~ The German Hard RocK and Heavy Metal Guide ~
History forged in Steel 1978-1993
Yeah I hear what you're saying - Even attempting such a vast project as a "complete" German HR/HM Encyclopedia seem about as futile as ...making a US one? Bah! Long-time Metal collector and Corroseum forum member Prowler spits in the face of Impossible and hereby delivers unto the Metal world the first encyclopedia of the Largest-Yet-Least-Collected Metal-country in the world!
The main idea for this database was born a couple of years ago, when I had found out that in most of the cases, the style descriptions of many German underground bands was completely wrong or there wasn't any info available at all, because the items/bands were too obscure, or that noone had ever heard about them before. The first impulse was to print a book, but that idea was quickly abandoned as while adding known bands to this database, even more, completely unknown releases of even more obscure acts were found.
We also wanted to focus on any kind of heavy music/band that had ever been around from 1978-1993, so that's why we stopped adding releases to the discographys that was released after 1993 in case you might wonder. This database tries to cover every kind of Heavy Kraut Rock/AOR/Melodic Rock/Hard Rock/Crossover and Metal bands of all genres, that were active during that mentioned time range, no matter if these bands ever recorded anything. We are also aware that the list isn't nearly complete, meaning we are open for any kind of suggestions, corrections and help by adding more obscure bands. Especially the local acts are of huge interest, so we might have a short survey of that city/area's underground scene. We know that especially in the Kraut Rock scene there are tons of bands/albums that would most probably meet our requirements, but unfortunately most of these albums are so insanely expensive and rare, that it's impossible to buy all of them just to check out if they might include any possible Hard Rock riffs. We are open for your suggestions, don't worry, your name will be mentioned in the article. To get the site started, we first added the bands with vinyl/CD appearances, while the Demo bands will be added piece by piece in the future as well.
Last but surely not least, a BIG THANK YOU to Dan Edman who made all this possible, by granting me space and technical help. Without his heads up I'd most probably still be dreaming of something like this project.
Browse bands by letter:
R.A.S.
Lineup:
Bernd Simiano
Band-info:
A Hard Rock/Metal band from Karlsruhe active since late 1984 or January '85 with a Demo tape released the same year. R.A.S. stands for "Rock'n'Roll and Sex". If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
R.U. Dead?
Lineup:
Chris (vocals)
Uli Hildenbrand (guitar)
Gero Schmitt (guitar)
Mad (bass)
Rüdiger Messerschmidt (drums)
Band-info:
After Ulm's Thrash legend Poison split up in 1987, Uli Hildenbrand formed another brutal act called R.U. Dead? 2 years later, featuring Fleshcrawl's Gero Schmitt on guitar. The band released several Demo tapes in the early 90's and succeeded by getting the possibility to release a 7" entitled "Hypnos" on Morbid Records, featuring 2 trax from their Promotape. The band's sound was a super raw and brutal Death Metal with main influences coming from the Death/Thrash genre. R.U. Dead? published a few more EP's after 1993 plus a Demo, before they eventually split up 1998.Discography:
"...simply dead" Demo 1990 (selfreleased)
"Individual horror" Demo 1991 (selfreleased)
"Promotape" Demo 1992 (selfreleased)
"Hypnos" 7" EP 1992 (Morbid)
"Fleshcrawl/Supuration/R.U. Dead? Split MC 1993 (Loud Out)
Rabbit
Lineup:
Band-info:
A Hard Rock band from the Heidelberg/Mannheim/Ludwigshafen area that was active during the late 80's. Further info is needed.Discography:
Races
Lineup:
Richard Meier (vocals)
Ronny Uebele (guitar)
Frank Heeb (guitar)
Horst May (bass)
Andy Beyer (drums)
Band-info:
A Power Metal band from Mayence that started in May 1987, with Frank Heeb who came from the short lived Antichrist/Fanatic. Their first output was a 2 tracker, recorded late '88 in their Rehearsal room, featuring the classic Metal smashers with NWOBHM touch "Burning bridges" and "Beginning of a nightmare", followed by 4 track live tape "Beginning of a nightmare" 1989. On the 3rd tape "Welcome to Amityville", recorded by Richard Meier (vocals), Frank Heeb (guitar), Rene Tornier (guitar), Peter Schleutner (bass) and Andy Beyer (drums), again 3 tracks of the live tape was featured plus 2 new studio trax, that offered some first thrashy tendencies. And those got even more in the foreground on their last Demo "Seed of destruction" that's a ruthless mix of Power Metal and Thrash and without doubts their best release. The last line up consisted of Rene Tornier (bass), Andreas Schmitt (drums), Frank Heeb (guitar), Richard Meier (vocals) and Stefan Leitner (guitar) an ex-Amoreen member. The band lasted till 1995 when most of them formed Sharkrage.Discography:
"2 Track Demo" Demo 1988 (selfreleased)
"Beginning of a nightmare" Live Demo 1989 (selfreleased)
"Welcome to Amityville" Demo 1989 (selfreleased)
"The last great act of defiance" Demo 1989 (selfreleased)
"Seed of aggression" Demo 1992 (selfreleased)
Rage
Lineup:
Peter Wagner (vocals, bass)
Jochen Schröder (guitar)
Thomas Grüning (guitar)
Jörg Michael (drums)
Band-info:
The Speed Metal band Rage from Herne was previously active as Avenger since 1983 but changed their name coz of the british band of that name to Furious Rage. As far as I know the record company didn't like that name to be used on their "Reign of fear" debut album, so they shortened it to simply Rage. The Corroseum honestly doesn't think that we still need to introduce Rage to any of the readers. If you need further info, please check out the Rage HomepageDiscography:
"Reign of fear" LP 1986 (Noise)
"Execution guaranteed" LP 1987 (Noise)
"Perfect man" LP/CD 1988 (Noise)
"Before the storm" Comp.-LP/CD Track 1988 (Doomsday News)
"Round trip/Across the universe" Flexi Split 7" EP 1988 (with Scanner, Noise)
"Secrets in a weird world" LP/CD 1989 (Noise)
"Invisible horizons" 12" EP/MCD 1989 (Noise)
"Mirror" Comp.-LP Track 1989 (Doomsday News II)
"Reflections of a shadow" LP/CD 1990 (Noise)
"Extended power" 12" EP/MCD 1991 (Noise)
"Trapped!" LP/CD 1992 (Noise)
"Beyond the wall" MCD 1992 (Noise)
"The missing link" LP/CD 1993 (Noise)
"The missing link" MCD 1993 (Noise)
Rage Heart
Lineup:
Sven Strzyso (vocals)
Sella Servi (guitar)
Uwe Frinker (keyboard)
Oliver Rosetti (bass)
Ralf Fern (drums)
Band-info:
Melodic Metallers from Wuppertal, who made 2 albums on the D&S label and the first one features ex-Courage vocalist Sven Strzyso, who joined after Courage disbanded, sometime after their MLP was available. Rage Heart was founded around 1986 and their debut "Too late to return" featured quite listenable melodic Heavy Metal with alot of facets, from midpaced to speedy bangers, a nice spectrum of Euro Metal, not too german sounding at all. Besides the regular black vinyl there should be a very few copies in pink vinyl being made also. The second album "Beats again!" was recorded in 1989 with Rainer Thurn on vocals and got a better, more professional sound. On this album you can hear what the band was able to deliver, their style (on the first album either) was close to bands like Violent Touch, and with the pro sound their power they spread got perfectly underlined. There also was a promotional 7" made in 1989, that contains "Too many lonely nights" from the debut plus "Desperate lies" from the second album, and it was pressed in black and blue vinyl. Prior to their 2 albums, the band also recorded 3 track Demo tape in 1987, that we still lack a bit further info.Discography:
"Too late to return" LP 1988 (D&S)
"Too many lonely nights" 7" EP 1989 (D&S)
"Beats again!" LP 1990 (D&S)
Raging Noise
Lineup:
Band-info:
A (most probably Thrash) Metal band that was originating from the greater Mönchengladbach area and was active during 1987/88. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
Raging Red
Lineup:
Carsten Lange - Vocals
Thomas Buchta - Guitar
Jens Pesch - Guitar
Bernd Groß - Bass
Stephan Kessel - Drums
Band-info:
A Krefeld based virtuoso sounding progressive Power Metal band with good musicianship but rather weak sounding vocalist who recorded their 4 track Demo tape in July 1991. When they are not just firing up one of their filigrane guitar duels and just play their Metal straight, they remind me of Metal Church at the same time, but those parts are rarely heard. For Prog Metal fans definitely a treat. Most of the members later went to play with Vernissage, another Prog Metal band. Bernd Groß and Jens Pesch founded Blood Red Angel in the end of the 90's. The demo tapes comes with a sticker.Discography:
”Harmony/Tragedy” Demo 1991 (selfreleased)
Ragna Rök
Lineup:
Ulrich Salomon (guitar, vocals)
Stephanie Minnerup (bass)
Tammo Vollmers (drums)
Band-info:
Ragna Rök, a Prog Metal band from Gnissau/Lübeck in northern Germany was active from August '89 till 1993. Stephanie was later after the first Demo replaced by Dieter Reinhold (bass). They recorded 2 Demos before they changed name to PRKLZ and recorded one more tape and an album with the title "Deuce". The band's style was unspectacular, brewing a really difficult to bear sort of progressive Power Metal with terrible vocals and rhythms. Just a side note, Tammo Vollmers played the drum parts on Gamma Ray's "Heaven can wait".Discography:
"The Tape" Demo 1990 (selfreleased)
"The promise chapter three" CD Compilation Track 1991 (Peace-Eater Vol. I)
"Guess for 6'n'7" Demo 1992 (selfreleased)
Railway
Lineup:
Armin Schüler (vocals)
Hermann Janowitz (guitar)
Robert Haslinger (guitar)
Albert Knobel (bass)
Hasi Haslinger (drums)
Band-info:
Railway from Munich belongs to the german Heavy Metal bands with longest history, though these guys always stood kinda in the background, when it comes to discussions about 80's bands from Germany. The band was founded back in 1977 by 5 schoolfriends and the name was chosen due to the fact that their rehearsal room was in the basement of a railroad station. 1979 the lads was ranked second at a local Munich band contest with 250 bands participating and Railway continued playing live shows as much as possible which gained them a large followership in the Munich area. With this success in the back the boys recorded their first 7" "Just imagination" (as the guys themselves call it on their website) in June '81 privately in Lüneburg at the Unit Art Studio who also pressed the vinyls on their own label. The single nowadays is a pretty rarely seen piece, but contains 3x real Heavy Metal with NWOBHM influences plus the Hardrocker "More than enough" and surely must be counted amoungst the top singles of the early german Heavy Metal scene besides the Sin City 7". One interesting fact, the songwriting credits of the title track mention an R. Leuthner and P. Berghammer, so I guess these lads have been members of the band at an earlier stage as well. Nevertheless, the new rising german label Noise featured the 2 trax "Can't stand it" and "Break it up" on their "Rock from Hell" sampler which caught interest of Roadrunner, who offered the guys a 5 album deal. The debut album was recorded September '84 with new members Walter Wicha (vocals) and Werner Thaller (bass) at the Karo Studio in Münster and refined the NWOBHM style Metal known from the single, by offering a Priest/Accept influenced midpaced powerful rocking Heavy Metal. After being on tour with Tokyo Blade in 1985, Railway entered once again the Karo Studio to record the second album "Railway II", that musically was built of the same scheme like the debut and featured with "Lick it, lick it" an outstanding track. Due to the success of both albums, Railway could support some bigger numbers in Metal business like Manowar, Twisted Sister or Motörhead, but Hermann Janowitz quit to join the Munich Glam Metallers The Roxx in 1985 and got replaced by Florian Allgayer. "Climax", the 3rd album on Roadrunner, was available in 1987 and the band once more delivered Accept influenced pounding Metal par excellence on an equal level, but due to financial discrepancies with Roadrunner the guys resigned the contract and published the next EP "Tomorrow" 1989 independently over their management Munich Maintown Project. Interestingly the same EP was re-released again in 1989 or 1990 under the title "Backstage all access" with different sleeve, introducing Alex Havrilla (guitar) and Harry Enzian (bass) to replace Allgayer and Thaller, who both still was being mentioned on the first press. The whole procedure gained them a deal with Gama who produced the album "To be continued" 1991 for Intercord. Walter Wicha and Alex Havrilla both got replaced by new guitarist/vocalist Mike Sperner in the meanwhile and the album featured more melodic Metal sounds now, with Hard/Heavy Rock edge compared to the earlier efforts, influenced by bands like Bonfire, Vice and offered partly even US Glam hints. "To be continued" seems to have sold well, coz Steamhammer pulblished album # 5 "Welcome tonite" 1993, that just like the previous album featured Hard Rock and Glam influenced Metal. After another single 1994 ("I'm a loser") and the last album "Persecution mania" (1995) on the Rockwerk label, the guys decided to take a time out, which took till 2006 when Railway returned with almost the classic line up of the 80's.Please visit Railway's Homepage
Discography:
"Just imagination" 7" EP 1981 (Unit Art)
"Rock from Hell - German Metal Attack" Comp.-LP Tracks 1983 (Noise)
"Railway" LP 1984 (Roadrunner)
"Railway II" LP 1985 (Roadrunner)
"Climax" LP 1987 (Roadrunner)
"Tomorrow" 12" EP 1989 (Munich Maintown Project)
"Backstage all access" 12" EP 1989 (Munich Maintown Project)
"To be continued" LP/CD 1991 (Intercord)
"Welcome tonite" LP/CD 1993 (Steamhammer)
Rain
Lineup:
Ingo Willuweit
Band-info:
There must have been a pretty smart label manager once who thought "Lets fool all the stupid Heavy Metal fans and release a single with only black sleeve and a meaningless logo on it!". And then I wondered what the guy thought if he could sell 1000 of it or not. I guess you know the answer yourself. On the label I see at least the guy who composed the 2 tracks "Green eyed witch queen" and "Fighter" and more info I can't tell you about the band. Musically the "Green eyed witch queen" is a harmless melodic ballad while the "Fighter" offers Dio-ish Hard Rock/Metal with a midtempo drum beat like Accept. I don't need to emphasize how obscure this 7" is, do I? Rarely seen piece...Discography:
"Rain" 7"EP 1989 (Able Label)
Raindancer
Lineup:
Dieter Roth (guitar, vocals)
Jürgen Kühnlein (guitar, vocals)
Friedl Amon (keyboard)
Ludwig Fellinger (bass)
Evert Fraterman (drums)
Band-info:
Raindancer from Nuremberg was kinda the band Revolver under a different monicker, with the only difference being that Mary Thompson and Wilfried Schnieker wasn't in the band anymore and the latter got replaced by Evert Fraterman. Their next adventure just lasted for one more album, though it's not really bad stuff if you might think that was the reason for their off. "A little bit confused" offers a colored mix of Hard Rock, AOR and even lighty hints of Heavy Metal, everything highly melodic and pompish with the featured musicians are showing that they wasn't amateurs. What's the reason they gave up so early I can't tell, but seen by the more than average quality of the album a second one would have been deserved. For heavy AOR fans thumbs up...
