Era is the brainchild of musician Eric Levy. The project was created in 1998. The Era group performed music in the new age style. Along with Enigma and Gregorian, the project is one of the three groups that skillfully use Catholic church choirs in their performances.
Era's track record includes several successful albums, the mega-popular hit Ameno and many movie soundtracks.
The beginning of the path of the Era project
In the late 1990s of the last century, the Enigma band appeared, whose popularity was enormous. Against its background, groups began to be created with a similar approach to music, the main feature of which was choral singing.
Most of these groups failed to interest the public, but the Era project managed to do it.
Thanks to the compositional talent of Eric Levy, amazing arrangements and professional musicians, the Era project quickly became popular.
Many Enigma fans praised the potential of the "rival" group, but the project also had its own "fans". Era was founded by multi-instrumentalist and composer Eric Levy.
The musician plays all kinds of guitar and keyboard instruments. Behind him is participation in the popular Shakin' Street band in the 1980s. Here Levy honed his composing skills, which he then embodied in a new project.
The "chip" of the new brainchild of Eric Levy was the use of Gregorian chants in his compositions.
The band has always performed live, which made it different from Enigma, which often included a recording of the choir, using only the main artist's live vocals. The choirs in the Era project sang in English and Basque.
Musically, the band played in such styles as: soft rock, disco and electronic music. The joint use of electric guitar and orchestral instruments gives a special charm to the performances of the Era project.
The enchanting sound appeals to the audience, and thanks to the ambient elements, it allows the listener to fully immerse themselves in the sound.
The first albums of the project
The first album of the Era project was called similarly. Sometimes you can find the name Anemo in honor of the most famous song of this record.
The disc was recorded at Peter Gabriels Real World studios and Abbey Road. At the first studio they wrote instrumental compositions, and at the second - vocal parts.
Eric Levy was interested in the religious traditions of the Albigensians and Cathars, which manifested itself in the compositions recorded on the disc. The disc was released in 4 million copies and quickly disappeared from the shelves of music stores.
The second LP was released in 2000. The disc was called Era 2, and its track list included compositions similar in style and performance.
In addition to songs that tell about the mystical mysteries of French heretical movements, several songs with traditional themes appeared on the disc.
Musically, the band presented more complex arrangements, more instruments were involved. Unlike the first album, notes of gloominess appeared in the music.
The third album of the Era project was released in 2003. Eric Levy did not continue the tradition of naming the album with the name of the band and its serial number.
The record was called The Mass. The basis for its creation was Carl Orff's opera Carmina Burana. Levy continued to experiment with sound.
Now it was time to change the pace. The compositions became more rhythmic and energetic. This made it possible to eliminate the gloominess that dominated the previous record. The songs became more melodic.
Project Pirate Albums
The popularity of the Era project led to the fact that pirated records with the band's music began to appear on the market. Even the musicians participating in the project have already included some of them in the band's discography.
Infinity of 1998, which is very similar to the Enigma Metamorphosis record, was referred to such discs. The track list includes several songs, the main one being Ameno HQ Remix.
The rest of the songs were recorded by other bands: Karl Jenkins - Aria, Paul Schwartz - Adiemus, etc. Therefore, this disc cannot be included in the discography of the Era project.
A similar record, the authorship of which is attributed to the Era project, is Sacredness. It was recorded by Spirit Nation in 1998. For better sales, the music pirates decided to change the name to Era.
In 2008, the album Era Reborn was released. The album turned out to be very unusual. Until now, they are arguing whether it is worth considering the disc as an author's one or the pirates tried again.
Some critics believe that this is a collection of various works by Eric Levy, which the pirates managed to get and burn to disk. The disc was included in the band's official discography. But the compositions are completely different from the early works of the Era project.
There are even frankly pop tracks on the disc. And the title track Kilimandjaro is recorded as an acoustic ballad. Choral singing is given a less significant role than before.
The Era project is not closed. Eric Levy regularly pleases his fans with new recordings and concerts. Unfortunately, it is difficult to come up with something on the level of Ameno. This has not yet been done.
The group's songs are regularly included in the soundtracks of various films and TV shows. Many mixed martial arts fighters enter the ring under the epic compositions of the project, including Russian Alexander Emelianenko.
