Arakain

Arakain
Arakain in 2010
General information
origin	Prague , Czech Republic
Genre (s)	Heavy metal , thrash metal , power metal
founding	1982
Website	arakain.eu
Founding members
singing	Aleš Brichta (until 2002)
Electric guitar	Jiří Urban
Electric guitar	Rudolf Roždalovský (until 1985)
Electric bass	Oldřich Maršík (until 1984)
Drums	Mirek Nedvěd
Current occupation
singing	Honza Toužimský (since 2005)
Electric guitar	Miroslav Mach (since 1986)
Electric guitar	Jiří Urban
Electric bass	Zdeněk Kub (since 1986)
Drums	Lukáš "Doxa" Doksanský (since 2006)
former members
bass	Miroslav Nedvěd (1982–1985)
bass	Václav Ježek (1984–1985)
guitar	Miloň Šterner (1984)
guitar	Marek Podskalský (1985–1985)
Drums	Karel Jenčík (1986–1988)
Drums	Bob Vondrovic (1988-1989)
Drums	Štepán Smetáček (1989–1991)
Drums, vocals	Dan Krob (1989)
Drums	Marek Žežulka (1991-2005)
singing	Petr Kolar (2002-2005)
Drums	Roman Lomtadze (2005)

Arakain is a Czech metal band from Prague that has existed since 1982. She has recorded seventeen albums in her thirty-year career. It is considered to be the most famous band of its genre in the Czech Republic.

Band history

Arakain was founded as a band in the spring of 1982 in the basement of a pub in Prague by singer Aleš Brichta (* 1959), guitarist Jiří Urban (* 1959) and drummer Miroslav Nedvěd (* 1954). The name Arakain shouldn't mean anything. Brichta was already an active member of a progressive rock band, but was now looking for something harder. All band members had the same conception of music and were influenced by the growing new wave of British Heavy Metal , particularly Iron Maiden , Judas Priest and Saxon . Especially at the beginning, the communist regime in Czechoslovakia was not very fond of this new form of music and so Arakain was temporarily banned from performing. In the mid-1980s, however, the censorship rules relaxed. The band also started to get heavier. The Thrash Metal wave also showed its traces in Czechoslovakia and Slayer and Metallica were the new role models. Miroslav Nedvěd got out. Until Marek Žežulka joined in 1991, the job was changed frequently. All albums up to 2005 appeared on Popron. In 1988 the first single Gladiator / Excalibur was released , followed by Proč? and Ku Klux Klan , all of which appeared on the Supraphon sub-label Amadeus. In mid-1989, a festival appearance in Prague with Non Iron , Tublatanka , Lady Pank , Winter's Reign , Stormwitch , Running Wild , Vitacit and Risk was planned. However, as a two-hour break was taken due to the onset of rain and the festival had to end at 10:30 pm at the latest, the performances of the last two bands and Arakain were canceled.

It was only with the break-up of Czechoslovakia that the band began to professionalize. Previously only singles and demo cassettes were released, the first album Thrash the Trash came out in 1990 . The band then released a new album annually. In 1992 a live album was released, which only contained previously unreleased songs that were still from their demo times and were recorded in front of 3,000 fans. Although the base remained Thrash Metal, the band now also had slower pieces in their program. Alien to the western music market, Arakain tried to gain a foothold on the western market with a new edition of the first album called Thrash and with English lyrics. However, this project failed. 1995 appeared cover album Legendy with cover versions of Led Zeppelin , Deep Purple , Black Sabbath and The Beatles , all the Czech translated.

In 2002 Aleš Brichta left the band after 20 years and founded Grizzly. He was initially replaced by Petr Kolář. In 2005 Jan Toužimský became his successor. In 2005 Arakain played a gig at the Sazka Arena in Prague to create the new album Warning! to celebrate. In addition to some old members, Doro Pesch and the former Iron Maiden singer Blaze Bayley also appeared as guests . From 2005 to 2007 the band was under contract with the major label Sony BMG , after which they switched to 2P Production.

In 2012 the band celebrated their 30th anniversary with a tour with Lucie Bílá . Two appearances on the tour were released on DVDs.