Rain’n Steel
Lineup:
Jürgen Hörth (vocals)
Dirk Bertels (guitar)
Michael Künz (bass)
Peter Rust (drums)
Band-info:
There are several spellings of the band name seen so far, Rain'n Steel or Rain'n'Steel as on the album, so don't be surprised. These guys from Westerwald have been around since the late 80's, while Jürgen Hörth was already playing in Vötca in the early 80's together with later Rage guitarrero Manni Schmidt. There should be 3 Demos available in total and the 3rd one "Get your Metal shower" features good Party Metal with Accept and old Twisted Sister parallels, while on their album "Atomic Tango", recorded in January '91, the guys drifted more into midpaced Melodic Metal fields, but not leaving out some melodic speedbangers either. Jürgen Hörth later joined Noize R Us. If you got further info, please get in touch.Discography:
"Get your Metal shower" Demo 1990 (selfreleased)
"In the city" Promo 7" EP 1990 (ZMP)
"Atomic Tango" LP/CD 1991 (ZMP)
Ramp
Lineup:
Band-info:
A band from Hessen (Kassel/Gießen area), that was actively playing live during 1988. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
Rampage
Lineup:
Band-info:
Hard Rockers from Bremerhaven that was featured on both Rock Cyclus compilations (3 songs in total) playing a sort of Kraut Rock rooted Hard Rock. I wouldn't be much surprised if those songs would appear on any obscure NWOBHM single at all. Their sound was similar to some of the early 80's british Hard Rock bands.Discography:
"Hard road" Comp.-LP Track 1980 (Rock Cyclus)
"Rock Cyclus II" Comp.-LP Tracks 1981 (Rock Cyclus Bremerhaven e. V.)
Rampage (Dietzenbach)
Lineup:
Frank Hallstein (vocals)
Paul Beckedorf (guitar)
M. Marder (guitar)
T. Kiefer (drums)
Band-info:
A Hardcore Thrash act, that's reminding a bit of the Bombers From Burundi with musically certain Bay Area influences, hailing from Dietzenbach, greater Frankfurt area, who released an 8 track Demo in 1988. Rampage was formed early '87, but the guys was previously active in the scene as Merciless Death. After the Demo release their drummer left the band. If you have more info, please get in contact.Discography:
"Rampage” Demo 1988 (selfreleased)
Rampage (Frankenthal)
Lineup:
Hans Mappes (guitar, vocals)
Band-info:
A local Hard Rock/Heavy Metal band with NWOBHM roots from Frankenthal/Ludwigshafen that was active in the early 80's but never recorded anything. There is a private live cut known from the Herbst Rock Festival in Frankenthal 1982. Vocalist Hans Mappes later was active for 4 years in the well known Jule Neigel Band and afterwards joined Hardrockers Shyboy. If you got more info, please get in touch.Rampage Live 1982
Discography:
Rampage (Hamburg)
Lineup:
Karsten Heyer (guitar, vocals)
Roland Grapow (guitar, vocals)
Jörg Schädlich (bass, vocals)
Rainer Müller (drums)
Band-info:
Rampage was the band that the young Roland Grapow earned his first laurels in. This band from Hamburg shouldn't be confused with the Hard Rockers from around the corner of them, Bremerhaven. These Rampage was around since 1980 with all of the guys playing in several other groups before. In October '80 their debut album "Victims of Rock" was recorded, that must be counted to the very first german Heavy Metal LP's. Though the majority of songs still got that late 70's Hard Rock vibe, their sound was heavy and the NWOBHM influences was doing the rest. Judas Priest seems to have been faves of them. On the second album "Love lights up the night" there still some british influences could be heard, but Rampage got a bit more melodic on that album with almost Scorpions/Accept touch, that introduced new vocalist Hans Barth and ex-Airless drummer Rolf Krogmann behind the drumkit. Grapow quit after the album but later would get famous with Helloween, as we all do know. Henjo Richter (later in Gammaray) replaced him till 1985 when the band disbanded. Hans Barth was working in the early 90's with ex-Zed Yago/Velvet Viper drummer in Bubi The Schmied. Rolf Krogmann was founding member of Hamburg's No Mercy.Discography:
”Victims of Rock” LP 1981 (Hafenklang)
"Victims of Rock" 7" EP 1981 (Hafenklang)
"Love lights up the night" LP 1983 (Hafenklang)
Random
Lineup:
Olaf Herzog (guitar, vocals)
Thomas Gähner (guitar)
Njoschi Weber (guitar, vocals)
Thomas Wischt (bass)
Fred Otto (drums)
Band-info:
Random was the baby of the "Nietenpapst" himself, Fred Otto, who was previously active since 1980 in the band Empire. One of the founding members 1983 of this band from Wuppertal was Michael Kupper, better known as "Majk Moti", who got later famour for his work with the way bigger Running Wild. In March/April '85 the first privately (Random Records) produced album "We'll be with you" was recorded and distributed without picture sleeve, but with insert and in clear coloured vinyl (light brownish or beer colour?) and just a limited number of copies was manufactured, featuring a melodic rocking sort of Heavy Metal with slightly Hard Rock edge. Nowadays this LP is just a rarely seen guest. It took the guys 5 years to supply the follower "Randomized", that Ingo Nowotny was responsible for. The album, though being released on Metal Enterprises won't have had received too much attention by the Metal press, wasn't as bad as it's lousy cover artwork might have suspected and features quite more than solid melodic Heavy Metal, that doesn't need to hide behind other bands of that era at all. Fred Otto had reinforced Random with Kai Ulrich (ex-Zenith) on guitars, Thomas Rothes (vox), Folko Canter (bass) and Andy Kocks (guitar) who all was doing a respectable job. For "Body games" the line up had changed once again. Kalle Herrmann (bass) and Martin Fago (guitar) replaced Folko Canter and Kai Ulrich. Also Olle B. Stardust had joined as new singer. The sound of the album refined the style they celebrated on "Randomized" and certain late Warlock/Doro influences prevailed now, with hints of the US glammy touched midpaced Metal. After the live album "Hate us" 1993, Random still released the "Homeless" album in 1995, followed by the "Sex" MCD 1998 and "Reloaded", their last effort so far in 2010.Discography:
"We'll be with you" LP 1985 (selfreleased)
"Randomised" LP/CD 1990 (Metal Enterprises)
"Body games" LP/CD 1991 (Metal Enterprises)
"Hate us" CD 1993 (Metal Enterprises)
Rank, Rich & Famous
Lineup:
Band-info:
Rank maybe, but Rich & Famous I dunno. Although they pretty much had the balls to reach the top with their featured number on the "Mayence Rock '91" sampler. Above standard AOR in the vein of early Bon Jovi with a female vocalist. A shame they didn't make it back in the day. The guys was featured with "Magic love" already on that city's local compilation from 1990 either. A talented band for sure. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
"Magic love" Comp.-LP Track 1990 (Mayence Rock '90)
”I can't stop” Comp. LP Track 1991 (Mayence Rock '91)
Rankness
Lineup:
O. Eimer
R. Torres
Band-info:
A late 80's band from Mayence that was featured on a local Mayence compilation album, with the upbeat US Metal Keel inspired rocker "Don't say no". If you got more info, please get in touch.
Rapunzel
Lineup:
Olaf (guitar, vocals)
Günter (bass)
Jürgen Ochmann (drums)
Band-info:
A quite good Southern Rock band that formed of course in the southern part of the ex-GDR in 1982, in Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz) to be exact. Moshquito’s Ingo “Igor” Lohf was either part of these bluesy Heavyrockers in their early stage during 1983/84, before he got enlighted and joined forces with the much heavier acting Argus. Rapunzel was often playing live in their area and besides playing own material like “Auf der Überholspur”, “Lady Whisky”, “Der Lügner”, “Hau endlich ab” or “Ich bin müde” (they had about 10 own songs), performed mainly covers of ZZ Top and Molly Hatchet, Blackfoot, Canned Heat and such. After the political collapse of the communist system 1989/90, the, in the meanwhile, to a fourpiece grown band disbanded in 1991. 2018 some of the remaining members tried a reunion, but nothing concrete happened anymore. Studio recordings aren’t known to exist at all.Discography:
Rat Race
Lineup:
Stephan Heipt (vocals)
Ortwin Russ (guitar)
Martin Reuss (bass)
Gerhard Härter (drums)
Band-info:
A Metal band with Speed and Thrash influences from Usingen/Frankfurt, that was active during the early 90's and featured former Poseidon guitarist Ortwin Russ. The guys recorded a first 2 track Demo in 1991 plus another one during 1993 and also played some local gigs, before they disappeared again. Further info is welcome.Discography:
"Demo 1991" (selfreleased)
"Rat Race" Demo 1993 (selfreleased)
Rat Salad
Lineup:
Krit (vocals)
Arnd Stronkowski (guitar)
Möbius (guitar)
Higgy (bass)
Alex (drums)
Band-info:
Hamburg Thrashers that just formed in January 1990, but Arnd Stronkowski was previously playing already with Hamburg legends Not Fragile and the lesser known but nice Bleedfort, where also Krit used to be member in. The band was plagued by several line up changes and could eventually record their debut Demo "...but done" during early March '91 with the line up that you see to the left, and that just had crystzallized 3 months prior to the Demo recordings. Two of these songs " Freedom of art " and "Sikhs", that sounded in a way very american with stylistical parallels to early Death Angel, Anthrax and either Testament, was taken for the local compilation CD "Brown Bottles go ape: Apish excursion", to promote Power/Thrash bands from Hamburg's area. Some of the meanwhile members of Rat Salad later formed Warpath, including their vocalist Krit who later got replaced by Achim. After a second Demo "What kind of dressing" in 1992, also this good Thrash band vanished into nothingness.Discography:
"...but done" Demo 1991 (selfreleased)
"Brown Bottles go ape: Apish excursion" Comp.-CD Tracks 1991 (Tipsy Apes)
"What kind of dressing" Demo 1992 (selfreleased)
Rated Roze
Lineup:
Band-info:
A Hard Rock/Metal band, that was active around 1989/90 and originating most probably from the Hanau/Frankfurt area. The band played live at the local Hanauer Superrock-Festival '90. Further info is welcome.Discography:
Rated-X
Lineup:
Carl Rothert (bass)
Mario V. Timme (guitar, vocals)
Ovidio Lipan (drums)
Band-info:
Rated-X was founded in 1982 by ex-Rizzo guitarist Mario V. Timme, Carl Rothert (ex-Tale, Bastard and Fargo) and the drummer of the romanian Prog Rockers Phoenix, Ovidio Lipan. This Hannover based troop got a huge hype back in the day and their debut album got quite good feedback by the press, but seriously, with that kind of goodtime Hard Rock I hardly wanna imagine that they caught interest of the kinds that was longing for Heavy Metal. Their "Rock blooded" LP was the very first Noise Records production ever (apart from the early compilations). The album lacks of hits and ideas, instead the guys was trying to revive some late 70's Hard Rock sounds and combine them with more topical sounds. A last attempt to still get the curve completely failed 1984 with the single "Baby I love you", that featured new vocalist Richie Thurlow and the NDW bass player Frank Neumann (ex-Scarlett Anvil Band and Bernward Büker Bande). Rated-X turned into modern sounds, but completely dropped the Metal influences and sounded on the title track like a cross of Queen ("A kind of magic") and early Billy Idol with some Hard Rock guitars. Mario Timme and Frank Neumann went back to the Bernward Büker Bande and later Timme founded Ellis Island.
