The arrow

“The Arrow” (formerly known as “Black Arrow”) was founded by keyboard player Pavel Blishchenko on October 24, 1994 in Moscow. From 1995 to 1999, the group developed its own material, changed its composition several times, and gave a number of concerts.

In October 1999, “The Arrow” began recording their first album, “Children Of Gods,” which lasted until 2001. At the same time, for the Russian collection “Tribute To Helloween” a cover song “Ride The Sky” from the 1985 album “Walls Of Jericho” was recorded. In March 2001, “ A Tribute to Aria ” together with the group “Wind Rose” recorded the song “Give My Hand”.

As a result of negotiations with the leading Russian label Irond Records , a contract was signed for the release of the debut album The Arrow, which was released on November 27, 2001.

In 2002, the group performed a number of concerts. Part of the video footage during the performance was included in the video collections: The Arrow “Flyin 'High Life”, which also included archived video recordings of the band's early performances from 1996-1997, and “Music Infection IV”, released in June 2002 the company "Abyss Video".

In May 2002, The Arrow, the only Russian team invited to participate in the Blind Guardian ’s international tribute collection Tales From The Underworld , recorded a Blind Guardian cover song “Time What Is Time” from the 1992 album for this collection of the year Somewhere Far Beyond .

In April 2003, the team leader Pavel Blishchenko made a decision, which served as the start for recording a new, landmark second album of the group called “Lady Nite”, which is planned for release in 2 parts. Nikolai Simkin becomes the manager of The Arrow, and the famous Russian artist Leo Hao , known for his work with Blind Guardian , Nocturnal Rites , Iced Earth and Aria, takes over the cover.

In the summer of the same year, new vocalist Alex Kap joined the group. The first step in reaching new heights is the participation in the recording of the album of the vocalist of the famous German team “ Blind Guardian ” Hansi Kürsch . Following Hansi, who was noted on the song “Never Say Never”, Peter Wagner (“ Rage ”) and Arthur Berkut (“ Aria ”), Sergey Mavrin (“ Mauritius ”) contributed to the history of “Lady Nite” in 2004. also the vocalist of the Russian power-metal band Archontes Andrei Archon Fedorenko, who records backing vocals for some tracks.

In the summer of 2005, a new bass player, Alexander "Serpent" Tsvetkov, joined the group. In April 2006, the management of the CD-Maximum label approached the management of the group with the idea of ​​reissuing the album “Lady Nite” especially for the Russian market, the CIS and the Baltic countries. The group decided to re-record the vocal parts of the album in Russian, which was released under the name "Soul Guardian" especially for the domestic audio market. The release date was set for December 7, 2006. After the release of the album, the band “The Arrow” goes on a tour in such cities as Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan and others.

In May 2007, instead of Alexander Tsvetkov, who left the group, Pavel Bakanov came, who worked in the beginning of the 90s in the groups Iron Stream and Blitzkrieg.

In 2008, a contract was signed with CD-Maximum for the release of Lady Nite. And in January 2009, the album Lady Nite went on sale. March 7, 2009, at Plan B club, the presentation of the album “Lady Nite” takes place, with the participation of invited musicians such as Arthur Berkut ( Aria ), Artyom Styrov (Styrov, ex- Mavrin ), Gina Rock and Roll ( Krüger ), Dmitry Chetvergov and others. In the first half of 2009, the group participates in the take-off festival, which runs from the qualifying round to the semi-finals. After the festival, in June 2009, Alex Kap, Yuri Bobyrev and Vyacheslav Stosenko (drums) left the group, who joined the group in March 2009 and played three concerts. The remaining members of the collective Pavel Blishchenko and Alexander “Serpent” Tsvetkov continue the work of the group, are looking for new musicians and are working on a new album. Already in the fall of 2009, the group announces the composition of new members. They were Alexei Sokolov (vocals), Dmitry Chernikov (guitar) and Vladimir Aleshkin (drums).

• Pavel Blishchenko - keyboards
• Alexander Tsvetkov - bass
• Boris Sergeev - vocals
• Alexey Bykov - drums

Former members

• Andrey Khramov - vocals (1995-2002)
• Pavel Bakanov - bass (2007-2008)
• Kirill Emelyanov - guitar (2006-2009)
• Andrey Sedletsky - guitar (2001-2004)
• Victor Astashov - bass (2001-2004)
• Alexander "Kap" Kopalkin - vocals (2003-2009, 2010-2012)
• Alexey Sokolov - vocals, guitar (2009—2010)
• Dmitry Chernikov - guitar (2009—2010)
• Vyacheslav Stosenko - drums (2009)
• Valentin Dobrovolsky - drums (1995-1997)
• Sergey Knyazev - guitar (1995-1998)
• Dmitry Mertsalov - bass (1995-1998)

1. A Tribute to Aria (2001, The Mystery of Sound )
2. Children of Gods (2001, Irond )
3. Tales From The Underworld - Tribute to Blind Guardian (2002)
4. Guardian of Souls (2006, CD-Maximum )
5. Lady Nite (2009, CD-Maximum )

• The Arrow official page on VKontakte social network
• The Arrow on Myspace
• The Arrow Profile at Last.fm
• The Arrow at Encyclopaedia Metallum

Interview

• Interview with Rockcor Magazine, No. 68, 2007, p. 10
• The Arrow: Soul Keeper - Interview on Radio Russia (02/08/2007)
• Interview with Dark City Magazine No. 7, 2002, p. 34

Reviews

• Review of the album “Lady Nite” in Dark City Magazine No. 49, 2009, p. 65  
• Review of the album “Lady Nite” in Rockcor Magazine No. 81, 2009  
• Review of the album “Soul Keeper” in Rockcor magazine No. 65, 2007  
• Review of the album “Soul Keeper” in Dark City magazine No. 37, 2007, p. 66