Music genre

After initial attempts to build on the NWoBHM, the band's musical style has been rooted in Thrash Metal since the mid-1980s. The albums of the 1990s in particular are played very quickly and are reminiscent of American speed metal in the late 1980s. In addition to hard Thrash Metal, ballads can always be found on later albums. In 2003 a compilation was even released dedicated to these songs. From the 2000s, modern influences from groove metal in the style of Pantera and progressive metal in the style of the later Nevermore and Unleashed Power were added. The lyrics of the band are written exclusively in Czech , except for the album Thrash . Roland Silberborn wrote in Heavy Metal from Eastern Europe that on Thrash the Trash the band played Thrash Metal in the style of Heathens Breaking the Silence . Slayer influences can also be heard in some songs . Schizofrenie does not differ stylistically from its predecessor. The comparisons with Slayer and Heathen are no longer possible. Black Jack relies on hard Power Metal , which was also used occasionally on the two predecessors. O History Live offers heavy, power, thrash and speed metal . The following Salto Mortale could seamlessly connect to Black Jack . He also assigned SOS to Power Metal, in which, however, you can still recognize the Thrash Metal roots. Also Apage Satan and Farao would offer hard power metal, the latter album round will be darker.

Discography

Studio albums

• 1990: Thrash the Trash (Supraphon)
• 1991: Schizofrenia (Supraphon)
• 1992: Black Jack (monitor)
• 1993: Salto Mortale (Popron)
• 1994: Thrash (Popron) English version of Thrash the Thrash
• 1995: Legendy (Popron)
• 1996: SOS (Popron)
• 1998: Apage Satanas (Popron)
• 1999: Farao (Popron)
• 2001: Forrest Gump (Popron)
• 2002: Archeology (Popron)
• 2003: Metalmorfoza (Popron)
• 2005: Warning! (Popron)
• 2006: Labyrint ( Sony BMG )
• 2009: Restart (2P Production)
• 2011: Homo Sapiens ...? (2P Production)
• 2014: Adrenalinum (Popron)
• 2016: Arakadabra (2P Production)

Live albums

• 1992: O History Live (Monitor)
• 2000: Gambrinus Live! (2CD, Popron)
• 2007: XXV Eden (Sony BMG)

Compilations

• 1997: 15 Vol. 1 (Popron)
• 1997: 15 Vol. 2 (Popron)
• 2003: Balady (Popron)
• 2012: History + 15 Vol.1 & 2 + Archeology (Box-Set, Popron)

Singles and EPs

• 1988: Gladiator / Excalibur (7``, Panton)
• 1989: Ku-Klux-Klan / Orion (7``, Supraphon)
• 1989: Proč? (7``, supraphon)
• 1991: Schizofrenia ( 7`` , Supraphon)
• 1992: Zase spíš v noci sama (MCD, Popron)
• 1996: Páteční flám (MCD, Popron)
• 1997: Ztráty a nálezy (MCD, Popron)
• 2002: Prázdnej kout (MCD, Popron)

Demos

• 1987: Nesmíš to vzdát
• 1988: Vzpomínky

Compilation Contributions

• 1989: Idź i Zabij on Metalmania '89 (MC)

VHS / DVD

• 1997: 15 (VHS, Popron)
• 1999: Gambrinus Live (VHS, Popron)
• 2003: 20 let natvrdo (DVD, TTT Ales Brichta)
• 2007: XXV Eden (DVD, Sony BMG)
• 2012: XXX Music City Open Air (DVD, 2P Production)
• 2013: XXX Praha Pva Expo (DVD, 2P Production)

Web links

• Official website
• Arakain at Discogs (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c} Garry Sharpe-Young , Horst Odermatt & Friends: The Ultimate Hard Rock Guide Vol I - Europe . Bang Your Head Enterprises Ltd, 1997, p. 39 .
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Till Janzer: Knochenhart for 30 years: Metal band Arakain. Radio Praha , November 25, 2012, accessed on February 20, 2016 . 
3. ^ ^{A b c} Garry Sharpe-Young : Biography. (No longer available online.) Musicmight.com, archived from the original on February 21, 2016 ; accessed on February 21, 2016 . 
4. ^ Götz Kühnemund: Running Wild Risk . Live in Prague Winter's Reign Running Wild! In: Metal Hammer / Crash . July 1989, p. 92 f .
5. ↑ ^{a b} Sascha Maurer: Arakain: Thrash the Trash / Thrash (English version). Sacredmetal.de, 2001, accessed February 20, 2016 . 
6. ↑ Sascha Maurer: Arakain: Forrest Gump. Sacredmetal.de, 2001, accessed February 20, 2016 . 
7. ^ Fabian Zeitlinger: Review: Adrenalinum (Arakain). Metalinside.de, accessed February 20, 2016 . 
8. ↑ Stefan Riermaier: Arakain: Restart. (No longer available online.) Metalpage.de, August 28, 2012, archived from the original on February 20, 2016 ; Retrieved February 20, 2016 . 
9. ^ Roland Silberborn: Heavy Metal from Eastern Europe . 2nd Edition. IP Verlag Jeske / Mader GbR, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-931624-20-X , p. 159 f .