Rattlehead
Lineup:
Dietmar Felten (vocals)
Thomas Siegl (bass)
Rainer Ressemann (guitars)
Band-info:
Erlangen thrashers who started thrashing about in 1988 and released 2 thrash-demos in the following years, before changing their name to Delicate News. Some early members mentioned on M-A who may or may not have been part of the recording of the first demo are Norbert Gottschick on vocals as well as Sven Gallenbacher, Stefan Ascher and Klaus Burian - all occational drummers. More info is needed.Discography:
Demo 1989 (selfreleased)
"Screaming Days" Demo 1990 (selfreleased)
Rattlesnake Butcher Shop
Lineup:
Dirk (vocals)
Guido (guitar)
Gregor (guitar)
Uff (bass)
Ralf (drums)
Band-info:
I don't know where the Rattlesnake Butcher Shop guys was hailing from, but I don't think it's so important either, if you heard their 7". The single features the studio track "Toxic" and the live cut "Loser" and it's pretty much clear that live their sound was way more aggressive and raw. Stylistically it's not so easy to put them in any drawer as "Toxic" features R'n'R ladden Hard Rock with 77'er Punk touch, but on "Loser", the guys sounded way more Metal with even thrashy Mosh parts. So they've been any kind of Crossover band...Discography:
”Rattlesnake Butcher Shop” 7” EP 1992 (Playtime)
Ravage
Lineup:
Band-info:
A local (most probably Hamburg based) Thrash Metal band that released at least one Demo during 1986. Two of the trax ("Bloodrush" and "Return of scorn") was featured on the Total Massacre Vol. 2 underground compilation tape. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
"Total Massacre Vol. 2" Comp.-MC Tracks 1986 (Death Metal Production)
Ravage (Dorsten)
Lineup:
Oliver Das (guitar, vocals)
Uwe Steinmeier (guitar)
Andreas Berlage (bass)
Thomas Schnermann (drums)
Band-info:
Though you sometime can see the Dorsten based Ravage being founded already in 1981, a Metal Hammer article clearly states the year 1984 for that purpose. Between 1984 and 1989 the band produced 3 Demo tapes, while 1986 the D&S label additionally produced the two trax "Coming alive" and "Ravage" for their "Break Out - German Metal Tracks No 2" compilation and both belong to the creme de la creme of that album. NWOBHM influenced up to date headbang compatible german Power Metal that opens girls hearts and pants. And it took another 2 years till they entered a studio again in 1988 to record their selfproduced debut, the "Swords and heroes" MLP, published on the indie label Autark. The production was quite thin and one could wish back the way more rough appearing D&S low budget sound again, though the main style of the band hadn't changed much. Power Metal with melodic touch and sense for melodies with in places Helloween influences, a solid performance. But I can't get rid of the feeling that something got missed. The band didn't disappear after the MLP and either had plans for another LP production around '89/90, but it took them again 11 years for the next album "Ravage" and 15 more for "Poseidon" in 2015. Dirk Welke who did play the bass from 1986-87, joined Burning Ambition in 1987 and later appeared on Mephisto's "In search of lost refuge" album. Further info are very welcome.Discography:
"Break Out - German Metal Tracks No 2" Comp.-LP Tracks 1986 (D&S)
"Swords and heroes" MLP 1989 (Autark)
Rave
Lineup:
Claus Fischer (vocals)
Gunnar Stöver (guitar)
Christian Stöver (guitar)
Uwe Hilscher (bass)
Michael Stöver (drums)
Band-info:
A band from Sande that released an early 7" entitled "Angel on the run" back in 1982 and celebrated a very NWOBHM inspired sound with a few slightly hints of Maiden and Motörhead f.e. The 5 track Demo "In the name of Rock" was recorded around late 1985 or early '86 and Claus Fischer wasn't in the band anymore as he and earlier guitarist Gunnar Schröter switched to other Sande locals Diamond Breaker. Instead Katja Bielefeld took over the vocal job and did it not so bad at all. Still later in 1986 the lads presented another selfproduced vinyl in form of the "New time of pride" LP, that was made in a limited edition of just 200 copies as rumours do say. Gunnar Stöver had left Rave in the meanwhile and the sound of the band had changed during the past years, but on trax like "Light my fire" the old NWOBHM worship still prevails supremely. You can hear those twin leads spread all over the album nevertheless, though the majority of the trax featured a softer kind of Melodic Metal with mainly pounding beats. Rave must have called it a day around '87/88 as in 1988 Christian Stöver was founding member of Crossroads.Discography:
"Angel on the run" 7" EP 1982 (selfreleased)
"In the name of Rock" Demo 1986 (selfreleased)
"New time of pride" LP 1986 (selfreleased)
Raventears
Lineup:
Band-info:
A local Munich troop that was influenced by the classic Hard Rock sound, active during the late 80's. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
Raving Madness
Lineup:
Rassi (vocals)
Marc (guitar)
Dirk Faulstich (guitar)
Steffen Röder (bass)
Frank Lindenthal (drums)
Band-info:
Fulda locals, that formed in 1991 and had a classic Power/Speed Metal sound. Raving Madness recorded just a 4 track Demo with the title "Smelling like shit" before the band split up or probably even just changed name, as 3 of the guys (Rassi, Dirk Faulstich, Frank Lindenthal) formed Defcon 2 in 1993. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
"Smelling like shit" Demo 1992 (selfreleased)
Rawhead
Lineup:
Der Karl (vocals)
Frank Kempf (guitar)
Andy Süss (bass)
Der Steff (drums)
Band-info:
Rawhead was a local Fulda Thrash band that was active between 1988-1991 and featured the ex-Geböhlke shouter Andy Süss (as "Der And") on bass. The lads recorded an unofficial Live Demo with an 8 track machine and forwarded it without cover to friends. The cover seen below was made at a later timepoint. Frank Kempf alias "Der Frank" after Rawhead's split joined War 'n Pain, while Andy Süss formed Vex.(Thanx to Andy Süss for the info)
Discography:
"Rawhead" Demo 1990 (unofficial)
Rax
Lineup:
Jörg Wesenberg (vocals)
Dirk Martens (guitar)
Erik Brinkmeier (guitar)
Claus Prochnow (bass)
Bent Borwitzky (drums)
Band-info:
A melodic Heavy Metal band from Hamburg, which was active since the beginning of 1985. Their first demo "Dressed In Rags" was released in October 1986, a 35 min full-lenght affair of well-produced and melodic yet not too commercial HM. Peter Pickhard was then replaced by Claus Prochnow on bass and Stephan Rose by Bent Borwitzky on drums. The "Distant call" demo from June '88 received quite positive reviews with comparisons to either Rainbow of the Joe Lynn Turner era, with in places lots of speedy material. Prochnow left the band after "Distant call" and got replaced by 3rd bassist Jörg Petersen. During September '88 RAX was one of the winners of the local Hamburg Oxmox band contest. Also Dirk Martens was replaced by new guitarist Thomas Buuck in the late 80's. After another tape recorded around 1990 plus the appearance with the Melodic Metal trax "Panic in paradise" and "Welcome to the world" (very Accept-ish) on the local Hamburg scene compilation "The Desert's still alive Vol. II - Hard and Heavy", the guys produced their only CD "The winner's defeat" during 1993, that featured 4 tracks and was pressed in just tiny quantity. We'd be thankful if someone could provide a better pic of the cover and any further info is welcome as well.Discography:
"Dressed in rags" Demo 1986 (selfreleased)
"Distant call" Demo 1988 (selfreleased)
"The Desert's still alive Vol. II - Hard and Heavy" Comp.-CD Tracks 1990 (Baierle Special)
"The winner's defeat" MCD 1993 (selfreleased)
Ray
Lineup:
Band-info:
A local Hamburg act that was one of the winners of the local Hamburg Oxmox band contest in September '88 besides Alley Cat and RAX. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
Razor Keen
Lineup:
Band-info:
A Heavy Metal band that is known to have performed on stage at the Open Air Festival in Ensdorf 1989. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
Razzle Dazzle
Lineup:
Rolf Krüger (bass, vocals, guitar, piano)
Siggi Mertens (guitar)
Ulli Dünewald (drums)
Band-info:
As far as I know, Razzle Dazzle was from the Bonn/Koblenz area but their sound on the first album "Nothing will be the same" is hard to describe. Besides "Hide and seek", a track that might feature almost Progressive Metal, the main material of the vinyl was just kinda Melodic Prog Rock/AOR. The second album "Inside the Dazzledome" then finally delivered melodic Hard Rock, that was sounding like the early 80's big commercial bands.Discography:
"Nothing will be the same" LP 1990 (Jaguar)
"Inside the Dazzledome" CD 1993 (Duck Dive Music)
Reaction
Lineup:
Band-info:
Reaction was a band from Ibbenbüren and is only known to be featured on a local Compilation released in 1987. The track "Saturday night" shows a strange sort of Hard Rock with female vocalist, but imo she can't really sing. And either the song kinda has a strange almost poppy beat and the distorted guitars just jump in here and there. Only during the solo part you can fully hear that Reaction must be Hard Rockers. If you got further info, please get in touch.Discography:
"Saturday night" Comp.-LP Track 1987 (Pink Pop presents "schwarz auf weiß")
Reactor
Lineup:
Jerry Bryant (vocals)
Robert Käfferlein (bass)
Markus Baier (guitar)
Thorsten Schwalm (guitar)
Muck Langmaier (drums)
Band-info:
The Reactor lads from Augsburg managed to enter the japanese import charts with their selfproduced debut CD "Rather dead than dishonoured" in the early 90's. This band was active since around 1988, and after an 8 track Demo 1990, recorded and published their album independently. Reactor adopted a style that was similar to old Helloween, an extremely fast Speed Metal wih melodic edge, but one thing they was missing, a Michael Kiske. But on the other hand wih Jerry Bryants less hightpitched style of singing, the guys wouldn't probably get connected that easy with Helloween, who knows? They kept that concept for the "Revelation" CD either and though the production was more powerful on that album, stylistically nothing had changed. For speed mongers always worth a try. In the later 90's they released 2 more CD's, "Farewell to reality" (1995) and "A short faitytale" (1998), before they after the "No rest yet!" album disbanded in 2006.Discography:
"Demo 1990"
”Rather dead than dishonoured” CD 1991 (selfreleased)
"Revelation" CD 1993 (React)
Real Deal
Lineup:
Linus Förster (vocals)
Heinz (guitar)
Ralf (bass)
Bully (keyboard)
Andi (drums)
Band-info:
A local classic Rock band from Augsburg, that participated at the biggest national band contest during 1989 - the Varta Musikpreis '90 - which was splitted into separate contests of each federal state and Real Deal won the Bavaria contest. The prize was the production of their track "She's talking dirty" that appeared on the related album, featuring songs of all the winners of their own states. Since the bands, to participate at the event, had to mail Demo tapes to the Jury, there should be also a Demo of Real Deal available from around 1988/89. Nevertheless the guys already produced an independent 3 track Maxi with the songs "Macho got lost", "Say hello to America" and "Is it love" around the fall of the 80's (most probably 1989), that together with the compilation track delivers a sort of classic Melodic Rock/AOR with influences of f.e. Foreigner and similar acts. Further info is welcome.Discography:
"Macho got lost" 12" EP ?? (selfreleased)
"She's talking dirty" Comp.-LP/CD Track 1990 (VARTA Musikpreis '90)
Real Magic
Lineup:
Band-info:
A Hard Rock or Metal band from the Osnabrück area, which was active during the very late 80's and early 90's. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
Reaper
Lineup:
Thomas Bennecke (vocals)
Matthias Kraft (bass)
Andreas Maus (guitar)
Robert Kölling (guitar)
Peter Fickert (drums)
Band-info:
Reaper started in Kassel officially in 1984, but originally Robert Kölling (guitar), Andreas Maus (guitar) and drummer Ralf Kaese already in 1983 was rehearsing under the monicker Treibstoff. Matthias Kraft joined on bass guitar a while later, but Ralf Kaese left the band again after a few months. Peter Fickert became the new drummer and had the idea to call the band Reaper. So Reaper was born in February '84 and Thomas Bennecke (vox) was the last who joined the troop. Daniel Zimmermann replaced Robert Kölling in April '84 and with this line up the guys published the first 6 track Demo in 1985, that was shortly followed by a privately manufactured 12" called "Fairies return", recorded in February '85. Nowadays this vinyl is quite a hyped item by collectors but independently reviewed the 4 trax featured are just common melodic middle league Heavy Metal , in places sounding the same bumpy as bands like Sacrafice or Arrow, though Reaper celebrated a completely different style. On the "Metal or what?" Demo Normen Schäfer had replaced Fickert, who had to quit already in 1986, but also Schäfer wasn't playing on their debut LP "Beyond all time" anymore. Michael Wengerter was hired by the lads 3 weeks before the recordings started and once again we have to thank Ingo Nowotny for being the only one who had figured out the class of Reaper and gave the headbanging crowd what they was screaming for, speed driven Power Metal at it's best. The evolution of the musicians that still recorded "Fairies return", was undeniable at this point. Early Running Wild meets Noisehunter meets Grave Digger or something in that style, no need to search for comparable bands at all. The quality this album delivered should stand for it's own indeed. 1991 the second album "The years within" again was produced by Ingo Nowotny, but in the end the revived Mausoleum Records published the CD that should be the last lifesign of Reaper for a long time. The "The Cardinal sins" album followed not before 2000 and the guys continued releasing Demo's and other albums till nowadays.Discography:
"Reaper" Demo 1985 (selfreleased)
"Fairies return" 12" EP 1986 (selfreleased)
"Metal or what?" Demo 1988 (selfreleased)
"Beyond all time" LP/CD 1989 (Metal Enterprises)
"The years within" CD 1992 (Mausoleum)
Reapers Domain
Lineup:
Tim Hofmann (guitar)
Konsti Tabakov (guitar, vocals)
Alex Leipold (bass)
Andreas Wellbach (drums)
Band-info:
A Power Metal band from Plauen/Saxony, that also formed during the political change inside the ex-GDR during September 1990, which made things easier to start bands seen by the option to finally buy affordable instruments and technics. Not sure if some these guys, except of Tim Hofmann who came from the band Hammers, was previously playing in other bands in their area since they right in 1990 debuted with their first Demo "Unprotected", which surprisingly offered respectable approaches in the songwriting department, but suffered a bad soundquality. Also Demo # 2 "Escaping!" from 1991 was just recorded with practise room sound, but also underlines the first positive impression, that the guys left with the debut, by performing a very playful sort of technical yet melodic Power Metal with own identity, that reached it's peak with the 3rd and last Demo "Do not believe your eyes", recorded during early 1993 and featuring songs from the previous 2 Demos in re-recorded versions with new vocalist Roger Voigt and solid Demo sound this time, that framed the technical skills of both guitarists in the right way. Reapers Domain split up around 1994 and Tim Hofmann joined Ignis Fatuus, while he also was playing in the Tormentor follower Dynamic Front since 1993.(Thanx to Rumblefist for material)
