Epidemia

Epidemia (, sometimes referred to as 'Epi' by fans) is a Russian power metal band famous for doing the Elven Manuscript metal opera in 2004. It was formed by guitarist Yuri "Juron" Melisov in 1993, with the first songs made in 1995.

==History== thumb|Epidemia in Israel, 2015 In 1993, the as-yet unnamed group recorded the demo album Phoenix, with Melisov performing both guitars and vocals. Melisov came up with the name "Epidemia" (Russian for epidemic) in 1995. Vocalist Pavel Okunev and guitarist-songwriter Roman Zakharov joined Epidemia to record the debut studio release Volya k Zhizni (Will to Live) a lo-fi EP with five tracks. The follow-up, Na Krayu Vremeni (At the Edge of Time) was the band's first full-length CD. It was recorded by the line-up of Yuri Melisov (guitar), Roman Zakharov (guitar), Pavel Okunev (vocals), Ilya Knyazev (bass) and Andrey Laptev (drums).