Rage (group)

The group was founded in 1983 under the name Avenger, under which it released its first two albums. The musicians were soon forced to change the name, finding that it coincides with the name of another group. The founders of the group are Peter Wagner (vocals, bass), Johan Schroeder (guitar), Jörg Michael (drums) and Thomas Grüning (guitar), who was soon replaced by Rudy Graf (ex- Warlock ). In this composition, the group records two albums - Reign Of Fear (1986), Execution Guaranteed (1987). At that time, the band played speed metal and power metal with a significant share of thrash metal .

In 1988, the group left Earl and Michael, disappointed with the unsuccessful tour of the United States. The group includes guitarist Manny Schmidt and drummer Chris Efthymiadis. With the release of the album "Perfect Man", the group began to gain popularity, touring with Saxon , Running Wild , UDO , Motörhead . The next album was called Secrets In A Weird World, which generally continued the style of the previous record, but was more gloomy in sound. Recorded in 1990, the album Reflections Of A Shadow is interesting in that the group invited guest keyboard player Uli Kellner, thereby making a bias in a more melodic material. The most successful works of the early 1990s were Trapped albums! (1992) and The Missing Link (1993). The group visited Japan, performing an acoustic set of the best songs. The popularity of the group is gaining momentum. In 1994, a jubilee album was released, consisting of songs that were not included in previous records. It is called 10 Years In Rage. The recordings were attended by musicians who had previously played in RAGE. In the mid-1990s, the group once again changed its composition and musical style, experimenting with thrash metal . During this period, the group included: Wagner, guitarists Spiros Efthimiadis and Sven Fisher, drummer Chris Efthimiadis. The albums Black In Mind (1995) and End Of All Days (1996) have become a classic legacy of the group and are most loved by fans. In 1996, experiments with the orchestra began, which in 1998 led to the recording of the groundbreaking album XIII, all of whose songs were composed with the direct participation of musicians of the Prague Symphony Orchestra.

In 1999, the group completely broke up after the gradual departure from it of almost all musicians (except Peavy Wagner). However, he did not begin to curtail the project and continued it with a new composition, which included the famous Belarusian virtuoso guitarist Viktor Smolsky and drummer Mike Terran. With their participation, the album Welcome To The Other Side (2001) was recorded, which made the group one of the most respected collectives in Germany. Straight To Hell became the comedy soundtrack. The next album, Unity, was released in 2002. Its sound gravitated to the music performed by the group in the early 1990s, adjusted for Victor’s virtuoso guitar passages, sophisticated arrangements and beautiful melodic lines. The composition Down from this album became the hallmark of the group. One of the most successful creations was the 2003 Soundchaser concept album, which tells a mystical story in the style of Howard Lovecraft's books.

The next album, released after a three-year break, was called Speak Of The Dead, and included the Linqua Mortis Suite, which was again recorded with the support of the symphony orchestra. The group often performed in Russia together with the Kipelov group , where Smolsky worked in parallel. In 2007, Terran was replaced by Andre Hilgers. The group continued its experiments, mixing heavy metal , power metal and sometimes thrash metal .

The 2008 album Carved in stone was a return to the Rage music of the pre-Mesol period - with significant trashy accents and highly social themes.

The next album, released by the trio, again included experiments with the orchestra. It was released in 2009 under the name Strings To A Web. In 2010, the group decided to split the Lingua Mortis Orchestra and the group into two separate projects. In 2012, the group released the album "21".

On February 4, 2015, RAGE published the following appeal to fans on its official website:

“After much thought and deliberation, Peavy Wagner and Victor Smolski decided to terminate their creative collaboration within the RAGE group due to personal and musical differences. We have developed in too many directions lately, so we can’t make music together anymore. Given the situation, RAGE also leaves drummer André Hilgers.

Over the past fifteen years, we have been very successful and have released many great albums. This era of the group has come to an end. Her continued existence would be dishonest both to ourselves and to our fans. We wish each other only the best! Many thanks to the fans for their support! ” ^[1]

On February 6, RAGE leader Peavy Wagner posted the following fan appeal on his official Facebook page:

“I would like to clarify all the rumors that have arisen and are being actively discussed on the network about the future of RAGE and LMO ...