Discography:
"Unprotected" Demo 1990 (selfreleased)
"Escaping!" Demo 1991 (selfreleased)
"Do not believe your eyes" Demo 1993 (selfreleased)
Rebel
Lineup:
John Lawton (vocals)
Thomas Clauss (guitar)
Albert Stübler (keyboard)
Peter Weber (guitar, bass)
Peter Garattoni (drums)
Band-info:
A band from the Stuttgart area, featuring ex-Requiem axeman Thomas Clauss plus both ex-Eulenspygel Peter Garattoni (later in Tox/Veto/Midnight Darkness) and Peter Weber. With John Lawton (ex-Uriah Heep/Lucifer's Friend) they recruited a prominent vocalist and produced an album at the Spygel Studio of Peter Garratoni in the early 80's, that features a widely range of all kinds of Hard Rock, including proggy stuff like Clauss' old band Requien used to perfom and especially the powerful Heavy Metal number "Stargazer", that reminds of the classic Rainbow stuff. Their material and sound was more or less targeted to the future. Though the album offered quite some qualitative significant material, it became silent around the band in case of other releases, but they still was playing live till 1986 and either went to a studio in Frankfurt/Main spring '86 to record their second LP, which was announced for April that year, but never released at all. Around that time Thomas Clauss and John Lawton must have founded the band Zar, that usually is known to be the follow up group of Rebel. With Zar the guys had a little bit more success then.Discography:
"Stargazer" LP 1982 (Ohr Today)
Rebirth
Lineup:
Peter Battis (bass)
Frank Braun (drums)
Uwe Battis (guitar)
Frank Brücker (keyboard)
Simon Witold (percussion)
Martin Groben (vocals, guitar)
Band-info:
A strongly 70's influenced Hard Rock band from Dudweiler/Saarland, active since autumn '79. They released a privat 7" sometime in 1980 or '81 called "Hard life", featuring a nice, quite fast heavy Hard Rocker totally inspired by Rainbow on side A and a more hard boogie-ing rocker on the flipside. Furthermore they got picked up by Punkt Records to be part on their local compilation "Dem Nachswuchs eine Chance!" with the two trax "Tune is evil" and "How much I love you". The 7" is a highly recommended piece.Discography:
”Hard life/Get out of my way” 7”EP 8x (selfreleased)
"Dem Nachwuchs eine Chance!" Comp.-LP Tracks 1982 (Punkt)
Rebor Angel
Lineup:
Marco
Band-info:
A Death Metal band from the greater Mannheim area (Bad Dürkheim), that was active during 1990, musically influenced by bands like Obituary and Death. Please note, due to the odd band name we guess it was just any typo and the original band name could be Reborn Angel. Further info is needed.Discography:
Reckless
Lineup:
Christian Wieser (vocals)
H. Kupke (guitar)
U. Strenger (bass)
S. Angerer (drums)
Band-info:
A Heavy Metal band from Landshut, that was active in the mid and late 80's and later changed name to Nice'n Dirty. As Nice'n Dirty they produced privately a single in 1992. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
Recklezz
Lineup:
Carsten Vollmer (vocals)
Henrik Rosien (bass)
Andre Ipar (guitar)
Matthias Meßfeldt (drums)
Band-info:
Recklezz was previously active as Spicey Virgin from 1985-1986, founded by Matthias Meßfeldt and Andre Ipar, before they changed name to Recklezz. Falk (ex-Bleedfort) joined them in 1987 and they recorded a first Demo, after which Henrik Rosien quit in February '88 to get replaced by Mostafa Masteri (bass). Also Nick Witt joined at the same time on the second guitar. The second tape was finished in January '89 and the band in the meanwhile had developed a quite highly technical yet nasty sounding Power/Thrash with diverse Speed elements and Carsten Vollmer in places was wheeping like King Diamond. Similarities to swiss Drifter are undeniable but Recklezz delivered a much more thrashy sound indeed. Carsten Vollmer wasn't in the band anymore, when the two Recklezz trax "Sarah's return" and "Storm attack" was recorded for the obscure local Hamburg scene compilation "The Desert's still alive Vol. II - Hard and Heavy", initiated by the Metal Star magazine. Chris Klauke (ex-Ill Prophecy/Mania) did guest vocals on both songs. Also Mostafa Masteri left the band directly after the recordings and Henrik Rosien returned. Recklezz split up afterwards, while Matthias Meßfeldt joined Mortox in 1991 (and Not Fragile) and is now playing in Black Hawk.Discography:
"Recklezz" Demo 1989 (selfreleased)
"The Desert's still alive Vol. II - Hard and Heavy" Comp.-CD Tracks 1990 (Baierle Special)
Red Alert
Lineup:
Band-info:
Not to be confused with Red Alert from Hessen, these guys was originating from Baden-Württemberg or Bavaria and was active during 1986/87. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
Red Barchetta
Lineup:
Hans-Jürgen Bauer (guitar, vocals)
Dirk Fuchs (bass, vocals)
Peter Baumgärtner (drums)
Band-info:
A Hard/Kraut Rock band from Bad Kreuznach, that appeared with the slightly progressive hard rocker "L.A. Lady" on the local underground compilation “Kreuznacher Rockszene '84”.Discography:
"L.A. Lady" Comp.-LP Track 1984 (Kreuznacher Rockszene '84)
Red Coast
Lineup:
Hans-Jürgen Kraft (vocals)
Frank Vieth (bass)
Heinz Ress (guitar)
Uwe Schäfer (guitar)
Peter Wolfer (drums)
Band-info:
The Red Coast 12" is one more vinyl for those who can't get enough of these countless Accept copycats. These guys from Duisburg on their selfproduced "Bad boys of Rock" mini album play a melodic yet midpaced rocking Heavy Metal that shows similarities to Mad Max and especially mid 80's Accept maybe on "Metal heart", and at no minute can break out of the middle league cage, that they caught themselves inside. It's solid stuff nevertheless, but how many other bands wasn't playing solid either? Not very remarkable material...
Red Heat
Lineup:
Hansi Gerstenacker (vocals)
Stephan Erhardt (guitar)
Holger Seeger (keyboard)
Franz Nagel (bass)
Randy Arcachon (drums)
Band-info:
Most probably a band from southern Germany (greater Pforzheim area?), featuring the former Czakan drummer Randy Arcachon. The band only released one CD 1993 as far as I know, that features besides some catchy melodic AOR/Hard Rock either a few Heavy Metal numbers like the powerful "Rock the world". For 1993 Red Heat used to have a quite 80's worshipping sound, that should make it easier for melodic Hard Rock fans to check out their CD.Discography:
"1st" CD 1993 (Long Island)
Red Hot
Lineup:
Uwe Bradke (vocals)
Rüdiger Blindert (guitar)
Achim Meyer (bass)
Christopher Dahm (drums)
Band-info:
Red Hot from Weilerwist/Brühl was kinda the springboard for Forced Entry/STS 8 Mission, as Rüdiger Blindert and Achim Meyer both would form Forced Entry in 1986 after Red Hot eventually did split up. The guys started in 1984 as Hemmorrhage, but soon changed name to Red Hot and released a 4 track Demo during early/mid 1985, celebrating solid melodic standard Metal in the vein of Accept, Gravestone, TNT or Talon. Another 3 track tape was recorded during October the same year, borrowing Rising’s Axel Lendle on synthesizers, but the band didn't last for long. Blindert recorded also the "Savage maniacs" Demo of the band Matrix, where he met future Forced Entry bassist Roland Wedel. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
"Demo '85" (selfreleased)
“Red Hot” Demo 1985 (selfreleased)
Red Point
Lineup:
Band-info:
A Heavy Metal band from Hamm, that sounds like a Heavy Metal version of Kiss on the title track of their selfproduced 7" from 1986. The guy's sound on "We want Rock" was as usual Accept influenced and reminds of bands such as Sacrafice, Arrow but with the difference, that Red Point indeed could avoid those bands amateurish hints and delivered a ground solid little piece of vinyl, whose jewel is the B-side Invader alike track "Rule the world". If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
”Red Point” 7” EP 1986 (selfreleased)
Red Rooster
Lineup:
Borin' Dr. Fingers (guitar, vocals)
Grovin' Earl of Fastfood (bass)
B.T. Crash (drums)
Band-info:
The Red Rooster MLP belongs to the less exciting D&S releases imo. These guys from Münster recorded the album in January '89 and also spread a Promo Demo containg the same songs. "Trouble? Take our sister to party" features quite uninspired heavily bluesy touched AC/DC aping Hard Rock, that suffers by the really annoying vocals. But also musically Red Rooster wasn't really the yellow of the egg, though fans of AC/DC might probably risk an ear here.Discography:
"Demotape" Demo 1989 (selfreleased)
”Trouble? Take our sister to party” MLP 1989 (D&S)
Redbacks
Lineup:
Stefano Poccioni (vocals)
Peter Hartung (guitars)
Stefan Brandtner (guitar)
Nico Boutris (bass)
Bernd Herrmann (drums)
Band-info:
This band would later become Hunter and just lasted some months under the name Redbacks. These guys started in Mannheim in autumn 1983 and right the same year released their debut "Fight for you on stage". They still have been a bit Hard Rock rooted in the beginning and played a kinda Accept-ish style, but the Tyrant alike sounding power song "Nightfighter" or also "Revenge", that would later appear on the Hunter debut, was created in these first months. There is also a Reh/Tape in my archive that I personally bought from Rock Power Mag editor Axel Thubeauville (Bonebreaker/Earthshaker Records), when he sold his old tapes, that's called "Hunter" and features 6 tracks, incl. some of the Demo. No clue if that tape was official or not, I guess not.Discography:
"Fight for you on stage" Demo 1983 (selfreleased)
"Hunter" Reh/Tape 1983 (selfreleased)
Reflection
Lineup:
Timo Lehmann (guitar)
Band-info:
A Thrash band from Lünen, North Rhine-Westphalia, that was active between 1992 to 1996, but seems they never published anything . The band's career started after the second attempt to revive Reflection in 1999 and so far 3 albums are on the bill. If you got more info about the early phase, please get in touch.Discography:
Reforger (Krefeld)
Lineup:
Martin Langer (guitar, vocals)
Dietmar Hendricks (guitar)
Peter Stoffels (bass)
Das Tier (drums)
Band-info:
A native german singing Hard Rock/Metal band from Krefeld with an early LP, that's showing us their musical influences themselves by covering Judas Priest's "Breaking the law". The lads took their influences from all possible kinds of hard styles like Hard Rock, Punk and Heavy Metal, so "Eingekreist" is a quite hard brew to swallow. Perhaps the closest comparison might be Motörheard around 1979/80. The vinyl is a private pressing and I'm sure just a certain number of copies was manufactured, that should all include an insert.Discography:
”Eingekreist” LP 1982 (selfreleased)
Reforger (Osnabrück)
Lineup:
Thomas Zgela (vocals)
Jens Nagel (bass)
Sven Schomaker (guitar)
Christian Trentmann (guitar)
Uwe Trendl (drums)
Band-info:
A Power/Speed band from Osnabrück, that released their selftitled debut Demo late in 1989, partly recorded in December ’88 and November ‘89, and contributed the track "Take my life" (recorded at D&S Studio and also featured on the Demo) to one of the obscure D&S compilations "The Best Of German Metal Newcomer", though that track features just a slow sort of Power Metal with vocals reminding a bit of Carrion/Running Wild, while certain other songs on the tape deliver archetypical german Speed Metal.Discography:
"Reforger" Demo 1989 (selfreleased)
"Take my life" Comp.-LP Track 1990 (The Best Of German Metal Newcomer)
Regardless
Lineup:
Band-info:
Self-proclaimed "Heavy Party Rock" from Ludwigshafen. Their 3-song demo was described as pretty good US-type glam rock/metal a la Mötley Crüe. If you have more info, please get in contact.Discography:
"Demo 1989"
Regenbogen
Lineup:
Mario Noll (bass, vocals)
Holger Richter (guitar)
Manuell Noll (drums)
Band-info:
A Metal band from Zeitz (ex-GDR), not to be confused with Regenbogen from Berlin, that was active in the early 80's. These guys fell more into the second half of the 80's and changed name to X-Ray Examination in August 1990. Regenbogen's sound was most probably rather Thrash Metal influenced. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
Regenbogen (Berlin)
Lineup:
Ralf Bursy (vocals)
Detlef Brauer (guitar)
Wolfgang Hoffmann (bass)
Hans-Christian Weise (key)
Lutz Brauer (drums)
Band-info:
Regenbogen (Rainbow) was founded by Ralf Bursy, Detlef Brauer, Wolfgang Hoffmann, Hans-Christian Weise, Lutz Brauer 1977 in Berlin (ex-GDR) as a classic Rock group who covered songs of Uriah Heep and Deep Purple and right 1 year later they could produce some first songs for the national broadcast service, having a first national hit with the Rock song "Du machst mich verliebt". Despite the coming success, Ralf Bursy left Regenbogen together with Detlef Brauer (later found in Berluc) and joined the band Keks (Sebastian Baur, later in MCB, was playing in that band too). Bursy after quitting Keks joined the Hard Rockers Prinzip and started a successful solo career in the mid 80's. For Bursy came Ralf Dohanetz (later found in Berluc and Mephisto) on vox and he got replaced by Ronald Pilgrim (ex-Mephisto) later. Also Wolfgang Hoffmann left and got replaced by Robert Hanke (bass), while with Andreas Schwendemann a new guitarist joined who got replaced by Jörg Powileit a while later. Jens Kuge came for Lutz Brauer on drums. The bands style till early 1984 with all the new members that came and go, had changed towards a more melodic Hard Rock/Metal sound and playing Maiden and Priest songs at their live shows. With another national broadcast recording "Eiskalt" (ice cold) they entered the hitparade 1984 once again, a fine melodic midpaced Heavy Rocker who's opening riff is ripping off Survivor's "Eye of the tiger". Beside the studio track the band recorded a Demo the same year with songs like "Der Träumer" or "Der alte Fan". There are also Live recordings with good quality known including songs like "Großmaul", "Lass uns fliegen" and "Die Blinden" that's showing Regenbogen's sound in '84 was close to Maiden's. But in fall of 1984 except of Ronald Pilgrim all musicians left the country. Ex-Regenbogen guitarist Andreas Schwendemann tried to revive the band together with Countdown musicians but he left the GDR too in late 1985 and Regenbogen's story ends here. Ronald Pilgrim was active afterwards in Berluc and Jens Kuge was co-founding melodic Metallers Cobra in 1986. Jörg Powileit hooked up with S.A.D.O. for a while and 1989 founded Preussen together with Lutz Brauer.Discography:
"Du machst uns allen etwas vor" Comp.-LP Track 1979 (Auf dem Wege...)
