This article is about the Russian thrash metal band. For the American death metal band, see Master (American band).
Master (Russian: Мастер) is a thrash metal band from Russia, founded in 1987 by former members of Aria.
In 1987, Alik Granovsky, Andrey Bolshakov, Kirill Pokrovsky and Igor Molchanov left the heavy metal band Aria due to their conflict with the producer Victor Vekshtein. Vocalist Mikhail Seryshev and guitarist Sergey Popov joined them to play live concerts. Their first self-titled release was half-completed by Aria's songs written by Granovsky and Bolshakov, but the rest of the songs were completely different in style. Master turned away from Aria's NWOBHM-like style to speed/thrash metal. Master released two albums with English lyrics, but the majority of their albums are in Russian.
In 1991 Seryshev assumed the role of Jesus in the Russian version of the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The next year, Master toured Russia with Sepultura. In 1993 Andrey Bolshakov left the band.