The fact that I broke up with Victor and André in no case does not mean the breakup of RAGE, as such! Quite the contrary - in the very near future we will hit the road again with a new team of participants. REFUGE, which in a short time has become a safe haven for me and my two old bandmates, will also continue to exist. We are still looking forward to summer concerts at festivals in 2015 and beyond!

RAGE and REFUGE will exist simultaneously, complementarily complementing each other. If you want to hear only our old metal hits - come to the REFUGE concert, if you want to hear a full selection of material for all thirty years of my work - come to the RAGE concert.

I created LINGUA MORTIS ORCHESTRA (LMO) in the mid-1990s and this collective is also an important part of my inner self. Despite being busy in the other two groups, I undertake to devote a significant part of my time to LMO, approaching the creativity of this project with the same zeal and creative fervor.

I promise you that the RAGE group will continue to produce the highest quality material. With REFUGE we will go back to the past, and with LINGUA MORTIS ORCHESTRA we will continue experiments on crossing metal and classics.

I look to the future with great enthusiasm, feeling tremendous creative freedom and a surge of writer's ideas. Many thanks to all fans for their support and trust! ” ^[2]

Current

• Peter Wagner - vocals , bass .
• Marcos Rodriguez - guitar , backing vocals .
• Vassilios Maniatopoulos - drums .

Former members

Guitarists :

• Alf Maierratken (1984-1985)
• Johan Schroeder (1984-1987)
• Thomas Grüning (1985-1986)
• Rudy Graf (1987)
• Manfred Schmidt (1988-1994)
• Spyros Efthymiadis (1994-1999)
• Sven Fisher (1994-1999)
• Victor Smolsky (1999—2015)

Drummers :

• Jörg Michael (1984-1987)
• Chris Efthymiadis (1988-1999)
• Mike Terrana (1999-2007)
• Andre Hilgers (2007—2015)

Keyboards :

• Ullie Kohler (1990)
• Christian Wolff (1996-1999)

Studio Albums

• Prayers of Steel (1985, as Avenger)
• Reign of Fear (1986)
• Execution Guaranteed (1987)
• Perfect Man (1988)
• Secrets in a Weird World (1989)
• Reflections of a Shadow (1990)
• Trapped! (1992)
• The Missing Link (1993)
• Ten Years In Rage (1994)
• Black in Mind (1995)
• Lingua Mortis (1996)
• End of all Days (1996)
• XIII (1998)
• Ghosts (1999)
• Welcome to the Other Side (2001)
• Unity (2002)
• Soundchaser (2003)
• Speak of the Dead (2006)
• Carved in stone (2008)
• Strings To A Web (2010)
• 21 (2012)
• LMO (2013)
• The Devil Strikes Again (2016)
• Seasons of the Black (2017)

Compilations, mini-albums, concerts

• Extended Power (1991)
• Beyond the Wall (1992)
• Refuge (1993)
• Power of Metal - RAGE live (1994)
• Ten Years in Rage (1994)
• The Best from the Noise Years (1998)
• Higher Than the Sky (1996)
• Live from the Vault (1997)
• In Vain I — III (1998)
• In Vain - Rage In Acoustic (1998)
• Best of - All GUN Years (2001)
• RAGE - Metal Meets Classic Live DVD (All GUN Bonustracks, 2001)
• the Lingua Mortis - Trilogy (Classic Collection, 2002)
• the Dark Side (2002)
• From the Cradle to the Stage (2004)
• Full moon in St. Petersburg (2007)
• RAGE & Lingua Mortis Orchestra - Live at Wacken (Bonus DVD to Carved in Stone) (2008)
• Live At Wacken (Bonus DVD to Strings To A Web) (2009; special guests: 1 - Hansi Kürsch from Blind Guardian , 2 - Jen Majura from Black Thunder Ladies , 3 - Schmier from Destruction )

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