Merlin (metal band)
Encyclopedia
MERLIN is a death metal
band from Russia formed in 1992 by one of pioneering female growling vocalists and bassist Mary Abaza.
was formed in 1992 by a unique female vocalist and bassist Mary Abaza and one of the best Russian guitarists Alex Ioffe. After a long search, they met Nick Byckoff - the drummer they dreamt of. Before Merlin all of them had a great experience of playing in various styles from hard rock
to thrash
{1}. The musicians consider the name of their band suitable, because they wanted the name to be original for a death metal
band and easy to rememberer for fans, so "merlin” suited the request. Besides they chose Merlin as a symbol of magic power and majesty. Merlin
is best known as the warlock featured in Arthurian legends
and it is musicians' opinion that he is best of all portrayed in the Stephen King
’s book “The Dark Tower”. Also merlin
is a predatory bird that tears meat by its claws, its beak in blood and this absolutely reflects their band’s personality. (Incidentally, "merlin" means from French into English "heavy axe", "large hammer", "poleaxe").
Why Mary Abaza is a unique female vocalist? It's because she has got a unique voice of great compass from contralto
(overrides male baritone
) to soprano
(they say, with this rare and uncommon voice, one can be admitted to the Moscow Conservatory
without entrance examinations) and withal she is a brilliant growler and added to everything else, she is one of the first female growling
vocalists in the world {2}. She got jazz
and some classical educations and as she said herself, it helped her to find her own way of singing death metal
applying some jazz tricks; by the way it helps her in creating music. When Mary began singing death metal she was crazy about John Tardy
(Obituary
) as a vocalist and imitated something from his hysterical manner. Then she added to her voice some black metal
high tones and worked on timbre and articulation {3}.
Merlin’s first demo "Welcome to Hell" (1992) was played in a Death/Thrash style, but as soon as three months later, they released the second demo, which was more in a Death/Grind
direction. However, their third demo "Prisoner of Death" (1994) became the most well known of all three. It was reviewed in a lot of fan'zines worldwide and got a pretty rapturous appreciation{4}. Since their first live performance in 1992, Merlin has been known as the most aggressive and brutal death metal
band from Russia
and after their album "Deathkoteque", which was released in 1997 and became a real bomb, they were called leaders of Russian Death Metal scene. A lot of songs were included in compilations such a «Thrash your mother», «Deathtalker», «Russian metal ballads» etc. And also there is the track like “Leave Me Alone”, which is dedicated to one of the bands that formed the roots of extreme metal
like this, namely “Black Sabbath
”. Erik Rutan
(Morbid Angel
, Hate Eternal
), after listening to this album said that few male vocalists can do the same at a level that is high as Mary’s {5}.
In September 2000, their second album «They Must Die» had been released by Hobgoblin records (Russia) in MC format and in January 2001 it was re-released on "Grind It!" records, a division on Great White North Records, Canada
, in CD format, for the North-American
territory and elsewhere in the world. Later «Deathkoteque» was re-mastered and re-released too at GWN Records. And «They Must Die» had turned out very successful{6}. Merlin wanted to create a conceptual album, very aggressive and brutal and this album contents these requests exactly. It is also more technical and melodic. Plus, Mary experimented a lot more with the vocals on this album. In 1998 they added a second guitarist to the line-up - Arteom "Bolt" Nazarov (ex - Anal Pus). It turned that Arteom was a very competent guitarist with a brilliant sense of rhythm and infallible memory. Since then, they became to work with two guitarists live.
