The Master and Margarita

Ariya

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In 1985, Vladimir Holstinin and Alik Granovsky, classmates at the Moscow Technical Energy Institute, created the heavy metal group Ariya. The band, with 10 official studio albums and 19 live and compilation albums, has very loyal supporters and is generally regarded as one of the greatest heavy metal bands in Russia.

Two times in their career they recorded songs which, in their own words, are based on The Master and Margarita. A first time in 1991 on their album Кровь за кровь [Krov za krov] or Blood for blood, of which they said that the title track was inspired by the Gospel and by The Master and Margarita. Twelve years later, on their album Крещение Огнём [Kreshchenie Ognyom] or Baptism of Fire, the song Ball of the Prince of Darkness is inspired by the Great Ball at Satan’s and refers a number of key scenes from the novel. For both songs the music was written by Vitaly Dubinin and the lyrics by the poet and journalist Margarita Pushkina.