Biography
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Years Active
2002 – present (22 years)
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Members
- Владимир Ермаков (2006 – 2009)
- Джерри Ленин (2006 – present)
- Иван Изотов (2006 – 2007)
- Лекс Плотников (2002 – present)
- Максим Самосват (2002 – 2006)
Mechanical Poet was a Russian progressive metal band led by Lex Plotnikoff (1977-2022). His quirky, whimsy music was influenced by film composers like Danny Elfman, with lyrics based on fantasy, gothic and science fiction stories. Early albums leaned towards symphonic metal, while late releases were more of Post-prog. The band sang in English and only released three Russian versions of its songs.
Mechanical Poet was founded in Moscow in 2002 as a studio-only project by ex-members of Russian avant-garde band Glazemaker Lex Plotnikoff,
Tom Tokmakoff and Sebastian Trifonoff.
For a few years the band known as Glazemaker was working on creating a "sound" of their own, till they evolved a sound which was a mixture between melodic metal with progressive metal riffs and symphonic metal orchestrations using electronic instruments.
In 2003 Sebastian Trifonoff left the band and was soon replaced by Эпидемия's frontman Max Samosvat. With the new singer the band released its first EP, Handmade Essence. After the EP the band received several offers from various music companies, and finally signed a record deal with Italian label Aural Music
In 2004 the debut album Woodland Prattlers, was released, the band's most successful CD to date. It featured a mixture of symphonic and progressive metal with heavy use of keyboard and songs based on fantasy books by authors like Astrid Lindgren and Oscar Wilde. The album was based around the concept of a "Mechanical Poet" who gathers stories from the fantasy forest. Though the album had sold well, the union of Plotnikoff, Tokmakoff and Samosvat split in 2005 due to artistic disagreements.
In 2006 the Mechanical Poet returned with a new line-up: singer Jerry Lenin (ex-Tarakany, Lady's Man), guitar player Lex Plotnikoff, drummer Vladimir Ermakoff (also Black Obelisk) and bass player
Serge Khlebnikoff. In this line-up the band made their first ever live show (Plan B Club, Moscow, 04/08/2007) and released their third album Creepy Tales For Freaky Children (with session work of Epidemia bass player Ivan Izotov). The album had simpler arrangements with a more post-prog sound. The album had bonus tracks in Russian, which was the first time the band had Russian songs. After the release of the album, Serge Khlebnikov left Mechanical Poet.
In 2007 the band released another concept album, Who Did It To Michelle Waters? A double album telling a story about a suicide of a girl and the circumstances that led her to that. The double album consisted of two parts, Music From And Inspired By The Original Sad Story and Original Score. The bass session player on the album was Daniil Zacharenkov (a member of Black Obelisk).
The 2008 saw band with new vocalist, Vladimir Nasonoff, and a new concept album Eidoline: the Arrakeen Code, based on Frank Herbert's Dune Universe. This album was named the best sci-fi/fantasy music project of 2008 by Mir Fantastiki magazine.
After 2009, Mechanical Poet went on a hiatus. However, the band's former members released several albums since then. In 2010, Plotnikoff released Hattifatteners, a project based on Moomin Troll books by Tove Jahnsson (later reissued as Mistland Prattlers,). And in 2011, Plotnikoff and Lenin collaborated on Luna Damien, another post-prog project in the vein of late Mechanical Poet; with lyrics based on an original fantasy story. Among other Lex's projects are Alexis Chrome, Last Fighter, Blacklight Devil, and Barrel Wight
A reunion and a new album was planned in 2018, however, due to Lex Plotnikoff's health issues it was cancelled. Plotnikoff died in 2022, making reunion impossible.
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