Cold Steel

Cold Steel is a Kirov, Uralica based thrash quintet. Their only album to date is their self-titled debut album.

Current Membership

 * Turan Efendiyev (b. 27 May 1983, Mingəçevir, then Azerbaijan) - lead vocals, rhythm guitar
 * Sergey Khomutov (b. 29 January 1984, Kirov) - rhythm/2nd lead guitar
 * Rakhmatullo Makhmudov (b. 14 May 1980, Sarapul) - lead guitar
 * Daniil Zakharchuk (b. 9 November 1983, Kirov) - bass, backup vocals
 * Hamid Tsevetkovsky (b. 13 September 1982, Samarqand, then Uzbekistan) - drums

History
An international and ethnic mishmash, only three of Cold Steel's members had Uralican citizenship when the band formed, the two exceptions being Azerbaijan-born Turan Efendiyev and Uzbekistan-born Hamid Tsevetkovsky, who came to Uralica fleeing religious persecution in their respective homelands.

As with many Uralican bands, their initial meeting was at church. Khomutov and Zakharchuk were introduced to Tsevetkovsky and Efendiyev in the spring of 2008 as church-sponsored refugees who knew only moderate English and no Finnish, but were both fluent in Russian. Since the two Russians were on the worship team, they took it upon themselves to invite the two refugees to practice. Turns out both knew how to play instruments, and Tsevetkovsky would quickly become one of the church's drummers. Turan took a little longer, but would eventually find a place in the guitar rotation.

Apparently quite good with languages, Turan picked up English very quickly, and the foursome began to have jam sessions. Always into heavy metal and a fan of Pelastus, Turan suggested that they start a metal band of their own. With Khomutov as the original lead guitarist, Cold Steel was born.

However, a setback caused them to put an ad out in the paper for another guitarist - Khomutov broke his hand in his job as a carpenter. It was this ad that introduced the group to Rakhmatullo Makhmudov, an extremely skilled guitarist, who was originally from Udmurtiya but living in Kirovo-Chepetsk at the time. Khomutov was "blown away" by his solo ability and begged the other three to let him into the band. Until Khomutov's hand healed, which wasn't until late 2008, the band was a foursome, doing random gigs here and there.

Upon Khomutov's return to the band, Khomutov and Makhmudov found they had a knack for pulling off two-guitar solos with Turan laying down background riffs. This ended up becoming the norm in their songs, and in February of 2009, they booked a studio in Kirov and began recording.

The result was their eponymous debut album, which Pelastus themselves immediately praised as "epic brutality that you can bang your head to all day long." Released in May 2009, it has already gone double platinum in Uralica.

Albums

 * May 2009 - Cold Steel

Singles

 * May 2009 - Second Death
 * August 2009 - Detonation
 * October 2009 - Flesh

Inspirations

 * Turan takes much of his vocal influence from Robb Flynn and Pelastus vocalist Matti Pitkänen, and names James Hetfield and Dan Donegan as the main inspirations for his guitar style.
 * Rakhmatullo will often drop Kirk Hammett, Robb Flynn, Phil Demmel, and Phil Sgrosso's names in reference to his style.
 * Sergey is a "gigantic fan" of Pelastus axe-man Lauri Sinisalo.
 * Daniil says Cliff Burton and Jason Newsted are his biggest inspirations for bass, and Newsted as well for vocals because of his harmonising.
 * Hamid names Gene Hoglan and Neil Peart when talking about the source of his inspiration.

Trivia

 * Turan has a large Christian cross tattooed on his back, plus a pierced lip and right nostril. He now speaks ten languages fluently - Northern Azeri, Armenian, Russian, English, Finnish, Komi-Zyrian, Eastern Mari, Plautdietsch, Chuvash, and Estonian.
 * Sergey was once touted as a professional handball player, and is also a Grade "AAA" ticketed carpenter. His broken left hand was caused when someone dropped a heavy 2-by-8 on it then stepped on it.
 * Rakhmatullo has a Bashkir father and an Udmurt mother, and he speaks eight languages fluently - English, French, Russian, Bashkir, Tatar, Udmurt, Komi-Zyrian, and Plautdietsch.
 * Daniil's older brother Ruslan is a professional footballer for Zavod Ural Solikamsk, and Daniil himself was apparently good enough to get a trial contract offer from CSKVC Kirov even though he turned this down. He is also a licensed pilot and in wartime is in the UAF.
 * Hamid, along with Turan, was granted full Uralican citizenship in April of 2009, a full year after having been granted asylum in Uralica. He says learning Finnish was "the most painful experience he'd ever been through."