At the root of THE FANTOM group (with a tragic fate) was a famous musician from St.Petersburg Michael Mahlin, who had a great creative potential and was among the first to start creating dance techno music in Russia. Having worked with different of russian and international artists in the end of 80's, Mahlin with Oleg "Alex" Kostrov created THE FANTOM group, which sounded like a hybrid of Depeche Mode and Technotronic and was one of the best russian techno projects of its time.In 1993, on the rise of rave movement the band released some few tracks which were included into the first russian techno compilations, and then it released its first and last album "Psychotropical Party" with very solid material. Part of the compositions were pure electro-pop in the spirit of Depeche Mode with Mahlin singing in English, and the rest was obviously more like acid house and old school techno, which represented russian techno clubs in the early 1990s.Unfortunately the project did not last long. In the mid-90's Mahlin recorded an album of remixes for russian rock-band "Kino" in the acid-trance aesthetic, and then gets into a series of troubles, and eventually dies. THE FANTOM group ceased to exist having left the single record which became part of the golden collection of russian dance culture and a cherished rarity for many collectors.