The band conducts concert activity and takes part in all considerable festivals and gigs around Moscow
and some other Russian
towns and was working on some new material for their up-coming third album "Brutal Constructor", scheduled to come out in 2003 on GWN. Everything would be perfect, Merlin was about to go on a Europe
an tour and at its height of recording the new album, the terrible misfortune had happened… On July 13, 2003 their drummer Nick Byckoff died in a car accident. It is an irreplaceable deprivation for the band, because during they played together Nick became like a brother to them. He was a brilliant drummer and his enormous technique amazed not only the audience, but the musicians, too… He was out of any competition; “This guy was fast, tight and intense as hell!”; many idolized him and were quiet right. Musicians still can’t believe that it happened and it seems to them that he simply got tired and left for a while. It need to say that it was Nick who imposed on the band that extremely powerful sound which distinguished the band Merlin for all these years and owning to his incredible mastership they achieved those impossible speeds which drive Merlin’s fans crazy {7}. That was hard to find a new drummer instead of Nick Byckoff. It seemed almost impossible. But it needed to soldier on. Nevertheless, after trying a lot of challengers they dwelled on Anatoly "Alchothron" Boychenko and now it’s possible to see that they have not been mistaken with the choice. Anatoly is really a very interesting drummer with modern and independent way of thinking. He joined the band once and for all in September 2003.
Their album “Brutal Constructor” was recording hard (May 2003 - January 2004). It was very painful to do something after Nick’s death. Mary Abaza: “My voice vanished, because of nerves, a few times we lost the guitar tracks, besides the engineer got serious problems with health… kind of some mysticism
, ya see.” But at first they must finish this album “Brutal Constructor”, moreover Nick Byckoff had time to record all drum parts for this album and it is still possible to hear Nick’s magnificent and masterly work, so it was their duty before him to do their best. And they did it. In 2004, Merlin created a real masterpiece - the album "Brutal Constructor". This album contains 9 killer songs, a cover-version of "Zombie Ritual" by Death and a number on the music for the Sergei Eisenstein
film "Alexander Nevsky
", the cantata
“Alexander Nevsky
” (1938) created by genius Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev
{8}. The musicians of Merlin were in earnest about their own interpretation of one of the most renowned cantatas of the 20th century, because Mary Abaza loves classical music very much, especially modern such as Dmitri Shostakovich
and Alfred Schnittke
and German composers such as Ludwig van Beethoven
and Anton Bruckner
. In general, music is Mary’s family tradition. Her mother is professional pianist and Mary herself used to play the piano in the childhood{9}. Among their ancestry, there were great composers. Such the influential composer of 20th century music as Igor Stravinsky
was a cousin of her great grandfather. Also the author of a well-known romance "Утро туманное" [Utro Tumannoe] (“Foggy morning”), Russian pianist, composer of 19th century – Arkadiy Maximovich Abaza was her forefather {10}.
Thus, the album “Brutal Constructor” was recorded at "Navaho records" during 2003. It was produced by Mary Abaza, Alex Ioffe and Les Disques Great White North enr. Merlin wanted the album to be as brutal as possible: “The music is in beyond the bounds of engineering capability”. At the same time they managed to play it in their own Merlin style, extremely fast and intensive. This work appeared a deserving tribute to Nick’s memory. By the way, the album “Brutal Constructor” has been included in "European TOP 10" death metal albums of 2004{11}.
And of late years Merlin’s line-up changed. Their guitarist Arteom "Bolt" Nazarov, who had played during 6 years in the band, quit Merlin, but a short time later (January, 2004) they had already had got a new guitar-player instead of Bolt, his name is Sergey "Psycho" Chebanov. He played in the band during 2004 - 2006 and in autumn 2006 a new guitarist Michael "Dead Head" Karpeyev joined the band. Now “Brutal Constructor” is Merlin’s latest album and it was released by two labels: in Canada by GWN Records, while for Russia and C.I.S.
by Cd-Maximum. In 2004 they re-released their first two albums "Deathkoteque" and “They Must Die” at Cd-Maximum as well.
Now Merlin work on the future album with a new drummer Vlad "Ravendark" Vorona and new guitarist Rinat. Also, they have a fresh video material which will be included in a future DVD.
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
band from Russia formed in 1992 by one of pioneering female growling vocalists and bassist Mary Abaza.
History
MerlinMerlin
Merlin is a legendary figure best known as the wizard featured in the Arthurian legend. The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written c. 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures...
was formed in 1992 by a unique female vocalist and bassist Mary Abaza and one of the best Russian guitarists Alex Ioffe. After a long search, they met Nick Byckoff - the drummer they dreamt of. Before Merlin all of them had a great experience of playing in various styles from hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
to thrash
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...
