Rage (German band)

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Rage
Rage performing in 2024
Background information
Also known as	Avenger
Origin	Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Genres	Power metal, heavy metal, speed metal, progressive metal, symphonic metal
Years active	1984–present
Labels	Noise, Nuclear Blast, SPV, GUN
Members	Peavy Wagner Vassilios Maniatopoulos Stefan Weber Jean Bormann
Website	rage-official.com

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 which emerged in the early to mid-1980s, and have been referred to as one of the country's so-called "big four" of power metal, along with Grave Digger, Helloween and Running Wild.^[1]

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 shared the same name. 17 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 one of the first metal bands to write and record an album with a full symphonic orchestra: Lingua Mortis.

Rage has released 27 albums (counting the "Avenger" and "LMO" releases) over the past 30 years^[timeframe?] (in total more than 50 releases counting DVDs, EPs, Japan editions, and VHS). A remarkable international success with more than five million records sold, Rage has had more than 40 music chart entries.