The famous Moscow group "Black Obelisk" was officially formed on August 1, 1986 by Anatoly Krupnov. Prior to that, he participated in the Prospect jazz-rock band, but the band soon split up, and Anatoly created a new project on its ruins. The early work of Black Obelisk can be compared to Black Sabbath: the same gloomy and heavy atmosphere, which is felt even physically and strongly puts pressure on the psyche. The very first song of the group was the song "Apocalypse", written by Krupnov, as well as the subsequent songs of the group at the initial stage of development and formation.
Over time, Krupnov became a fan of the work of Baudelaire, Brodsky and Verkharn, which, of course, was reflected in the lyrics of the new works of the Black Obelisk group. However, the gloomy creations of these authors could not be more harmoniously intertwined with Krupnovās own poems and heavy obelisk rhymes. The band gave their first concert in September 1986, after which the guys were noticed by the Moscow "Rock Laboratory". The group was immediately enrolled in the ranks of the organizationās members and began to regularly take part in all āmetalā concerts.
The band did not stay in their initial line-up for long, and in the same 1986 the guitarist left the band, replaced by Alexis, who had previously played in the Metal Corrosion group . Oddly enough, it was he who became the creative partner of Krupnov and co-author of many songs. The Black Obelisk group released its first album in December 1986, and it was called Apocalypse, in honor of the groupās first song. The album was recorded live, as the band did not have the proper equipment. Several copies of this record have survived to this day, but only true lucky ones can boast of their presence.
After the release of the album, the group began to gain popularity. Despite many changes in the composition, the team did not break up and continued to delight fans with the characteristic gloomy music inherent only to the Black Obelisk group. Fans had to pick the chords of their songs themselves, but now they can be easily found. However, on February 27, 1997, a disaster happened: the founder of the group, Anatoly Krupnov, died of a heart attack. But even after this, the collective continued to exist, and in 2000 began to collaborate with a group of Sergei Mavrin. The whole next year, the group performs in clubs with new material, after which they release a full-length album called Ashes.
Soon after the start of cooperation with Mavrin, the āBlack Obeliskā enters the āEnergy of Roadsā movement, in which it participates in many festivals and concerts. In the summer of 2002, a grandiose event was to take place both in the life of the group and in the framework of the Russian metal scene. An international festival of famous rock bands such as "Uriah Heep", "Sodom", "Doro", "Gamma Ray", "Primal Fear" and others was to take place in Moscow. However, unfortunately, the organizers could not finish the job, and the festival never took place.
The presentation of the album "Ashes" took place in 2003 at the Moscow club. In the summer of that year, the group began writing new material, which is included in the next full-length album, entitled "Nerves." To date, the group can please fans with the release of the new single āUp!ā, The sound of which, as always, is beyond praise. This team rightfully bears the title of "Legends of Russian Rock" thanks to its extraordinary music and truly deep and philosophical lyrics.