The band’s founder is Vetrodar, famous Russian band’s Pagan Reign main composer and musician. Pagan Reign doesn’t play nowadays. Tverd develops the previous formation’s style in a natural way. The Spirit evoked in previous albums is also continued, with the musicians, who reconstruct the atmosphere of ancient times in Rus and Europe and display their deep regard for their nation, history, culture and native slavonic beliefs.
It was January 2007, when Vetrodar (the main composer and musician of Russian metal band PAGAN REIGN) having given the answer to Perun made the decision about a new “bodyguard’s” creation. Russian frost ruled over Tver’s land whereas clarity and freshness from overflowed new ideas and goals ruled over the mind. To that moment Vetrodar have already had rather many new musical ideas, but more important, huge energy, required way out and realization. In PAGAN REIGN Vetrodar led the main guitar line and all parts of folkloric instruments, accordingly, this good tradition had been prolonged in TVERD. Besides Vetrodar became responsible for all scream’s parts.
Having thought not rather long he got down to business. And the first person, entered this new formation Ratibor became, Vetrodar’s good friend and comrade. Ratibor took the play of a second guitarist in the band, and once he showed heavy guitar’s riffs’ technical peculiarities to Vetrodar, and had provoked him for sleepless nights playing the guitar. So they began to work at future album together and thought over the general conception and strategic plans on future. The key figure and professional Tver drummer Demosten, a drumsticks’ magician stayed in the band as well. Then a bass-guitarist had been found by the simplest way: Sigurd, Vetrodar’s father, very talented and experienced musician, became such fighting grenadier. The idea of classical vocal presence in the music had been already discussed for a long time. So…Vetrodar and Ratibor offered Svetlana Lebedeva, Tver State University’s folkloric-ethnographic ensemble’s leader to take the vocal part, so she couldn’t refuse… One of the future album’s composition “Bogatyr’s Gate” was built as some metal folk opera, comrades began to search such singer as far as opera singers sing opera. And as it is usual in Russia, personal links decide almost everything: TVERD found such man, graduate Gnesin’s school (vocal class), “Tver gold voice”, Ratibor’s wife’s colleague, his name is Alexander Ivanov. Further during the work at the album it had become obvious that Alexander’s academic vocal can be used in other compositions rather successfully, and in fact, it was a real surprise for tenor himself.
So, at the end of November 2007 the band began to work at new album that has draft’s calling “The native land’s heart”. Gradually the question with band’s own studio, now called TVERD, had been escaped.
It should be mentioned that some musical parts were recording by good Vetrodar’s familiar Evgeny Vinogradov at the “DAY Records” studio and he did the album’s settling and mastering as well. And by the end of April 2008 the work at new album was finished.
Source : http://www.myspace.com/tverdmetal
