Epidemia (russian: Эпидемия, sometimes referred to as 'Epi' by fans) is a Russian

power metal Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contra ...

band famous for doing the

Elven Manuscript Elfiyskaya Rukopis' (Эльфийская Рукопись, Elven Manuscript, 2004) is a metal opera and concept album by Russian power metal band Epidemia. Vocalists from Aria, Arida Vortex, Master, Chorny Obelisk and Boney NEM participated in t ...

metal opera in 2004. It was formed by guitarist Yuri "Juron" Melisov in 1993, with the first songs made in 1995. The band was once nominated for an

MTV Europe Music Award The MTV Europe Music Awards (originally named MTV European Music Awards, commonly abbreviated as MTV EMA) are awards presented by Paramount International Networks to honour artists and music in pop culture. It was originally conceived as an al ...

History

In 1993, the as-yet unnamed group recorded the demo album ''Phoenix'', with Melisov performing both guitars and vocals. Melisov came up with the name "Epidemia" (Russian for

epidemic An epidemic (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time. Epidemics ...

) in 1995. Vocalist Pavel Okunev and guitarist-songwriter Roman Zakharov joined Epidemia to record the debut studio release ''Volya k Zhizni'' (Will to Live) a lo-fi EP with five tracks. The follow-up, ''Na Krayu Vremeni'' (At the Edge of Time) was the band's first full-length CD. It was recorded by the line-up of Yuri Melisov (guitar), Roman Zakharov (guitar), Pavel Okunev (vocals), Ilya Knyazev (bass) and Andrey Laptev (drums). In 2000, Maxim Samosvat, who was a member of Mechanical Poet, replaced Okunev on vocals. Epidemia's first release with the new vocalist was ''Zagadka Volshebnoy Strani'' (Riddle of the Wonderland). A video was shot for the ballad "Ya Molilsya na Tebya" (I was Praising You) and aired on

MTV Russia MTV Russia or MTV Россия (russian: МТВ Россия) was a Russian music and entertainment TV channel, which carried out its broadcasting from September 25, 1998 to May 31, 2013. On October 1, 2013, MTV Russia was relaunched as a satel ...

. Epidemia was nominated for an

in 2002. New line-up changes came after Roman Zakharov (the band's second composer) departed, and Andrey Laptev left the band. With the new line-up, Melisov decided to complete a conceptual

metal opera A rock opera is a collection of rock music songs with lyrics that relate to a common story. Rock operas are typically released as concept albums and are not scripted for acting, which distinguishes them from operas, although several have been a ...

. Originally, he had planned to create music for the

Dragonlance ''Dragonlance'' is a shared universe created by Laura and Tracy Hickman, and expanded by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis under the direction of TSR, Inc. into a series of fantasy novels. The Hickmans conceived ''Dragonlance'' while driving in t ...

series of fantasy novels, but Epidemia was unable to get rights. Melisov instead wrote his own storyline for the opera, which was similar to the Dragonlance series. In 2004 the conceptual album ''Elfiyskaya Rukopis'' (

), featuring vocalists from

Aria In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanime ...

Arida Vortex Arida may refer to: * ''Arida'' (plant), a genus of plants in the family Asteraceae * Arida, Lebanon, a village in Lebanon * Arida, Wakayama, a city in Japan * Arida District, Wakayama, a district in Japan {{Disambiguation ...

, Chorny Obelisk and

Master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

, was released. The album was produced by Vladimir Holstinin of Aria fame. Epidemia's presentation of ''Elven Manuscript'' together with Aria on February 13, 2004 at the Friday 13 Festival was attended by around 6,000 people. The popularity of the band grew, and the track "Proydi Svoy Put" (Pass Your Way) from the opera held the top position on the Nashe Radio weekly chart for one month. A year later, Epidemia released the ''Livin' in Twilight'' album, consisting of re-recorded songs from their first three albums. ''Livin' in Twilight'' was recorded with Ilya "Lars" Mamontov playing second guitar instead of Bushuyev. In fall 2006, Epidemia released a double DVD set, consisting of ''10 Years' Path'', a live recording of material from their first three albums, and ''The Elven Manuscript'', a recording of songs solely from the ''Elven Manuscript'' album. In 2007, Epidemia released a follow-up to ''Elven Manuscript'', entitled ''The Elven Manuscript: Legend of All Times''. It continued along the same storyline set in the first metal opera, and was Epidemia's first full-length featuring Ivan Izotov on bass. A theatrical performance of both parts of ''Elven Manuscript'' took place in the Luzhniki Sports Arena on December 3, 2007, and drew 5000 fans. After the 2007 release and show, Epidemia received many offers to play in different Russian cities and

CIS Cis or cis- may refer to: Places * Cis, Trentino, in Italy * In Poland: ** Cis, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, south-central ** Cis, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, north Math, science and biology * cis (mathematics) (cis(''θ'')), a trigonome ...

countries (Ukraine, Latvia, Armenia). In April 2008, Epidemia held "The Unusual Concert", where all the musicians played on unusual acoustic instruments.

Discography

Members

Current members

*Yury Melisov - guitars (1993–present), vocals (1993-1996) *Dmitry Krivenkov - drums (2003–present) *Ilya Mamontov - guitars (2005-2010), bass (2011-present) *Dmitry Protsko - guitars (2011–present) *Evgeny Egorov - vocals (2011–present)

Past members

*Dmitry Shcherbakov - bass (1993-1995) *Mikhail Yeltsov - drums (1993-1995) *Aram Oganesyan - guitars (1993-1994) *Artem Smirnov - bass (1995-1996) *Andrey Laptev - drums (1995-2002) *Andrey Manko - guitars (1995-1997) *Nikolay Turunov - bass (1996-1998) *Pavel Okunev - vocals (1996-2000) *Roman Zakharov - guitars (1997-2001) *Ilya Knyazev - bass (1998-2005) *Ekaterina Usanova - keyboards (1999) *Ekaterina Gladkova - keyboards (1999) *Oleg Pokhvalin - keyboards (2000-2001) *Maxim Samosvat - vocals (2000-2010) *Pavel Bushuyev - guitars (2001-2004) *Roman Valeryev - keyboards (2001-2005) *Evgeny Laykov - drums (2002-2003) *Ivan Izotov - bass (2005-2010) *Dmitry Ivanov - keyboards (2005-2015) Timeline

References

External links

* (in both Russian and English)
Epidemia MySpace
{{Authority control Musical groups from Moscow Russian power metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1995