Description

This is Aria, a Russian band which plays a relatively straightforward brand of 80’s heavy metal; and that happens to sound quite a lot like Iron Maiden. Seriously now, guys, you’re not fooling anyone, for anyone can notice how influenced by the ‘Irons they are; and you shouldn’t be ashamed of it. Vicious twin guitar duo, powerful vocals, galloping bass rhythms, no double-bass drumming, and an overall perfect sense of harmony, melody, and catchiness are the illnesses that plague this band’s music. And i cant understand how anyone can find anything wrong with that. Aria’s fourth album “Playing With Fire” are considered by many to be the best Russian heavy metal album ever. Im not sure i agree on that but one thing is certain – it is definitely awesome. “Playing With Fire” doesnt sound quite as overtly Powerslave as “Hero of Asphalt” did but more of a mix of the hard n heavy from ’’Whom Are You With?’’ and they Maiden riffs and melodies of ’’Hero Of Asphalt’’. The result is amazing. This album easily beats the aforementioned predecessors because it avoided the flaws that those albums have. ’’Play With Fire’’ managed to be far more original than ’’Hero Of Asphalt’’ and far more memorable than ’’Whom Are You With?’’. The album was released in 1989, in the year when Berlin wall fell down and communism was practically dying all around Eastern Europe. It seems to me that you can feel it here. Almost all songs sound very intense and dramatically, and some even lyrically deal with crisis in Russia caused by Gorbachev’s Perestroika and Glasnost reforms (’’What Have You Done To Your Dream?’’, ’’Slave Of Fear’’). On this song, the feeling of impending collapse of the regime is very strong, and really, USSR fell apart only two years later, in 1991. That’s why this album has another value – as a historical document of a very turbulent period in Russian history. This whole thing might sound weird to you, but for anyone living in a country that has suffered through communism, knows exactly what they are talking about. The title track on this album are among the best tracks the band ever did. It speaks about Niccolo Paganini, ’’Devil’s violinist’’ and his pact with devil in order to become the best violinist on Earth. Apart from this interesting lyrical subject, the music is absolutely spectacular as well. During these nine minutes there are some really nice and long guitar passages. Overall its easy to see why this album is so appreciated by Russian metal lovers its simply amazing. If you never listened to it or at least the title track ’’Play With Fire’’ in your entire life, then you deserves to burn in hell

Track list:
1. What Have You Done To Your Dream
2. Rock This World
3. Slave Of Fear
4. Temptation
5. Playing With Fire
6. The Fight Goes On
7. Power Up/Let The Heat