Ayas; 20th Century; Super Murder; Heaven And Earth

The band was founded in 1986 in Yerevan by Artur Mitinyan, a graduate of the Yerevan and Moscow conservatories. The band's music attracted critics' attention with its interesting fusion of heavy rock and Armenian sacred music. In 1988 the first official album, "Yerkink yev Yerkir" ("Heaven and Earth"), was released. After only one year of effort the band achieved such success that, together with another Armenian metal band, Asparez, it was included by the German magazines "Melodie und Rhythmus" and "Neues Leben" in the top ten rock bands of the USSR. In 1991 the band was due to perform with Megadeth, but the band's lead singer Artur Areskin left the band for religious reasons, and the concert did not take place. In 1995, after the release of the second album, "Gaush Urvan", Artur Mitinyan moved to Moscow, where he pursued his own career. He became the author of the world's first rock ballet, "Beatles Forever", and headed the recording label "ARM-records". Mitinyan returned to Armenia in 2007 and announced in an interview that he intended to revive the band. On 18 April 2008 Ayas officially announced its reunion by taking part in the "Metal Attack" festival held in Yerevan. In 2010 the band gave a solo concert in Yerevan with the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra. The recording of the concert was released on DVD. Line-up: Artur Mitinyan - vocals, keyboards; Davit Nersisyan - guitar; Tigran Atanesyan - bass; Derenik Vardumyan - drums.