "The Great Fire in Wreath"), or as it was also called "Wreath", simultaneously giving away concerts, the most memorable of them went to 2004 in Larnaca.

In early 2005, while working on a new album, the group began a series of troubles: Ahriman, who left for Greece, went on trial for the murder, the Kurdish family. Astika's disease, chained her to the bed for a whole year. Alexander for family reasons returned to his homeland in Russia. The studio decided to break such a “critical” situation and put forward to Alexander its conditions for the collection of a new composition, but he refused and left for a while in a lull. "The Great Fire in Wreath" he finished one and only released it by the end of 2005. To the surprise of the thinner public, the album turned out to be the saddest and softest. This is a very confident, well-mixed work, it is clear that these are already elderly, reckless people, and professional musicians. A systematic, verified and incredibly complex album took the group further away from black-pagan metal in the direction of jazz improvisations and art rock. The album was rated few. With its implementation, problems began, the studio no longer believed in the group. And, perhaps, it all put a cross. Ahriman was given a term of eight years, and Astika fought no longer for music, but for her own life. The band broke up and left the studio and label. Courage is over ...

In 2005, the group left the label Arisk Star and switched to the label General Records. The group finally broke up. On December 31, 2012, Alexander announced this in social networks.

Discography

Label Arisk Star Company Ltd.

2002 - Winter Forest

2002 - Forest Priest

2002 - Experiments of Religions

2002 - Forest Filosofem

2003 - Pagan Brother

2003 - Presence

2004 - Wreath

2004 - Abundance Wreath

2005 - Hits

2017 - Freedom

2019 - Pagan Rare

Label General Records

2007 - Presence II

2007 - Arisk Priest & Клiч (with group Клiч) Split

2008 - Tijara Drevnih (with group Slavogorje) Split

2008 - Troy

2009 - В тылу врага

2010 - Presence III

2011 - О чем плачут ивы

Solo Albums

Astika

2015 - From The Series “Legends Arisk Star”

2016 - Dead Sea (with group The Ballads of the Elder of Zion)

Members (on 2001)

Alexander Morgen - guitar, flute, backing vocals, vocals

Ahriman - drums, harmonica, backing voice, samples programming, bass

Astika (2003-2005) - keyboards, backing vocals

M.K. (2003-2005) - drums, percussion

Amper Alex Nico (2001-2005) - producer

Members (on 2006-2012)

Alexander Morgen – vocal, guitar, flute, key

Ahriman – bass, drums

Astika Ida – vocal, key, piano

Ayami – vocal, traditional instruments

Alexander Morgen (2006-2012) - producer

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