"Demo '84"
Broadcast recordings:
"Du machst mich verliebt" (1979)
"Eiskalt" (1984)
Regicide
Lineup:
Paul Dahlmann (vocals)
Abschaum (guitar)
Schwanz (guitar)
Rob Schomaker (bass)
Fitti (drums)
Band-info:
A Velbert/Essen/Wuppertal based Speed Metal band, that was founded in December 1987 as a studio project, but later became a real band that recorded 3 Demos during that decade, starting with "Never surrender" in 1987, followed by another tape with unknown title and lastly "Regicide", recorded in October '88 after the band had won a local Cologne newcomer contest in September '88. On the early Demos these guys' sound could be compared to Agent Steel's style with just a different type of vocals in Living Death/Legacy vein. The band played a few live shows just regional mainly in their area during the 80's and eventually released their debut CD "Welcome in the family" in 1995 on Expander Records and is still active nowadays. If you got more info, just get in touch.Discography:
"Never surrender" Demo 1987 (selfreleased)
"Regicide" Demo 1988 (selfreleased)
"Unwanted" Comp.-MC Track 1990 (Metal Mutilation I)
Reinforce
Lineup:
Ulrich Rohmann (vocals)
Axel Julius (guitar)
Thomas Sopha (guitar)
Martin Bork (bass)
Rainer Gollan (drums)
Band-info:
Reinforce was kinda pre-Lions Breed, founded 1977 in Gelsenkirchen and active till 1982 when they changed name to Lions Breed. They recorded a first Demo one year later and scored a deal with Earthshaker Records to release the first LP "Damn the night".Discography:
Rejoice
Lineup:
Band-info:
An obscure local Hard Rock act that was hailing from Freilassing in deepest Bavaria, close to austrian metropolis Salzburg. There's only a selfproduced 7" of these guys known, but that one features with "Forever" a pretty nice little pompish melodic Hard Rock hymn, that's musically adopting influences of the classic Europe's style. In general Rejoice are surely of interest for fans of bands like Dominoe, Trace, Domain, Karo and such, whenalso the B side "We together" fails to repeat the catchy "Forever". Further info is needed.(Thanx to emosteel for the recommendation)
Discography:
"4ever/We 2gether" 7" EP 1987 (selfreleased)
Remain
Lineup:
Michael Gerull
Band-info:
A Speed Metal band from Velbert/Essen/Wuppertal, that was active during the fall of the 80's. If you got further info, please get in touch.Discography:
Remedy (Frankfurt)
Lineup:
Klaus Texter (vocals)
Klaus Eggert (guitar)
H. Eggert (guitar)
Bips (bass)
N. Huybreghs (drums)
Band-info:
Frankfurt/Main-Remedy described themselves as "dirty Hard'n'Roll" and an old review tells of a very Rose Tattoo/AC-DC influenced sound. The fivepiece was formed late 1983 and active in the live scene since already summer 1984, prior to the first Demo recorded in 1984. For a short period the band was already buried, but early '88 they tried it once again and subsequently recorded their second Demo tape. Afterwards their vocalist sadly gave up. If you have more info, please get in contact.Discography:
"Dirty Hard Rock'n'Roll" Demo 1988 (selfreleased)
Reminder
Lineup:
Band-info:
A Hard Rock band from Uslar, north of Kassel, that played at the "Uslarer Hard Rock Special" festival during early 1990. Further info is needed.Discography:
Renegade
Lineup:
Peter Scholl (guitar, vocals)
Michael Scholl (drums)
Roland Thee (bass)
Gerhard Konieczny (guitar)
Band-info:
The bros Peter and Michael Scholl have been active already since 1976, when they started their first band Flamebow in Frankfurt/Main, that at a later point and after shredding many musicians, would become Renegade in 1983. The leading german Heavy Metal label Gama Records also picked up this promising act and produced their debut album in February 1986. The songs on "Renegade" are mainly fast bangers, that often do remind of glorious Grave Digger or Tyrant days. The midpaced trax are just middle league stuff, but this album and the band itself defined themself through the speedy power bangers. In a way their album perished a little bit in the mass of the equally sounding bands, but didn't really deserved it at all. 1991 the guys returned with another album, that was released on the (I think) Gama related Laserlight Digital label, that offered slightly more melodic, but still good Heavy Metal, with basically debut album style related material also. But after this last attempt Renegade disbanded 1993.Discography:
”Renegade” LP 1986 (SL)
"Lost angels" CD 1991 (Laserlight Digital)
Renegade
Lineup:
Band-info:
A local Stuttgart melodic Heavy Rock act that was actively playing live during 1988. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
Renegade
Lineup:
Band-info:
A local Heavy Metal band from Nuremberg, that was active during 1987. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
Repression
Lineup:
Michael Bremer (vocals)
Martin Kraft (bass)
Frank Dorittke (guitar)
Georg Kraft (guitar)
Eckhard Ostra (drums)
Band-info:
Repression was founded in 1982 by Michael Bremer (vocals), Martin Kraft (bass), Frank Dorittke (guitar), Georg Kraft (guitar) and Eckhard Ostra (drums) in Dinslaken/Hünxe, 2 years later produced their NWOBHM influenced debut Demo 1984 and participated with the Judas Priest inspired track "Repression" on the "C.B.R.frischungen" compilation. The same track would later appear on the debut album either but with different title. In 1985 vocalist Michael Bremer got replaced by Jörg Gast. Also Alexander Hitz (bass) and Michael Bödeker (guitar) replaced Dorittke and Martin Kraft and after getting chosen by David T. Richards to use the track "Invasion" for his Iron Tyrants III sampler, Repression released their debut album on BWS Records that was produced and mixed by Georg Kraft himself and features material like the "Repression" track on the CBR sampler, between German Metal and Judas Priest, that more or less was just of average quality, but solid sounding for sure. Yeah and then after such a debut when the band was almost clinically dead, Ingo Nowotny had one of his rare brainstorms and released the "Germany rocks" MLP 1991, that delivered typically mid 80's sounding alike Power Metal, close to Running Wild/Tyrant on "Keep the fire buring" with super fat sound. Alexander Hitz switched to guitar, replacing Bödeker who quit the band, and Andreas Roschak (ex-Airwolf) took the bass position. The selfproduced "Prevalence of pain" CD from 1992 featured melodic Heavy/Power Metal, that probably lacked a bit in the mix, but nevertheless delivers still decent stuff. Repression disbanded 2001 after still having released the albums "Sign of the times" (1996) and "Repression - Live" (1997), that for a band like Repression indeed wasn't the best times to survive. Most of the guys formed Messiah's Kiss 2001.Discography:
"Demo 1984" (selfreleased)
"Repression" Comp.-LP Track 1984 (C.B.Rfrischungen)
"Invasion" Comp.-Pic LP Track 1987 (Iron Tyrants III - The Europan Blitz)
"Animal raw" LP 1988 (BWS)
"Germany rocks" MLP/CD 1991 (Metal Enterprises)
"Prevalence of pain" CD 1992 (selfreleased)
Reprisal
Lineup:
Sebastian
Band-info:
A Speed Metal band from the Salzgitter/Hildesheim/Hannover area, that was active during 1989. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
Reptile
Lineup:
Andreas Neuderth (drums)
Band-info:
A local Metal act from the Frankenthal/Mannheim area featuring the Sudden Darkness drummer Andreas Neuderth. The band was active between 1984-85. Further info is needed.Discography:
Reqium
Lineup:
Band-info:
A Thrash Metal band that was playing live gigs around 1990. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
Request
Lineup:
Dieter Bartl (guitar, vocals)
Achim Zwirner (guitar)
Matthias Ubert (bass)
Josef Roßinski (drums)
Band-info:
A shortlived Hard Rock band from Augsburg, that just lasted from 1982-83, but gained themselves a very good reputation as live band. The band alrady dissolved 1983 and most of the guys founded the Pop/Rock band Peter Pan. Only Achim Zwirner stayed on the heavy path and continued first with Meridias and later with the local Metal band Waxx.Discography:
Requiem
Lineup:
Boris Grgic (vocals, bass)
Nico Flores (vocals, guitar)
Roland Jakob (guitar)
Patrick Fleischer (drums)
Band-info:
A Crossover/Thrash band from Hanau in the Frankfurt/Main area. The band was known to be often in the proximity of Nothing Core starlets A.O.K. 1992 they produced the album "Inside my dream" independently, which featured a quite coloured mix of Prong influenced Thrash, Hardcore, Punk with either a strong Black Sabbath touch, mainly midpaced material. After another Demo in 1993, they signed a contract with Shark Records and released the "Soulmachine" album in 1994.Discography:
"Inside my dream" CD 1992 (Bamot Island Film & Records, Inc.)
"Tape '93" (selfreleased)
Requiem (Stuttgart)
Lineup:
Robert Baumann (vocals, drums)
Thomas Clauss (vocals, guitar)
Gerd Reimann (bass)
Ben Mettin (keyboard)
Band-info:
A proggy Kraut Rock band with quite heavy Hard Rock sound and partly great guitar parts. The songs are spiked with epic parts, dreamy clean vocals and heavy outbursts the same. The arrangement of the songs was in places phenomenal for fans of the late 70's Prog Hard Rock sound, yeah kinda like Legend "From the Fjords" sort like stuff. Recommended album...Thomas Claus formed Rebel a while later and in the late 80's the band Zar.