{1}. The musicians consider the name of their band suitable, because they wanted the name to be original for a death metal
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
band and easy to rememberer for fans, so "merlin” suited the request. Besides they chose Merlin as a symbol of magic power and majesty. Merlin
Merlin
Merlin is a legendary figure best known as the wizard featured in the Arthurian legend. The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written c. 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures...
is best known as the warlock featured in Arthurian legends
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
and it is musicians' opinion that he is best of all portrayed in the Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
’s book “The Dark Tower”. Also merlin
Merlin (bird)
The Merlin is a small species of falcon from the Northern Hemisphere. A bird of prey once known colloquially as a pigeon hawk in North America, the Merlin breeds in the northern Holarctic; some migrate to subtropical and northern tropical regions in winter.-European and North American...
is a predatory bird that tears meat by its claws, its beak in blood and this absolutely reflects their band’s personality. (Incidentally, "merlin" means from French into English "heavy axe", "large hammer", "poleaxe").
Why Mary Abaza is a unique female vocalist? It's because she has got a unique voice of great compass from contralto
Alto
Alto is a musical term, derived from the Latin word altus, meaning "high" in Italian, that has several possible interpretations.When designating instruments, "alto" frequently refers to a member of an instrumental family that has the second highest range, below that of the treble or soprano. Hence,...
(overrides male baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
) to soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
(they say, with this rare and uncommon voice, one can be admitted to the Moscow Conservatory
Moscow Conservatory
The Moscow Conservatory is a higher musical education institution in Moscow, and the second oldest conservatory in Russia after St. Petersburg Conservatory. Along with the St...
without entrance examinations) and withal she is a brilliant growler and added to everything else, she is one of the first female growling
Death growl
A death growl, also known as death metal vocals, guttural vocals, death grunts, and harsh vocals among other names, is a vocalisation style usually employed by vocalists of the death metal and black metal music genre, but also used in a variety of heavy metal and hardcore punk subgenres.Death...
vocalists in the world {2}. She got jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and some classical educations and as she said herself, it helped her to find her own way of singing death metal
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
applying some jazz tricks; by the way it helps her in creating music. When Mary began singing death metal she was crazy about John Tardy
John Tardy
John Tardy is an American vocalist who is best known for his work with the death metal bands Obituary and Tardy Brothers. He is the brother of Donald Tardy who is the drummer of Obituary.- References :...
(Obituary
Obituary (band)
Obituary is an American death metal band formed in 1984 in Tampa, Florida under the name Executioner, then changed the name's spelling to Xecutioner, and later changed their name to Obituary in 1988. The band comprises vocalist John Tardy, drummer Donald Tardy, guitarists Trevor Peres and Ralph...
) as a vocalist and imitated something from his hysterical manner. Then she added to her voice some black metal
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
high tones and worked on timbre and articulation {3}.
Merlin’s first demo "Welcome to Hell" (1992) was played in a Death/Thrash style, but as soon as three months later, they released the second demo, which was more in a Death/Grind
Grindcore
Grindcore is an extreme genre of music that started in the early- to mid-1980s. It draws inspiration from some of the most abrasive music genres – including death metal, industrial music, noise and the more extreme varieties of hardcore punk....
direction. However, their third demo "Prisoner of Death" (1994) became the most well known of all three. It was reviewed in a lot of fan'zines worldwide and got a pretty rapturous appreciation{4}. Since their first live performance in 1992, Merlin has been known as the most aggressive and brutal death metal
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
band from Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and after their album "Deathkoteque", which was released in 1997 and became a real bomb, they were called leaders of Russian Death Metal scene. A lot of songs were included in compilations such a «Thrash your mother», «Deathtalker», «Russian metal ballads» etc. And also there is the track like “Leave Me Alone”, which is dedicated to one of the bands that formed the roots of extreme metal
Extreme metal
Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. The term usually refers to a more abrasive, harsher, underground, non-commercialized style or sound nearly always associated with genres like black metal,...
like this, namely “Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
”. Erik Rutan
Erik Rutan
Erik Rutan is an American heavy metal musician from New Jersey. He currently leads Hate Eternal on lead vocals and guitar and has also spent time with Morbid Angel and Ripping Corpse...
