Location: Arkhangelsk
Formed in: 1982
Years active: 1978-1982 (as Мёртвые Уши), 1982-2011 (as Облачного края)
Genre: Heavy Metal, Progressive/Hard Rock
I love finding obscure metal bands from the smaller corners of the world, and although I don’t understand a single word of Russian, I love their 1980’s bands such as Ария (Aria), Магнит (Magnit), Чёрный Обелиск (Black Obelisk), Спрут (Sprut) etc. When I hear a rumor about a band from Siberia that made their own instruments or that the communist regime stopped concerts with the KGB my heart starts to pound and I need to find out everything about it that I can. Облачного края (Oblachnyj Kray) is one of these obscurities that I learned about some 15 years ago. They are true metal pioneers who didn’t give a f**k about what instruments you could or couldn’t use, or how it was supposed to sound.
The prototype for Облачного края (Oblachnyj Kray) that translates to Cloudy Region, first appeared in 1978 under the name Мертвые уши (translates to something like "Dead Ears”). It was in there that the canonical composition of the team was formed. The discography of Мертвые уши consisted of two albums - "Большое железо” ("Big Iron”) (1978) and "Made in Vaneeva 12-88" (1980). By 1981, the name had changed to Облачного края (Oblachnyj Kray).
The first albums of the group were recorded by the Arkhangelsk electrician Sergey Bogaev with his neighbors Oleg Rautkin and Nikolai Lyskovsky. Soviet Union fame began after a performance in 1982 in Arkhangelsk by the Аквариум (”Aquarium") group, whose musicians were stunned by the quality of the amateur sounds made by Bogaev.
In November 1982, the group finished work on their third album, "Великая гармония” (Great Harmony). Bogaev himself subsequently did not include this album in the list of the group's creative successes. Nevertheless, among fans of Soviet rock, the album received a fairly wide circulation along with other works of Облачного края (Oblachnyj Kray).
The fifth album, "Вершина идиотизма” ("The Pinnacle of idiocy”), was recorded in January 1984 at the recreation center of the Krasnaya Kuznitsa plant in Arkhangelsk. Session instrumentalists were invited to the recording for the first time. Unlike the previous albums of the "Arkhangelsk" period, the work took place not in the technical premises of the Palace of Culture, but right in the hall, since the building was being renovated at that time and it was empty.
In the January 1984, the conflict between Bogaev and the city authorities, who suspected him of anti-Soviet activities, reached its climax, as a result of which the group was expelled from the factory recreation center. However, by this time the musicians managed to finish work on the album. The leader of Облачного края (Oblachnyj Kray) Sergey Bogaev later claimed that "Вершина идиотизма” ("The Pinnacle of idiocy”) is the band's best-sounding album.
Many of the group's songs have now become classics of Russian Heavy Metal music. Pretty melodic hard rock/Heavy metal in combination with caustic, biting, full of lyrical criticism of the government, which sometimes makes the work of Облачного края (Oblachnyj Kray) to be closer to punk rock. The group gained wide popularity in the mid-80s, thanks to the distribution of their ”samizdat" albums. ”Samizdat” meaning the clandestine copying and distribution of art, literature and music banned by the state in former communist countries of eastern Europe.
It is worth noting that the quality of these recordings was relatively high for samizdat of that time, but this is due not to the availability of expensive equipment, but to the huge amount of time spent by Sergei Bogaev, one of the founders of the group, on creating unique home-made sound recording devices.
The group performed at rock festivals in Arkhangelsk, St. Petersburg, Moscow, and took part in the Podolsk-87 festival (later released on CD and DVD. A performance at the Soviet Union festival Rock Panorama in 1987 was stopped by the authorities.
Sergei Bogaev, shortly before his death, managed to record vocals for the composition “Некому березу заломати" for the tribute “Серебро и слёзы” ("Silver and Tears”) in memory of Alexander Bashlachev. Initiated by Dmitry Revyakin and his group Калинов мост (Kalinov Most), the recording of the collection was completed back in 2010, but the project was only published in 2014 due to the resolution of legal issues with Bashlachev's heirs.
On June 2, 2011, the founder of the group Sergey Bogaev past away. He was buried on June 6, 2011 at the Theological Cemetery in St. Petersburg.
