Epizod

Epizod
Years active 1983 - present
Website Official site

Epizod (Bulgarian:Епизод) is a Bulgarian heavy metal band formed in 1983 in Sofia. The first songs of the band were inspired by the French poet François Villon. Epizod are famous in Bulgaria for their concerts which include theatre, an Orthodox church choir, and an ensemble for Bulgarian folk songs and dances.

History

In October 1990, the British BBC filmed Epizod's concert at the National Palace of Culture in Sofia. Two years later, in 1992 the group recorded their second album Dead Among the Dead with lyrics by Charles Baudelaire and François Villon. This marks the end of the first phase of the band's existence because the vocalist Dimitar Argirov or Dimmi Argus (in art) moved to Italy with his family and Rossen Doychinov (keyboards) moved to Canada. However, Epizod continued their work with the new vocalist Emil Chendov in 1996 . In 1998 they recorded the album Respect with lyrics written by Dragomir Draganov.

In 2000 the band started to work on The Bulgarian God, an album which is considered to be one of the best in the history of Bulgarian rock. The texts used in the songs are lyrics by the revolutionary poet Hristo Botev and Ivan Vazov. After the release of the first singles of the album The National Television included the song "Haiduks" based on a poem by Hristo Botev in the 2001 New Year's Eve Show. The album was officially released in 2002 and was one of the most sold albums of the year in Bulgaria. Essential for the success of the album were the voices of the guest folklore singers- father Andon, Daniela Velichkova, Kristina Yaneva as well as St.John Kukuzelis Choir.

In 2003 Epizod released the album The Time Has Come with lyrics by the French classical poets François Villon and Pierre de Ronsard. About that time the drummer Stoyan Petrov was replaced by Hristo Gyosharkov. By the end of 2004 Epizod released the rock opera Saint Patriarch Evtimiy. The promotional concert in Veliko Turnovo was held exactly where the events described in the album took place – at Tsarevets Castle, the reconstructed palace of the medieval Bulgarian tsars. The concert was filmed and later released on a DVD. The band appeared clad in armour, the show included a folklore dance ensemble, a church choir, Bulgarian folklore songs and the performance of the virtuoso Rossen Genkov who plays the ancient string instrument gadulka (Bulgarian: гъдулка) - a kind of Bulgarian rebec. In 2006 Epizod released the album 'Our Roots' with the image of the Madara Rider on the front cover. Since 1 January 2007 Bulgaria is a member of the European Union. On 3 January 2007 BBC announced Epizod as 'the most qualitative Bulgarian rock band.

In 2008 the band released the album 'The Old Soldier'. In April 2009 Epizod parted from the guitarist Dragomir Draganov and the bassist Simeon Hristov found a replacement in the person of Vasil Belezhkov (student in the National Music Academy 'Prof. Pancho Vladigerov' - Sofia) just a few days before their next concert. At first Vasil joins only as a guest musician just to cover the concerts till the end of Juny 2009 but in the meantime he accepts the offer of the band to become a member and to take part in the next album of Epizod. In December 2009 the keyboardist Delyan Georgiev (who is professional cameraman and participates in a film by Luc Besson) leaves the band and Vasil Belezhkov continues to work as keyboardist as well as guitarist. In the summer of 2010 the drummer Stoyan Petrov returns for a while in Epizod. In that time (July 2010 - January 2011) the band gives concerts with four different drummers - Stoyan Petrov, Hristo Gyosharkov, Ivan Tsonkov and Georgi Varamezov.

In October 2010 the album 'The people of Dulo' is realised. This album coincides with the 20th anniversary of Epizod and here take part some of the most famous rock singers in Bulgaria - Zvezdomir Keremidchiev from Ahat and Yordan Karadzhov from Signal as well as the young singer Filip Brashkov. There is also a guest composer - the music and lyrics of the first and the last songs are by Alexander Alexiev - Hoffart who is artist and the cover of the album is a fragment from a historical picture painted by him. The picture represents Khan Kubrat - founder and ruler of Old Great Bulgaria from the Dulo clan sitting in his throne with his sons around him.

In January 2011 the young drummer Deyan Aleksandrov join Epizod as a member of the band. In October 2012 the band finished the records on their album 'My prayer' (the title song is based on the eponymous poem by Hristo Botev). It incorporates the typical for the group elements like Bulgarian folklore music, orthodox church singing and heavy metal. In this album take apart the folklore singers Iliya Lukov and Daniela Velichkova, the violinist Nikola Vaklinov and the kaval player Kiril Belezhkov (the younger brother of the guitarist Vasil), as well as Zvezdi, the singer of rock band 'Ahat'. In this album Vasil Belezhkov manifests also as a composer/songwriter (the song "Father's advice" on the eponymous poem by Stefan Stambolov) and tambourist (the song from Pirin region "Elenko mome" sung by Iliya Lukov). Besides poems by Botev and Stambolov the album includes songs based on poems by the Russian poets Alexander Pushkin and Vladimir Vysotsky and one of the songs is with lyrics by the bassist Simeon Hristov. In April 2016 Epizod announced Bogomil Donchev as their new drummer.

Membership

Members

Former members

Timeline

Discography

References

External links

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