(Morbid Angel
Morbid Angel
Morbid Angel is an American death metal band based in Tampa, Florida. UK music magazine Terrorizer ranked one Morbid Angel album in its “Top 40 greatest death metal albums”, with their 1989 debut Altars of Madness appearing at number 1...
, Hate Eternal
Hate Eternal
-Biography:Hate Eternal was formed in 1997. The group's original line-up included Erik Rutan - guitars/vocals, bassist and co-vocalist Jared Anderson, drummer Tim Yeung, and guitarist Doug Cerrito of the band Suffocation...
), after listening to this album said that few male vocalists can do the same at a level that is high as Mary’s {5}.
In September 2000, their second album «They Must Die» had been released by Hobgoblin records (Russia) in MC format and in January 2001 it was re-released on "Grind It!" records, a division on Great White North Records, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, in CD format, for the North-American
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
territory and elsewhere in the world. Later «Deathkoteque» was re-mastered and re-released too at GWN Records. And «They Must Die» had turned out very successful{6}. Merlin wanted to create a conceptual album, very aggressive and brutal and this album contents these requests exactly. It is also more technical and melodic. Plus, Mary experimented a lot more with the vocals on this album. In 1998 they added a second guitarist to the line-up - Arteom "Bolt" Nazarov (ex - Anal Pus). It turned that Arteom was a very competent guitarist with a brilliant sense of rhythm and infallible memory. Since then, they became to work with two guitarists live.
The band conducts concert activity and takes part in all considerable festivals and gigs around Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
and some other Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
towns and was working on some new material for their up-coming third album "Brutal Constructor", scheduled to come out in 2003 on GWN. Everything would be perfect, Merlin was about to go on a Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an tour and at its height of recording the new album, the terrible misfortune had happened… On July 13, 2003 their drummer Nick Byckoff died in a car accident. It is an irreplaceable deprivation for the band, because during they played together Nick became like a brother to them. He was a brilliant drummer and his enormous technique amazed not only the audience, but the musicians, too… He was out of any competition; “This guy was fast, tight and intense as hell!”; many idolized him and were quiet right. Musicians still can’t believe that it happened and it seems to them that he simply got tired and left for a while. It need to say that it was Nick who imposed on the band that extremely powerful sound which distinguished the band Merlin for all these years and owning to his incredible mastership they achieved those impossible speeds which drive Merlin’s fans crazy {7}. That was hard to find a new drummer instead of Nick Byckoff. It seemed almost impossible. But it needed to soldier on. Nevertheless, after trying a lot of challengers they dwelled on Anatoly "Alchothron" Boychenko and now it’s possible to see that they have not been mistaken with the choice. Anatoly is really a very interesting drummer with modern and independent way of thinking. He joined the band once and for all in September 2003.
Their album “Brutal Constructor” was recording hard (May 2003 - January 2004). It was very painful to do something after Nick’s death. Mary Abaza: “My voice vanished, because of nerves, a few times we lost the guitar tracks, besides the engineer got serious problems with health… kind of some mysticism
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
, ya see.” But at first they must finish this album “Brutal Constructor”, moreover Nick Byckoff had time to record all drum parts for this album and it is still possible to hear Nick’s magnificent and masterly work, so it was their duty before him to do their best. And they did it. In 2004, Merlin created a real masterpiece - the album "Brutal Constructor". This album contains 9 killer songs, a cover-version of "Zombie Ritual" by Death and a number on the music for the Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein , né Eizenshtein, was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be the "Father of Montage"...
film "Alexander Nevsky
Alexander Nevsky (film)
Alexander Nevsky is a 1938 historical drama film directed by Sergei Eisenstein, in association with Dmitri Vasilyev and a script co-written with Pyotr Pavlenko, who were assigned to ensure Eisenstein did not stray into "formalism" and to facilitate shooting on a reasonable timetable...
", the cantata
Cantata
A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....
“Alexander Nevsky
Alexander Nevsky (Prokofiev)
Alexander Nevsky is the score for the 1938 Sergei Eisenstein film Alexander Nevsky, composed by Sergei Prokofiev. He later rearranged the music in the form of a cantata for mezzo-soprano, chorus, and orchestra...