Rescue
Lineup:
Thorsten Neumann (vocals)
Jörg Schröder (guitar)
Henning Reese (bass)
Sebastian Kinder (keyboard)
Jochen Steinberg (drums)
Band-info:
Rescue was a band from Kiel, that was acting between Melodic Rock and Heavy Rock. Their only album was an LP that was a prize for attendance (or most probably them being the winner) at the Deutscher Rockpreis '89 contest. The selftitled album, recorded in August '90, features 10 extremely melodic AOR/Heavy Rockers with good vocal performance and a few sweet twin leads, but something was missing to made them jumping into the upper elite of the german Melodic Rock acts imo. These lads already won similar prizes in 1988 and '89, when they could contribute the songs "Juliette" and "Fce to face" to several compilations.Discography:
"Juliette" Comp.-LP Track 1988 (NDR Hörfest '88)
"Face to face" Comp.-LP Track 1989 (Deutscher Rockpreis '89)
”Rescue” LP 1990 (Rockwerk)
Rescue
Lineup:
Thomas Weigelt (bass)
Band-info:
A band from the wider Frankfurt area, that was active during the early/mid 80's. Thomas Weigelt in 1984 was a possible candidate for the vacant bassplayer position in Dartmoor, we know that he left Rescue within that year. Further info would be helpful.Discography:
Resistance
Lineup:
Band-info:
A young band from Niedersachsen, that formed around 1990 and stylistically was influenced from classic Heavy Metal up the Thrash tunes. Further info is needed.Discography:
Resistance
Lineup:
Martin Tölle
Band-info:
A Heavy Metal band from Horn-Bad Meinberg in the Detmold/Paderborn area, that was active during the early 90's. The guys was searching for live gigs during late in 1992. Further info is needed.Discography:
Rest In Pain
Lineup:
Ronald Schuch (guitar, vocals)
Uwe (bass)
Michael Schlichter (drums)
Band-info:
Rest In Pain from Tröbnitz, south of thuringian city of Jena, started out back in March 1988 originally as a Punk unit under the name of “Dolfburgs Rache”. Thommy and Gunnar shared vocals, Kermit on guitar, Ronald Schuch on bass and Michael Schlichter behind drums, in this form they tortured their surroundings until summer, before Thommy decided to quit, while the rest of the bunch raised speed and went into a brutal Hardcore act instead, combined with a name change to Rest In Pain. Besides diverse private garage gigs and spending the following 2 years with intense rehearsing, the band somehow survived the decline of the ex-GDR and had their first official club gigs in spring '90, while a bigger audience was waiting at the Pausaer Sommerrock Open Air 1990. At this time Rest In Pain still performed their brutal Hardcore, but the band started stagnating in October 1990, because it's only been Michael and Ronald who permanently rehearsed together on conventional base. This resulted in Ronald learning to play guitar and taking over vocals as well, while new member Uwe was found on bass instead already in February '91. In the summer of ’91 then guitarist Kermit and singer Gunnar eventually had to leave the band for good, that now became a trio with Ronald Schuch (guitar, vocals), Uwe (bass) and Michael Schlichter (drums) building Rest In Pain’s new core. In July 1991 their first Demo "Screaming decomposed disorder" was recorded, presenting the band with a new, midpaced, rather technical Death Metal sound, reminding slightly of finish Xysma. The first gig of R.I.P.’s new incarnation already happened in September then, before the second Demo "Insalubrious sights from the dark half" was recorded right in the next year. The doomy, but rather progressive style of the band spiked with grind parts and vocals in the Prophecy Of Doom/Carcass vein, invited the new label Invasion Records to produce an EP during 1993 with the guys, entitled "Intense tremor", that was released as a MCD, which couldn’t really draw interest of bigger labels due to their complicated and almost unapproachable style. 1994 Rest In Pain once again still could release a Split 7” with Grindcore geeks Vaginalmassaker on Regurgitated Semen Records, featuring the songs "Possessed by mouldy" and "Insalubrious sights from the dark half", but here their story ends as well.Discography:
"Screaming decomposed disorder" Demo 1991 (selfreleased)
"Insalubrious sights from the dark half" Demo 1992 (selfreleased)
"Execrable visions from a morbid brain" Comp.-MC Track 1992 (Thrashing East Attack Vol. II)
"Intense Tremor" MCD 1993 (Invasion)
Rest In Peace
Lineup:
Ansgar Ducker (guitars)
Stefan Oster (bass)
Lorenz Haala (drums)
Volker Frerich (vocals)
Band-info:
A trademark German Deathrash-act from Gelsenkirchen, founded in 1985 by Stefan Oster, Ansgar "Una" Ducker and Lorenz "Lore" Haala, with Volker Frerich completing the line-up on vocals in 1986. Their only semi-proper legacy was the "Frightning Visions" demo released in 1988, presenting a rough, primitively recorded form of olde Kreator/Sodom-style brutal Thrash that despite its weaknesses certainly carries some charm, mostly because of Volker's extreme vocals. However, shortly after the demo's release the band suddenly got tired of the "Satanic" and "negative" image of Metal, discovered hardcore punk, denounced their old ways in interviews and changed their name to Left Alone, continuing in this direction instead. Vocalist Volker did however make a return to the cool side of the fence in the mid 90's and became one of the co-founders of Germany's #1 Hellhammer-worshippers Warhammer, until his sad demise in March 2001. This bandcamp-page offers all Rest In Peace material for download, as a tribute to the late Volker, including a 1987 live recording that actually sound better than the demo.Discography:
"Frightning Visions" Demo 1988 (Selfreleased)
Restless
Lineup:
Czeki (vocals)
J. J. Wilson (bass)
Chris Kim (guitar)
Phil Highstone (guitar)
Rolf King (drums)
Band-info:
I remember the Restless guys even getting an own poster in an old Metal Hammer Mag. These lads from Erlangen should have get the band started in around 1982 and Gama signed almost every Heavy Metal band from their area that wasn't up on the tree after they counted to 3 it seems. Already in 1984 Restless released the debut "Heartattack" that features quite typical early 80's German Metal with strong Tyrant/Grave Digger hints on the faster trax and a few Accept-ish influences on the midpaced ones. Czeki their vocalist sounded like a cross of Udo Dirkchneider and Toto of Living Death. The second album "We rock the nation" was mixed (like the debut too) by Ben Fenner who already worked for Whitesnake and was finished February '85. With new drummer Roger Tillmann, Restless tried to jump into the profi camp, but the material on "We rock the nation" just like on the debut could be only considered good average, which wasn't enough I guess for their big aim. Though those who enjoy the typical mid 80's german stuff, will probably have some fun wih both albums. The band though split up shortly after the "We rock the nation" LP.Discography:
"Heartattack" LP 1984 (Scratch)
"1. Rock-Fabrik Festival '84" Comp.-LP Tracks 1984 (Gama)
"We rock the nation" LP 1985 (Scratch)
"We rock the nation" 7" EP 1985 (Blow up)
"Heavy Metal Live in Germany Vol. I" Comp.-LP Tracks 1985 (Scratch)
"We rock the nation" Com.-LP Track 1986 (Force of the Blade)
Return
Lineup:
Holger Rohr (guitar)
Uwe Hohn (vocals)
Holger Rabenschlag (keyboard)
Peter Lerch (drums)
Lutz Eckel (guitar)
Heiko Bräuer (guitar, bass)
Band-info:
A Rock band from Bremerhaven that released a self financed 7" in 1980 (can't say much about it) and appeared on the local compilation Rock Cyclus II one year later playing an in places Jimmy Hendrix inspired Kraut Rock with Hard Rock parts and even a few single NWOBHM alike twin leads.Discography:
"Teeny/Raus Aus Der Stadt" 7" EP 1980 (selfreleased)
"Rock Cyclus II" Comp.-LP Tracks 1981 (Rock Cyclus Bremerhaven e. V.)
Revelation
Lineup:
Michael Mayr (vocals)
Chuck Jackmuth (bass)
Guido Gilles (drums)
Schlumpf (guitar)
Jason A. Smith (guitar)
Band-info:
Hard Rockers probably from Kadenbach, whose sound was close to AC/DC's in the beginning. The band released a first Demo in 1989 and did several live shows before they in 1991 put out a second tape called "Medal for sale". If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
"Medal for sale" Demo 1991 (selfreleased)
Revenge
Lineup:
Michael Paaries
Band-info:
A Hard Rock band from Unterlüß, that was active around 1984. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
Revenge
Lineup:
Band-info:
A female fronted Hard Rock band with an early independent single from I dunno where, as the sleeve reveals just still more secrets. If we take a look at the labelcode (8060), then Raubbau Records seems to be involved here, which might be a hint, that the band came most probably from northern Germany. The title track shows similarities to "Hells bells", but just on the surface as the lads acted way heavier than AC/DC. A really strong Heavyrocker. Unfortunately the level sinks lower on the flipside track "No Mercy", that has got a R'n'R edge which is pushing the song back to the late 70's again. Nevertheless, the girls voice was incredible powerful, pretty much giving "Upside down" a special note for sure.Discography:
"Upside down" 7" EP 1981 (Mojo)
Revenger
Lineup:
Band-info:
A band from most probably Hessen, that was seen playing live at the "Ready for Rock Festival" in Herborn (north of Frankfurt) in 1990. More info is welcome.Discography:
Revolt
Lineup:
Matthias Stingl (vocals, guitars)
Christian Fleuren (guitar)
Christian Hinzmann (bass)
Martin Baumann (drums)
Band-info:
A melodic Power Metal from Voerde, north of Duisburg, that was featured on the first part of the Peace-Eater compilations with the song "Don't fear the night". The song was taken off the guy's Demo "...but illusions stay" recorded in 1990. Sadly that band that started in 1985 split up shortly after the Demo already. Revolt's melodic, NWOBHM influenced speedy Power Metal with Iron Maiden and Helloween influences surely belongs amoung the better songs on the sampler and strongly reminds me of the brazilian band Santuario. Their drummer later resurfaced in Metropolis during the mid 90's. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
"...but illusions stay" Demo 1990 (selfreleased)
"Don't fear the night" CD Compilation Track 1991 (Peace-Eater Vol. I)
Revolver
Lineup:
Mary B. Thompson (vocals)
Dieter Roth (guitar, vocals)
Jürgen Kühnlein (guitar, vocals)
Friedel Amon (keyboard)
Ludwig Fellinger (bass)
Wilfried Schneiker (drums)
Band-info:
A Hard Rock band from Nuremberg/Würzburg featuring the black female vocalist Mary B. Thompson. The guys started in 1980 and got produced by Dieter Dirks who tried to make them the next big Hard Rock thing besides the Scorpions in Germany. The album just lacked of hits and didn't really feature anything new besides well produced but average Hard Rock with AC/DC and Boogie edge. The band split up quickly and most of the guys formed the better Raindancer, who either wasn't blessed with bigger success.Discography:
"First shot" LP 1981 (Polydor)
"Good time people" 7" EP 1981 (Polydor)
Rhun
Lineup:
Andrea Springer (vocals)
Thorsten Palzhoff (guitar)
Bernd Borgschulte (guitar, keyboard)
Dirk Eckhard (bass)
Donald König (drums)
Band-info:
A female fronted Power Metal band with progressive touch, that was active during the early 90's. Originally the band started under the monicker Fangorn in Dortmund during the late 80's and was seen in 1989 to play some local live gigs. 1990 the name change to Rhûn happened and more live activities followed. During 1993 the band released a Demo tape with the title "Behind faces", whose track "Petite Chanson D'Lamour" also appeared on the "Peace-Eater Vol. IV" Compilation CD in 1994.Discography:
"Behind faces" Demo 1993 (selfreleased)
Ricochet
Lineup:
Karl-Rene Jobig (vocals)
Sören Hückel (bass)
Markus Karrer (guitar)
Björn Tiemann (keyboard)
Jan Keimer (drum)
Band-info:
The Ricochet guys to the left do look like a Pop band, but seriously their less known 7" features a highly professional sounding melodic AOR/Hard Rock mix with cool guitar work. Sadly the single features no further info, but the guys published 2 more CD's in 1995 ("Among the elements") and 2005 ("Zarah - A teartown story").Discography:
"The edge" 7" EP 1992 (selfreleased)
Ride
Lineup:
Günther Vogel (bass)
Band-info:
A local Augsburg Heavy Metal band of the mid 80’s, known to have participated at the Adelsrieder Heavy Hours, happening on May 23rd in1987, where they supported Gravestone, Black Knights and Metal Storm. Ex-Black Knights bassist Günther Vogel joined the band during 1988. Further info is needed.Discography:
Ridge
Lineup:
John Ridge
Band-info:
Again John Ridge (ex-One-O-One, Dirty Money, Hot Property, E.F. Band, Picture) with another attempt to score a record deal. And like Hot Property, his active band at that time, he's trying with AOR. The song "Leavin' the table" sounds close to Journey. I got no clue who was with him in the band, probably Roy Last, but his project Ridge sounded way softer than Hot Property. Hit Parade stuff...
