The Russian "Iron Maiden"

     I'm a big fan of American and European heavy metal, but it never occurred to me (somehow) that big scary Russians could also make big scary music.  Aria is a Russian heavy metal band that was formed in 1985, and while they weren't the first Soviet heavy metal band, they were the first to become well known and successful. The media have dubbed them Russia's version of Iron Maiden and they seem to live up to that. They released an album in 2011 titled "Феникс" (Phoenix) and seem to still carry quite a fan-base despite the band being 28 years old.

Other notable Russian metal bands (according to some guy from Russia): http://rateyourmusic.com/list/Poohkali/the_very_best_russian_metal_bands/