Rage

Rage is a German heavy metal band, formed in 1984 by Peter "Peavy" Wagner. They were part of the German heavy/speed/power metal scene to emerge in the early to mid-1980s, along with bands such as Helloween, Running Wild, Blind Guardian and Grave Digger. Rage was formed in 1984 under the name Avenger. After releasing their debut album Prayers of Steel and their Depraved to Black EP in 1985, the band changed their name to Rage because there was another band in England that also had the same name. Originally the new name was meant to be Furious Rage but it was eventually shortened to Rage. Thirteen musicians have been part of Rage over the years, with the most successful line-up being from the period now known as the Refuge years; this line-up featured Manni Schmidt and Chris Efthimiadis. The second notable line-up was the one formed with Mike Terrana and Victor Smolski. Through the years, Rage established themselves as a notably successful band and as pioneers of the power metal scene, including in their music elements of progressive metal and classical music. In 1996, Rage was the first metal band to write and record an album with a full symphonic orchestra: Lingua Mortis. Rage has released 22 albums (23 if counting the "Avenger" release) over the past 30 years (in total more than 50 releases counting DVDs, EPs, Japan editions, VHS (in the early years). A remarkable international success with more than five million records sold, Rage has had more than 40 music chart entries.