Aria – Guest From The Shadow Kingdom

7/10

Russian heavy metal legends Aria has been stars in Russia for over 30 years, but for us in the western civilization their classic tunes have been way hidden behind the old iron curtain. Nowadays though, eastern european metal bands has been more and more discovered in the west, much due to the Muskelrock-generation, and so Aria, “Russias Iron Maiden”, has finally started to gain an audience also on our continent! And now we get a double live album, stretching over and covering the bands long and massive career, which of course could be a great starting point for the band to finally break out big in the west. Let’s have a look!

You can quickly tell that Aria is a good band with a lot of energy and a strong, varied heavy metal sound. Having never heard their studio albums (but I have seen them live), I cannot tell what songs are their classics, and with the titles being in russian, it’s nearly impossible for me to namedrop specific titles. So I listen to this album as a wholesome, and I hear strong and powerful music. It might lack some real masterpieces that give me the goosebumps to give this a higher rate, but for a fan already familiar with the tunes, the goosebumps may rise high.

As an introduction to the Aria universe, I am quite fulfilled. I can imagine some of these songs working fantastically in a classic late 80’s heavy metal production, and this is clearly a band worth checking out if you are a big fan of classic heavy metal. Now I’m really excited to check out the bands earlier work and to hear these songs in their original form. Because even though Guest From The Shadow Kingdom is a strong live album, I bet the original versions are still number one. But for an introduction to Russias number one heavy metal band in history, this live double does a whole lot!

Artist: Aria
Title: Guest From the Shadow Kingdom
Label: M2BA
Date of release: 27/9-19
Time: 120,54
Rating: 7/10
Standout track: Проклятье морей