Only Heavy Metal

German Heavy Metal masters RAGE are about to celebrate their 30th band anniversary with the release of a unique collection of songs from their outstanding back catalogue.

»The Soundchaser Archives« will contain 30 tracks put on two brimful CDs, covering everything from previously unreleased material or versions, demo recordings to fractions of ideas that finally went to find clear sonic ground. Additionally the 2-CD will contain a bonus DVD including the RAGE performance of last years »Masters Of Rock« festival.

»The Soundchaser Archives« will be out on May 23, 2014 via Nuclear Blast. Diving into their own history, RAGE has 21 studio albums released to date, covering three decades of an unbeatable Heavy Metal career.

Peavy Wagner, Manni Schmidt and Christos Efthimiadis, who released five albums in one of the most successful lineups of their band RAGE, have reunited in a brand new project called REFUGE.

Since 1994, the three musicians have played with different bands and continued to follow their own individual paths: Peavy with RAGE, Manni with GRAVE DIGGER and Christos with TRI STATE CORNER.

In 2014, after a long period of little contact, the three guys met again and decided to play a secret show in their German hometown of Herne under the name TRES HOMBRES. Despite the fact that the concert was not properly promoted, word of mouth and Facebook activity resulted in more than 1,200 fans attending the gig on August 15. TRES HOMBRES performed all the RAGE hits in the original lineup and enjoyed every second of the concert, leading to the formation of REFUGE.

Says REFUGE in a statement: "We are very happy to announce that we will have the opportunity to travel with you through the early years 1988-1993 one more time in the festival summer of 2015."

2015-02-04 10:30 - Having just celebrated their 30th band anniversary and the release of their exclusive song collection »The Soundchaser Archives« in 2014, German Heavy Metal pioneers RAGE now announce the end of the band's lineup as it has been for the past 15 years.

Guitarist Victor Smolski and bassist & vocalist Peter "Peavy" Wagner published the following statement:

Hi Rageheads, urgend RAGE News: After thinking it over carefully, Peavy and Victor decided to stop working together in the future. This is due to musical and personal changes.
“We have developed in different directions in the last years, that much, that we cannot identify with the current band situation anymore. In this situation we will also part from drummer Andre Hilgers. The last 15 years were blessed with many highlights and great releases but this era is over now. Every extension would be untrue to ourselves and to our fans. We wish each other all the best! Thanx to all the fans for your trust and support!”

And Victor Smolski added: “Dear friends, after 15 fantastic years, 10 records and countless live shows with RAGE, I have decided to focus myself on other musical challenges. I really want to thank all RAGE fans, who supported me all those years. In the future I will concentrate on the new LMO CD. The orchestra project I founded and formed in 2013 will continue with the same lineup, just without Peavy. New musicians, giving this creative band new input, but also a new name will be revealed soon. Composing and producing the last record was so much fun to me and I want to thank everyone who supported me doing this. With all the experience from the shows with LMO, I’m quite sure the new album will be even more exciting. Expect the unexpected!”

»The Soundchaser Archives« 2CD/DVD box, featuring 30 rare/new/unreleased tracks, plus bonus DVD was released on May 23, 2014 via Nuclear Blast.