” (1938) created by genius Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
{8}. The musicians of Merlin were in earnest about their own interpretation of one of the most renowned cantatas of the 20th century, because Mary Abaza loves classical music very much, especially modern such as Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
and Alfred Schnittke
Alfred Schnittke
Alfred Schnittke ; November 24, 1934 – August 3, 1998) was a Russian and Soviet composer. Schnittke's early music shows the strong influence of Dmitri Shostakovich. He developed a polystylistic technique in works such as the epic First Symphony and First Concerto Grosso...
and German composers such as Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
and Anton Bruckner
Anton Bruckner
Anton Bruckner was an Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, complex polyphony, and considerable length...
. In general, music is Mary’s family tradition. Her mother is professional pianist and Mary herself used to play the piano in the childhood{9}. Among their ancestry, there were great composers. Such the influential composer of 20th century music as Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
was a cousin of her great grandfather. Also the author of a well-known romance "Утро туманное" [Utro Tumannoe] (“Foggy morning”), Russian pianist, composer of 19th century – Arkadiy Maximovich Abaza was her forefather {10}.
Thus, the album “Brutal Constructor” was recorded at "Navaho records" during 2003. It was produced by Mary Abaza, Alex Ioffe and Les Disques Great White North enr. Merlin wanted the album to be as brutal as possible: “The music is in beyond the bounds of engineering capability”. At the same time they managed to play it in their own Merlin style, extremely fast and intensive. This work appeared a deserving tribute to Nick’s memory. By the way, the album “Brutal Constructor” has been included in "European TOP 10" death metal albums of 2004{11}.
And of late years Merlin’s line-up changed. Their guitarist Arteom "Bolt" Nazarov, who had played during 6 years in the band, quit Merlin, but a short time later (January, 2004) they had already had got a new guitar-player instead of Bolt, his name is Sergey "Psycho" Chebanov. He played in the band during 2004 - 2006 and in autumn 2006 a new guitarist Michael "Dead Head" Karpeyev joined the band. Now “Brutal Constructor” is Merlin’s latest album and it was released by two labels: in Canada by GWN Records, while for Russia and C.I.S.
Commonwealth of Independent States
The Commonwealth of Independent States is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics, formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union....
by Cd-Maximum. In 2004 they re-released their first two albums "Deathkoteque" and “They Must Die” at Cd-Maximum as well.
Now Merlin work on the future album with a new drummer Vlad "Ravendark" Vorona and new guitarist Rinat. Also, they have a fresh video material which will be included in a future DVD.
Сurrent members
- Maria Abaza — vocals, bass, lyrics
- Alexander Ioffe — rhythm, solo & synthesized guitars
- Rinat — guitars
- Vlad "Ravendark" Vorona — drums
Ex-Members
- Nick Byckoff — (R.I.P.) drums (1992–2003)
- Arteom "Bold" Nazarov — rhythm guitar (1998–2004)
- Anatoly "Alchothron" Boychenko — drums (2003–2007)
- Sergey "Psycho" Chebanov — quitars (2004–2006)
- Michael "Dead Head" Karpeyev — guitars (2006–2007)
Founding members
- Maria Abaza (1992–present)
- Alexander Ioffe (1992–present)
- Nick Byckoff (R.I.P.) (1992–2003)
Studio Albums
- 1997: "Deathkoteque"
- 2000: "They Must Die"
- 2004: "Brutal Constructor"
Demos
- 1992: "Welcome to Hell"
- 1992: "Die"
- 1994: "Prisoner of Death"
Other Bands Called Merlin
About the article
All information for this article is based on different interviews with Mary Abaza and Alex Ioffe. Merlin's biography from the official MySpace page was used as well. These interviews you can find on following websites:- Interview for Endemoniada'zine (#19)
- Interview for Demogorgon'zine
- Interview for GWN Records
- Interview for GB'zine
- Interview for Eternal Frost'zine
- Funeral'zine Interview
- Swedish Metal Inquisition Interview
- Interview for Metal Kings
- Interview for Dissound Magazine
- Interview for Rockhell