Live in Studio

A live in studio record featuring old Aria tracks recorded with the brand new vocalist instead of a real live record or a new regular album, who needs that? This was my very first impression when I got my first information on this release that was not promoted very well and is still rather hard to purchase. I felt quite sceptical when I tried this record out but you see me positively surprised.

The tracks are all close to the originals but have had a well done face-lifting and sound very energizing, fresh and straight forward. The production is an excellent mixture of a certain raw live energy with some small playing mistakes and a very precise mixing where you can clearly distinguish every single chord that is played. The vocals are also amazing and must not hide behind the performances of the original vocalists Kipelov and Berkut. The new man Zhitnyakov underlines the great impressions he left with the last studio release "Phoenix" and proves that he can also nail the classics.

Especially the old tracks sound very pure on this release and I prefer them to the charming but often limited production in the eighties. The classic opener "Hero Of Asphalt" already blows you away with its crystal clear guitar sound, pumping bass guitar, tight drumming and melodic vocals. With your headphones on, you really feel like being in the studio next to these five guys having a lot of fun. It's the same thing for the majestic "Play With Fire", the other essential epic "Blood For Blood" and especially the breathtaking, head banging, sweating performance of "Rose Street". Among the modern tracks, "Coliseum" truly stands out and is a perfect classic heavy metal track with a modern sound that is hard to be found nowadays.

It's a little bit sad that the band skipped a few albums as I would have liked to hear some new performances from the first record "Megalomania" which is still my favourite record of the band or the follow-up "Whom Are You With" that had some promising tracks but a lack of energy and a too tame production. The band should have also included some songs from the last records "Armageddon" or "Phoenix" that are both equally great. A few tracks on this record like the slow paced and atmospheric "Hangman" or "Calm" that was simply one of the last amazing efforts by original singer Kipelov with the help of the German singer Udo Dirkschneider don't work as well as the originals and should have been replaced by other songs from the numerous back catalogue of the Russian heavy metal legend. On the other side, this record is filled with seventy-seven minutes of diversified heavy metal music from three decades and leaves me wanting more.

Any Aria fan should try to get this surprisingly energizing and spontaneous release. For anybody else, this record is a better idea than any boring greatest hits collection and a good way to start your journey through the music of Russia's most essential metal band. In the end, this release was a fairly better idea than another live record and truly convinced me. Maybe other heavy metal bands that tend to release way to many compilations and live records like Iron Maiden should think about this kind of release instead in the future.