Alister (Serbia)

The band was originally formed as Poltergeist by guitarist Marko Vuckovic and bassist Ivan Petrovic in 1999. Their 2000 PowerBeat demo was an underground promotion, and after changing their name to ALISTER, the band recorded their first album in 2001 – Obscurity (recorded at Paradox Studio, Smederevo, Serbia)- with a lineup consisting of guitarist Marko Vuckovic, singer Igor Milandinovic, bassist Ivan Petrovic, and drummer Marko Stosic. Miroslav Brankovic (Alogia, Psychoparadox) did all the solos and additional clean guitars, as a special guest on the album. The sound of ALISTER was a mixture of ‘80s and ‘90s thrash influences with the classic metal approach of Metallica’s and Iced Earth’s riffs and Kreator’s and Testament’s scream vocals. Unfortunately, negotiations over releasing Obscurity were a complete failure.

In October 2001, ALISTER won the first prize in a band contest “Gitarijada Jagodina 2001” in Jagodina. In 2002, after the arrival of new members, Marko Ognjanovic (lead guitar) and Milos Simic (keyboards), ALISTER was ready to promote their first album. The first big step was Belgrade’s “Hard & Heavy Fest” in March 2002. Other concerts, like Paul Di’Anno’s concert in Belgrade, gigs in Smederevo, Jagodina, Cuprija, etc. followed it. With their current lineup, they returned to the studio in 2002 (again at Paradox Studio, Smederevo, Serbia) to record their second album Memories and Dreams. The new album was different in that way that the sound was more melodic and with some classic heavy vocals, especially in choruses. Together with Srdjan and Miroslav Brankovic (Alogia/Psychoparadox) ALISTER recorded a song “See You on The Other Side” dedicated to the late Chuck Shuldiner (Death/Control Denied).

Finally, they signed a contract for releasing both of their albums for ONE RECORDS (Belgrade, Serbia) and they were ready to promote their sound around Serbia. In 2004, Marko Stosic was replaced with a new drummer Ivan Dulic, and Milos Simic left the band. With their new lineup, they are working on their third album called Where Angels Bleed including 10 brand new heavy-death-thrash blasting tracks.

On January 29th 2008. Alister released following statement:
”ALISTER’s album Where Angels Bleed, recorded during 2006 in Paradox studio, will not be released, and there won’t be any kind of effort in releasing it.
We decided to do so because of more than one reason, and some of them are: the material is old, huge pause was made between the release of the promo disc and present time, inability to find the adequate publisher, and perhaps the most important, the maturity of the band (as musicians and in style) since the recording of the album in 2006.
ALISTER is currently working on and recording some new songs, and when the moment is right we will enter the studio.
Four songs from ALISTER’s promo CD (We Are Damned, Parted, Inner Evil, and Cold Winter Night) will be available as Where Angels Bleed EP and free to download from our site and MySpace.
Lastly, one thing is certain: we will not turn on Where Angels Bleed; it just waits for some better days to be released, as a reminder of an era in the history of ALISTER.”
                                                                          Download album Memories and Dreams
                                                       Download EP Where Angels Bleed