Biography
Starsoup is the heavy metal/progressive rock project of vocalist Alexey Markov. The songs vary stylistically – you may find them somewhat partially resembling Queensryche or Disturbed, as well as Savatage or Stone Sour. The project’s founding stages took place in Moscow towards the end of 2011, when the first single, “Angels”, was recorded. In essence, the music consists of heavy guitars, atmospheric keys with an accent on the grand piano, varying vocal techniques: encompassing a clear voice in the more melodic ballads, and letting the heavy medium-tempo compositions resound with harsh, even growling vocals sometimes.
For the moment, Starsoup is a studio project – the band consists of guest musicians. The two main contributing/participating artists are:
Alexey Markov (Shadow Host, Distant Sun) – vocals, guitars, bass
Andrew Gryaznov (Timesquare) – keyboards and samples
Those participating in the recording of the first album, Bazaar of Wonders, are listed as follows:
Alexander Vetkhov – recorded all the percussion and drum parts. Also to be thanked are Nicholas Angel, Kostya Naumenko, Darya Savchenko (W. Angel’s Conquest, Kiev), Ilya Mamontov (Epidemia), Oleg Mishin (Catharsis), Andrey Nova (Nova Art), Yevgeny Nesterov, Natalya Fedotova and other musicians for their talents and help at various stages during the creation of this album. The recording, re-amping, mixing and mastering was done by Evgeny Vinogradov and the studio DAI Records.
Due to the number of invited musicians and the band leader’s engagements in other projects the recording of the album was extended for over a year. In the autumn of 2013 the album finally emerged into the light with the Sublimity Records label. A sizeable portion of the music was composed by Andrew Gryaznov for Crime Of Passion band, where he held the position of the keyboard player, and where Alexey was once the vocalist. The compositional foundation of the album consists of the four songs which were written and melodically composed during Alexey’s participation in Crime Of Passion. These are: Angels, Cradle of War, Bazaar, and Perfect Loser. However, it should be mentioned that they are recorded in a different manner – sometimes shorter, sometimes somewhat longer – and slightly modified. Throughout the course of the recording process, new songs began to emerge. One tune was composed by Lex Plotnikov (Mechanical Poet), and another by Dan Mesheryakov (Nazgul Band). It was he also who recorded backing vocals in several of the songs. A slight diversion from the typical guitar/drums/bass, this album also features the saxophone and flute.
Lyrically, this album is full of diversity. From sci-fi (The City and the Stars) and love (Try) to politics (Ain’t No Superman) and the depressing reality (Rumors of Better Life). Some songs combine the overall created fictional character (Angels + Cradle of War + Voices of the Wind), some associate with the reality of anxiety experiences by those involved. All the lyrics were written either after the music had already been composed, or simultaneously, which, from the perspective of a Russian songwriter, is unusual.
"Rumors of Better Life" official video: https://youtu.be/qROv35dc4Xs
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