Hellraiser

The group was founded in Moscow in 1989 by Alexander Lvov (Sam, ex- “Round”), Mikhail Shakhidzhanov (Methodius, ex- “Hard Day” ) and Pavel Chinyakov (ex- “Alliance”, “Mystery Buffer”, “ Double I "," Round "). The first two started playing together back in 1987 in the heavy metal band Monolith, but soon became interested in trash and changed their composition, style and name.

On November 16, the first concert of the group took place in Mytishchi . Shortly before this, the underground music activist and then-president of the Mytishchi rock club Egen Price ( Evgeni Aksyonov ) met with the musicians, who offered the guys cooperation, later becoming the manager and executive producer of the band. Soon the band’s first performance was at the Iron Fist festival in Mytishchi, along with Corrosion of the Metal and other groups. After that, Hellraiser with "Corrosion" and headed by Eugene Price went on his first and many-day tour to Yugoslavia . After playing a series of concerts in Yugoslavia, the group returned to Moscow and began recording their first album. The recording was finished in the late summer of 1989, and the album itself, entitled “We'll bury you!” (“ We will bury you !”) Was released in early 1990 at the new MetalAgen Records company with the help of Melody .

After the release of the album “We'll bury you!” The band began to tour and perform at festivals. In 1992, after recording their second album, the group left for the USA , working in clubs in Pennsylvania and New Jersey ^[1] . In the spring of 1993, the last member of the Methodius group returned to Moscow. The new program, with which the group went to America, never comes out. Instead of Johansson, who left the group for religious reasons, drummer Andrei Shatunovsky comes to the group. Methodius switches from bass to guitar, and Alexey Yashin (Cooper) becomes the new bass player.

The second album, entitled “No Brain, No Pain,” was recorded in 1994 . At first it comes out in MS format through MetalAgen Records and the Polish label Loud Out Records, then the rights to release the album are sold to Soyuz. The album comes out at the end of that year. The presentation takes place in one of the Moscow clubs, a clip is shot from the album for the song of the same name.

After meeting with V.V. Zhirinovsky , which took place at a concert in 1995 , the group begins to prepare a tour of 50 Russian cities. The tour takes place in 1996. Based on its materials, West-video released the Hellraiser. Live 1996 ”, and“ Frost Records ”- the Hellraiser Live audio cassette recorded on the tour. On the 1996 tour, drummer Oleg Milovanov works with the group.

In July 1997, the band began recording their third album, 03, at SNC Studios. The new album is noticeably different from the previous ones: it contains 16 songs of different styles - 12 in Russian, 2 in English and 2 covers - “Killed by death” ( Motörhead ) and “Love bites” ( Judas Priest ), all solos are performed by the guitarist of the group “ Aria " By Sergey Terentyev , except for the song" I love you I kill you ", where Alexander Lvov (Sam) performed the solo. A video clip was shot for the song “White Night”. In November-December 1997, the group with a new album performs in 30 cities of Russia ^[2] .

After this, the group ceases its activity. In the mid -2000s, at the initiative of one of the founders of Hellraiser, Alexander Lvov, the group announced a revival in an updated composition ^[3] . In June 2018, the team, led by Alexander Lvov, released the song and video clip “Train Of Doom” from the upcoming new album, and on July 28 the group gave the first concert after a long break as headliners of the Summer Exacerbation festival.

• Alexander Lvov (Sam) - guitar (1989-1997, 2006-)
• Mikhail Shakhidzhanov (Methodius) - bass, guitar, vocals (1989-1997)
• Pavel Chinyakov (Johanson) - drums (1989-1993)
• Andrei Shatunovsky - drums (1993-1996)
• Oleg Milovanov - drums (1996)
• Alexei Yashin (Cooper) - bass (1993-1997)
• Sergey Terentyev - guitar (1997)

• We'll Bury You (1990)
• No Brain, No Pain (1994)
• Hellraiser Live (1996)
• 03 (1997)
• Train Of Doom (2018), single

Interview

• Interview with Dark City Magazine No. 40, 2007, p. 34
• Interview with Zarraza No. 5, p. 15

Articles

• Hellreiser // Alekseev A., Burlaka A., Sidorov A. Who is who in Soviet rock. Illustrated Encyclopedia of Russian Rock Music . - M.: Publishing House of the MP "Ostankino", 1991. - 320 p. + 64 s. silt
• Alekseev A.S. Who is who in Russian rock music . - M .: AST: Astrel: Harvest, 2009 .-- S. 508. - ISBN 978-5-17-048654-0 (AST). - ISBN 978-5-271-24160-4 (Astrel). - ISBN 978-985-16-7343-4 (Harvest).
• Rock City Magazine Article 4, 1992, p. 70
• Rock City Journal Article 2, 1992, p. 38

Reviews

• Review of the album “We'll Bury You” in the newspaper Zarraza No. 3

• Hellraiser Official Website
• Unofficial Hellraiser website (inaccessible link)