Riff
Lineup:
Band-info:
A hard rock band from Bremen. They broke up in November 1983, and some members came to form the Heavy Metal band SERMON. If you have more info, please get in contact.Discography:
Riff
Lineup:
William Lennox (vocals)
Frank Becking (guitar)
Burkhard Westerhoff (bass)
Volker Britz (drums)
Band-info:
Riff was a Hagen based Hard/Sleaze Rock band, that was originally founded as The Riffs back in 1984 by vocalist/guitarist Frank Becking (ex-The Ramblers/The Stripes/Caprifischer), Burkhard Westerhoff and Volker Britz (ex-X-Quadrat), musicians that more or less came from the early 80's NDW corner. Around 1986/87 they shorted name to just Riff and the english born vocalist William Lennox (ex-Days of Sorrow) joined the band, who later got signed by the german RCA label and produced their debut album "Mission love" during 1989. Riff's style was classic Sleaze Rock with mainstream Rock/Blues influences, reminding of bands from the local L.A. Cockrock scene. Around 1990 the guys relocated to London and tried to get their name better known to international medias. In London the guys also produced their second album "Fever", but Volker Britz and Burkhard Westerhoff left Riff shortly after the recordings. Lennox and Becking initially renamed the band to Crash N' Burn and released the album under the new monicker, featuring now ex-Nena drummer Rolf Brendel and Gareth Thomas on bass.(Thanx to emosteel for the suggestion)
Discography:
"Mission love" LP/CD 1989 (RCA)
"No mercy" 7/12" EP 1989 (RCA)
"All or nothing" 7"/12"/MCD 1989 (RCA)
Riff Raff
Lineup:
Franz Potreck (vocals)
Jan Potreck (guitar)
Michael Hamann (guitar)
Tulpe (bass)
Braso (drums)
Band-info:
A Thrash band from Krogaspe in the upper north that formed in 1990 and released 2 Demos before Tulpe as well as Braso got replaced by Sven Löbl (bass) and Henning Rohweder (drums), and the D&S label produced a CD enttiled "Recently deceased" in 1993. Their style was quite rough late 80's style Power/Thrash in the american vein with even 80's style production and aggressive vocals. Definitely recommended for Thrashers. 1995 they changed name to Cosmic Haze.Discography:
"Be shit & live" Demo 1991 (selfreleased)
"Deep frustration" Demo 1992 (selfreleased)
"Recently deceased" CD 1993 (D&S)
Rigor Mortis
Lineup:
Band-info:
A Hard Rock band from the Stuttgart area who appeared with the track "Ha" on a local compilation LP. The song features quite ok 70's influenced Purplish Hard Rock with heavy guitars. If you got more info, please get in touch.
Rigor Mortis (Herne)
Lineup:
Andreas Hochhaus (vocals)
Martin Gersmeier (bass)
Nico Weidenhaupt (drums)
Peter Hanke (guitar)
Thorsten Förster (guitar)
Band-info:
Rigor Mortis was a band from Herne who started in 1982 and developed an extremely heavy speedy Power Metal style during the years till their first Demo "First assault" that vocalwise was sort of late 80's Hexx sounding. But after the Demo some guys left the band and Jörg Pryztarski (vocals, guitar) and Andrè Chapelier (bass) of the defunct Atlain came in and the lads could contribute the way more thrashy sounding "Tic Tac Toe" track for the Teutonic Invasion 2 sampler. Of the same style also if not even more rude (in places a bit like Blind Illusion sounding) was the following Demos "Ungeheuerlich" (1988) and "The Seed..." (1990) that featured new drummer Christian Pohl and Jörg Hanke on bass. During late February '89 Rigor Mortis was scheduled to record Demos for their debut album at the Franz K. Studio in Witten, but once again those plans got cancelled and most probably those songs was used for "The seed...". But they didn't make it much longer and split up in the early 90's.Discography:
”First assault” Demo 1985
"Tic Tac Toe" Comp.-LP Track 1988 (Teutonic Invasion Part Two)
"Ungeheuerlich" Demo 1988 (selfreleased)
"The seed..." Demo 1990 (selfreleased)
Rion, The
Lineup:
Horst Fischer
Band-info:
A Hard'n'Heavy band from Cologne that was active during the late 80's. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
Riot Squad
Lineup:
Roland Preßl
Band-info:
A classic Heavy Metal band from Ehingen, near Ulm, that was actively playing live leastwise around 1990/91. Futher info is needed.Discography:
Rising
Lineup:
Reinhold Penno
Krecklenberg
Herold
Dahlhaus
Band-info:
A band from Duisburg that produced a single back in 1981, which was released on the Unit Art label, so there might be about 500-1000 copies available. The band's style was a mix of roughly sounding Hard and Kraut Rock with still late 70's touch.Discography:
”Free to be free” 7” EP 1981 (Unit Art)
Rising (Salzgitter)
Lineup:
Band-info:
A female fronted Melodic Rock/AOR band from Salzgitter that's only known to be featured on a local compilation released in 1985. The track "America" features solid AOR with a few melodic Hard Rock influences, though I wish a heavily distorted guitar would drown the keyboard. They way they produced the song it appears more or less poppy. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
”America” Comp. LP Track 1985 (3320 Musikinitiative Salzgitter)
Risk (Ludwigsburg)
Lineup:
Holger Klingler (vocals)
Michael Ott (guitar)
Frieder Ege (guitar)
Dietmar Klein (bass)
Ralf-Peter Tinkl (keyboard)
Radi Radeff (drums)
Thomas Hunke (sax)
Band-info:
These Risk was from Ludwigsburg/Stuttgart and shouldn't be confused with the Speed Metal band hailing from Witten. Risk was founded in late 1982 and released their debut 7" on the indie label Antoni Records (see also Death Warrant), as well as featuring a third song on the "Talent Show '83" compilation on the same label. It features energetic Hard Rock in the vein of bands such as Toto, Asia, but quite heavier. Their sound was equal to the typically early US AOR bands. After winning the statewide Baden-Württemberg band contest in 1987, they could participate on the national band contest and got rewarded with a track ("With your eyes") featured on the soundtrack to that contest. On the local Ludwigsburg compilation "Lubu rocks" from 1990, their song "No more tears" was found also. After the selfreleased CD "This kind of story" (1994) the guys kept on playing live and performing mainly cover versions of bigger groups.Discography:
”Keep on crying” 7” EP 1983 (Antoni)
"Ice Cold" Comp.-LP Track 1983 (Talent Show '83)
"With your eyes" Comp.-LP Track 1987 (Deutscher Rockpreis '87 - 5. Bundesrockfestival)
"No more tears" Comp.-CD Track 1990 (Lubu rocks)
Risk (Witten)
Lineup:
Heinrich Mikus (guitar, vocals)
Thilo Hermann (guitar)
Peter Dell (bass)
Jürgen Düsterloh (drums)
Band-info:
The Witten Speed Metallers Risk originally formed as Faithful Breath already back in 1967 and was active by celebrating different styles from Kraut, Hard Rock to Heavy Metal, including a not unimportant number of albums, throughout the whole 70's till 1986, when Heinrich Mikus, Thilo Hermann, Peter Dell and Jürgen Düsterloh (drums) decided that it was time for a name change, coz the lads discovered their love for the rising Speed/Thrash Metal wave. They recorded a Demo tape 1987 (info needed) still with Thilo Hermann on guitar that made Steamhammer signing them, but Hermann left to join Holy Moses. Ex- Angel Dust/Crows Roman Keymer replaced him and recorded guitars on their debut album "The Daily Horror News" from 1988 together with Heinrich Mikus, while the guys did a big support tour afterwards through Germany together with Rage and Sabbat, as well as support act on the european tour of Manowar. Thilo Hermann returned in 1989 for the second album "Hell's animals" and Mikus only concentrated on vocals. The band's style had slightly changed from the early Speed Metal to a more and more classic Thrash Metal sound by playing a similar early Angel Dust style with in places "South of heaven" hints. After the "Ratman" 12" (1989) and their most successful, but also a mainly midpaced power/thrashing Metal featuring album "Dirty surfaces" 1990, Thilo Hermann got replaced by Christian Sumser. This line up would remain steady till Risk's end in 1993, but with "The reborn" the growing Power/Thrash influences on "Dirty surfaces" was consequently developed and paired with a rising Doom Metal influence, that had it's peak on the last effort "Turpitude" in 1993. Thilo Hermann played a while with Running Wild and joined Grave Digger later.Discography:
"The Daily Horror News" LP/CD 1988 (Steamhammer)
"Hell's animals" LP/CD 1989
"Ratman" 12" EP/MCD 1989 (Stemhammer)
"Dirty surfaces" LP/CD 1990 (Steamhammer)
"Russian nights" Comp.-LP/CD Track 1990 (The Future of Metal is now)
"The reborn" LP/CD 1992 (Steamhammer)
"Turpitude" CD 1993 (Steamhammer)
Ritchie V.
Lineup:
Harald Ernst Vogt (vocals)
Christian Baier (guitar)
Thomas Dietweger (guitar)
Thomas Wohlhaupter (bass)
Markus Hobmeier (drums)
Band-info:
Ritchie V. was a Hard Rock act from Straubing/Bavaria featuring the last singer Ritchie Newton (or Harald Ernst Vogt, as the guy was originally called) of the Heavy Metal band Mass shortly before they disbanded in 1987. Newton either was vocalist of the Regensburg based Hard Rock/Metal act Monsters, whom he recorded some songs with in 1988 that remained unreleased. The first one of Ritchie V.'s two 7 inches was released in January '86 in a limited edition of 1000 copies with fold out cover, while his supporting act was the band Tyrax. Both of the songs featured quite well done melodic Hard Rock (B-side's a dreamy ballad), and especially the title track kinda reminds me of Van Halen, due to the keyboard parts. Two other singles followed, "When children cry" in 1989 and the last one "Saxanna" recorded in January 1992 features just 3 turgid Melodic (Hard) Rock ballads, with other musicians being Fred Schröttinger (keyboard), Christian Baier (guitar), Thomas Wohlhaupter (bass) and Peng Sau Hi (drums). In 1994 Ritchie Newton also appeared on the "Bad to the bone" EP of the Heavy Metal band Warreck, released on Rockwerk Records. Ritchie also did vocals for the band Pussy Lover on their sole single from 1989.(Thanx to emosteel for additional info)
Discography:
"Pleasure of live" 7" EP 1986 (selfreleased)
"When children cry" 7" EP 1989 (selfreleased)
”Saxanna” 7” EP 1992 (selfreleased)
RMP
Lineup:
Thomas Rönnebeck
Klaus-Peter Matthießen
Band-info:
A band project from the Kiel based former members Thomas Rönnebeck and Klaus-Peter Matthießen of other local Kiel bands Keziah Mason and Defcon 5, who recorded another Demo together during 1993. RMP's style could be described as commercial Hard Rock with the main focus on catchy radio compatible songwriting. Further info is needed.Discography:
"Demo 1993" (selfreleased)
Roach Clip
Lineup:
Sven Bauer (guitar, bass, vocals)
Jürgen Dick (guitar)
Rolf Schmidt (bass, guitar)
Stephan Studer (drums)
Band-info:
After the 9 track Demo "Abyss", that was recorded in late 1989, Freiburg's Roach Clip (also seen written as Roachclip in the band's own adverts) released a quite good album on the small indie label Silver Moon Music (private pressing?) in 1990, that covers a wide spectrum of the Metal genre, from Melodic Metal to speedy Power Metal, without dismissing the typical german Metal sound at all. These guys who've been active since 1986, must be counted to the clientele of german bands that was giving the german scene a new impact for sure like Wishes Burn, Violent Touch or Rue Morgue. For fans of Silk'n'Steel, Violent Touch or even Trancemission definitely recommended, though the vinyl doesn't surfaces that often anymore. Late 1991, after the death of their recent drummer Nenad Keul, the band was searching for a new guy to continue their work.Discography:
"Abyss" Demo 1989 (selfreleased)
"Till morning light" LP 1990 (Silver Moon Music)
Road Crew
Lineup:
Axel Schunder (vocals)
Band-info:
A band from Witten, most probably active during the late mid 80's, featuring vocalist Axel Schunder, who later sung in the bands Anger, Ambivalenz and Black Jack. Further info is needed.Discography:
Roadie Nice
Lineup:
Engelhardt
Danner
Band-info:
A female fronted Hard Rock act from Regensburg who got featured with their rocker "Gimme a bullet" on the locally released "Rock around Regensburg" compilation. Stylistically the song taken off their 1987er Demo combines classic straight Hard Rock riffing with softer Rock tunes in the middle parts, that won't really fit to the song's heavy structure at all. Further info is needed.Discography:
"Gimme a bullet" Comp.-Pic LP Track 1987 (Rock Around Regensburg)
Rochus
Lineup:
Tobias Nehmer (vocals)
Maik Hoffmeister (guitar)
Heiko Axt (guitar)
Michael Steglich (bass)
Ralf Michels (drums)
Band-info:
Rochus from Erfurt, beside Blackout and Argus/Moshquito, belonged to the well known Thrash acts of the ex-GDR back in the day. After Tobias Nehmer left Macbeth in autumn '85, he formed the band Rochus with Maik Hoffmeister, Heiko Axt, Michael Steglich and Ralf Michels during early 1986, that in the beginning was more like a classic Heavy Metal troop, but switched sound during the following year. Their first bassplayer Michael Steglich soon was fired and Gerd Willnauer replaced him till 1988, when he decided to leave the band. But Hans-Ulrich Wilke (ex-Cosmos) had just moved to Erfurt and joined the Thrashers immediately in April '88. Right in May the band recorded their first 5 song Demo tape, that yet was not officially for sale. It also includes an early version of the band's hit "Let's trash", besides other songs being "Excalibur", "Nur ein Traum", "St. Rochus" and the impressive "Mithridates". Rochus' sound was highly influenced by bands such as Kreator and Slayer at that time, while technically they also performed on a higher level than other GDR bands back in the day. When Heiko Axt had to follow the call of the army, Howlin' Mad's guitarist Silvio Skoberle joined to replace him in November '88, till Axt returned from the army in late 1989. During January '89, after graduating the level of an extra class amateur band, they could record the song "Let's trash" for the national broadcast service, which was later used for both the national Rockbilanz sampler and either was sold internationally to appear on the well known "Thrash the wall" Roadrunner compilation. After recording another unofficial 4 track Demo during late 1989, the band got invited by the broadcast service once again to record one more song ("Haunting in your brain") during January '90, which in the end due to some recording still time being left, ended up in another song ("Frankenstein) being recorded during that session as well. The band during that time was in it's most productive phase and also recorded the "Years of ignorance" Demo right spring 1990, that gained them attention by several labels, but Rochus signed a contract with West Virginia Records for the planned album "Between the worlds", which either West Virgina Records officially announced together with Moshquito's album on their promo flyers during 1990, but just like Moshquito's album, "Between the world" wasn't realized at all. Then Hans Ulrich Wilke left Rochus due to health problems and Tobias Nehmer for a short time played the bass as well, till he also left Rochus to join Howlin' Mad as second guitarist on their european Tour in 1990. The band then found Christoph Rompf on bass guitar and Lutz Issermann used to perfom the vocals during the last year of Rochus existence, till the band already split up in 1991. German Democratic Recordings fortunately re-released the important Rochus recordings from 1988-1990 on the CD "Haunting in your brain" in 2012.Discography:
"Let's trash" Comp.-DLP Track 1989 (Das Album - Rockbilanz 89)
"Years of ignorance" Demo 1990 (selfreleased)
"Let's trash" Comp.-LP Track 1990 (Thrash the Wall)
Broadcast Recordings:
"Haunting in your brain" (1990)
"Frankenstein" (1990)
unofficial Demo Recordings:
Demo May 1988 (5 tracks)
Demo late 1989 (4 tracks)
Rock Four
Lineup:
Wolfgang Schütz (vocals)
Adax Dörsam (guitar)
Matthias Scheid (bass)
Hans-Jürgen Götz (drums)
Band-info:
A Blues Rock band from the Mannheim/Heidelberg area, that was active during the 80's till the early 90's and was founded 1984, when they started covering songs of ZZ Top, Bad Company or Jimi Hendrix. The sound of Rock Four could be interesting for fans of the typical 80's Classic Rock spectrum and the range of their material includes mid/late 80's AC/DC, Status Quo Boogie tunes and other Hard/Blues Rock influences from the 70's as well. Marimba Records was responsible for Rock Four's only outputs, being a selftitled MLP from 1988, a single and the CD "Noise & Whiskey", released 1990. 2011 an Anthology CD with the title "Everything - The complete Rock Four recordings" was published by that label as well, featuring all their studio material of the previous records.Discography:
"Rock Four" MLP 1988 (Marimba)
"Noise & Whiskey" 7" EP 1989 (Marimba)
"Noise & Whiskey" CD 1990 (Marimba)
Rock-Phonie
Lineup:
Werner Baumgart (keyboard, vocals)
Wolfram Löser (guitar)
Udo Lenk (bass)
Lothar Brückner (keyboard)
Klaus Müller (drums)
Band-info:
Rock-Phonie from Leipzig (ex-GDR) formed during October 1979, much impressed by Queen’s classic (Hard) Rock sound and mainly performed their songs during their own concerts. Already during the 5. FDJ-Werkstattwoche Jugendtanzmusik in Suhl the band convinced the jury and earned an appearance on the “Auf dem Wege … 2” compilation with their original song “Menschenaugen”, that could be described as a mix of Free and Deep Purple, much 70’s Hard Rock inspired. Despite the higher quality level that Rock-Phonie delivered, it doesn’t seem that more studio productions happened anymore. It’s just known that Rock-Phonie had split up in 1988. The band though at a later timepoint got reanimated by some of it’s original members, but under the monicker Rockfonie now and yet is still active as a Queen cover band.Discography:
"Menschenaugen" Comp.-LP Track 1981 (Auf dem Wege ... 2)
Rock-Virus
Lineup:
Band-info:
A local Hard'n'Heavy troop of the early 80's, active in the ex-GDR, whose influences was ranging from Judas Priest, the Scorpions, Iron Maiden, Saxon, Krokus and Whitesnake. In 1983 the guys besides covering the aforementioned bands, also had at least 6 own trax in their repertoire, featuring song titles like "Step to the hell", "Devour yourself" or "Metal Rock, Metal Roll". Further info is welcome.(Thanx to Obsessedbycruelty for the band pic)
Discography:
Rocket
Lineup:
Frank Eichhorn (vocals)
Ralf Wittstock (guitar)
Jens Loose (guitar)
Jürgen Sattler (bass)
Michael Schreiner (drums)
Band-info:
Rocket's a Halberstadt/ex-GDR based Speed/Thrash Metal band, that featured the former Hardzrock guitarist Ralf Wittstock, who joined the band around late 87/88. The band was already formed around 1984/85 and Frank Eichhorn (ex-Mephisto/Love Gun/Vantom) used to be their vocalist for about a year during 1985/86, before he moved to Berlin and founded Cobra. Olaf Bismarck then came into the band, taking the micro. During their early days more Heavy and Power Metal inspired, Rocket later played a brand of the old Slayer and Metallica sound with solid musicianship. Unfortunately the german sung lyrics are utterly silly. Nevertheless the band belongs to the chosen ones of the few Metal bands that was allowed to produce songs for the GDR radio broadcasting and these 2 being "Herzlichen Glückwunsch" (Congratulations) and "Damenwahl" (Ladies' choice). The band later during 1989 or 1990 disbanded and some of the guys went to Capt'n Metal. If you have more info please get in touch.Discography:
Broadcast Recordings:
"Herzlichen Glückwunsch" (1989)
"Damenwahl" (1989)
Rockfire
Lineup:
Lisco (vocals)
Quasi (guitar)
Danny (guitar)
Zeuge (bass)
Andy (drums)
Band-info:
A Heavy Rock band from Bad Breisig with a private 7" recorded in 1990, that's playing in the same style like the Scorpions f.e. Don't expect too heavy stuff here, though musicwise they sound pretty much average, acting in the solid middle league. Just the thin vocal performance was quite lame sounding, like a brother of Vince Neil with ear injury. For Heavy Rock fans a great find nevertheless.
Rockforce
Lineup:
Jerry Faith (vocals)
Klaus Fabian (guitar)
Ralf Kauffmann (guitar)
Dirk Taglieber (bass)
Jürgen Kampf (keyboard)
Chris Karl (drums)
Band-info:
A local Heavy Rock band originating from Landau in the greater Mannheim/Kaiserslautern area, that was active since 1986 and debuted with the "Written by life" Demo in 1987. Prior to the Demo Rockforce primarily was an active live band, who made themself known within the area by being present whenever it was possible. The very young guys (about 18 years old) felt themselves secure in the mainstream commercial Hard Rock style, though not without making sure to focuss on well arranged catchy songs, like on their second Demo "Tapes 89", featuring the 3 songs "Vanessa don't cry", "True survivor" and "Touch of your hand". Jürgen Kampf though left the band directly after the Demo and Rockforce subsequently started a search for another keyboarder, but then decided to continue without any and changed name to Penny Lane during October '89. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
"Written by life" Demo 1987 (selfreleased)
"Tapes 89" Demo 1989 (selfreleased)
Rockmetal
Lineup:
Markus Reinheckel (vocals)
Marcus Graupner (guitar)
André Klengel (guitar)
Ralf Möbius (bass)
Steffen Bär (drums)
Band-info:
St. Metal was a Hard Rock band from Dresden (ex-GDR), officially founded in 1983 as Rockmetal, by some guys of the Dresden scene, who was previously playing together since already 1978. Influenced by Krokus and obviously AC/DC the band started writing own material during 1984 and debuted with playing live during 1985, when they also recorded their first Demo "The spider". On the Demo recording Ralf Möbius (army!) got represented by Kay Rühmer. Also drummer Steffen Bär, who left the country a bit earlier, got shortly replaced by vocalist Markus Reinheckel. After the Demo was finished the band changed their name to St. Metal.Discography:
"The spider" Demo 1985 (selfreleased)
Rocksack
Lineup:
Carsten Tauchert (bass)
Band-info:
Rocksack seemed to be from the Erfurt area, as their bassist Carsten Tauchert replaced Michael Fleischmann in Macbeth in the summer of ‘86. We guess they’ve been active since at least 1984/85 and also supported Formel 1 live on stage in the ex-GDR during 1986. What happened afterwards to them we can’t tell yet.Discography:
Rockwärts
Lineup:
Axel Klemm (vocals)
Band-info:
A Hard'n'Heavy band of the southern ex-GDR, founded in 1984 and originating from Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Chemnitz). Axel Klemm, their vocalist, previously was member of the 70’s Prog/Hardrockers Modern Formation, who recorded a bunch of exciting and heavy songs during 1973 and most probably some other ex-Modern Formation members built the spine of Rockwärts as well. The guys are known to have supported Pharao and Nobody at the "FDJ Pfingstkonzert der Jugend" in 1988, while their programm also featured cover versions of acts like f.e. Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, as well as Uriah Heep, Deep Purple or ZZ Top. André Nebel, formerly of Moshquito fame, after the Thrashers hiatus joined Rockwärts still during 1991 on bass and vocals and remained there till 1993, before he went to front the band Thorun. We guess they probably collapsed at that time. Since 2004 Axel Klemm and some other original members reactivated Rockwärts once again to perform a Hard Rock program live on stage. They’ve been around till at least the late 2000's.Discography:
Rockwork
Lineup:
Andreas Fahnert (vocals)
Ralf Turke (guitar)
Helge Dubbe (guitar)
Jochen Vierhaus (bass)
Steffen Peser (keyboard)
Dirk Hoffmeister (drums)
Band-info:
Founded in 1981, the Hamburg based Rockwork guys released a private album (with gatefold cover) in 1984, that features a live cut of the band from November 22nd '84 at the Roxy Hall Flensburg. The sound of the recording is pretty good, of almost studio quality and their song material was rooted somewhere in the Melodic Rock/Hard Rock region, with diverse Deep Purple (80's) and Foreigner hints. 1986 they could place 2 more tracks on compilaton albums. During their 8 years career Rockwork won several contests. In summer '89 the recent Rockwork members Ralk Turke, Andreas Fahnert, Dirk Hoffmeister and Klaus Elvers (bass) teamed up with ex-St. Mandrake members and formed the melodic Hard Rock band Device.Discography:
”Live Takes” LP 1984 (selfreleased)
"Time" Comp.-LP Track 1986 (Deutscher Rockpreis '86)
"Wait" Comp.-LP Track 1986 (NDR Hörfest '86)
Roko
Lineup:
Roko Kohlmeyer (vocals, guitar)
Marc Bugnard (guitar)
André Pasquier (bass)
Jürgen Beitel (keyboard)
Rainer Fey (drums)
Band-info:
A Hard Rock band from Schöneck, featuring the ex-Mallet drummer Rainer Fey, that got promoted by the Polydor who produced two albums in 1990 and 1992 with Ricky Lee on drums (not sure if Ricky Lee = Rainer Fey), before the band got dropped again. Roko was playing that sort of melodic radio friendly Hard Rock, that Vice, Vamp and Laos tried to play as well, probably to conquer the american market, but wasn't sounding exactly bad at all. If you wouldn't know they are Germans, you'd think they are Yankees. They published 2 more albums in 1994 ("Think about tomorrow") and '96 ("Fantasy") before they disbanded.Discography:
"Roko" Promo MCD 1990 (Polydor)
"Roko" LP/CD 1990 (Polydor)
"One night stand" 7"/12"/CD Single 1990 (Polydor)
"Burnin´Hearts" 7" EP 1990 (Polydor)
"Open invitation" LP/CD 1992 (Polydor)
"Is it love" 7"/CD Single 1992 (Polydor)
"All your love" CD Single 1992 (Polydor)
"Leave me alone" Comp.-CD 1992 (German Rock Project - The Ballad Album)
Roksy Peek
Lineup:
Markus Hahn (vocals)
Frank Pekerosky (guitar)
G.E. Pohnla (bass)
Band-info:
A local Karlsruhe Hard Rock act, who recorded a Demo tape during 1991, that featured 3 tracks. Further info is needed.(Thanx to Rumblefist for the suggestion)
Discography:
"Ferocious" Demo 1991 (Sky For Keep Prod.)
Romance
Lineup:
Band-info:
A local proggy AOR band from southern Germany in the vein of such acts like Toto, which got featured with the german sung track "Verrückt" on the obscure sampler Talent Show '83. If you got more info, please get in touch.
Ronja
Lineup:
Band-info:
A local band from the Frankfurt/Offenbach area, that was actively playing live in 1988. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
Ronz
Lineup:
Cagge (guitar)
Rene (bass)
Chris Nomidi (keyboard)
H. P. (drums)
Band-info:
A Metal band from Osnabrück that could participate with the two songs "Proclamation of independence" and "Closed daughter" on the local CD sampler "Wizzards From OS". Both of Ronz's contributions strangly are instrumentals without any vocals, though the band in the info mentions a so called "Fred" as their singer, who wasn't featured in the line up at all. Nevertheless both numbers are pretty well executed proggy Metal songs with a noticable passion for power.Discography:
"Wizzards From OS" Comp.-CD Tracks 1991 (Gemelo)
Rooster
Lineup:
Ralf Prießner (vocals)
Klaus Edl (guitar)
Horst Schmid (guitar)
Heiko Schar (bass)
Thomas Ingrisch (drums)
Band-info:
The local Nuremberg Hardrockers Rooster published just one quite obscure sole selffinanced 3 track 12" in the early 80's I guess (no year mentioned), that nowadays belongs to the less known relics of the german Hard Rock scene. The title track and the flipside number "Fly away" stylistically still provide a late 70's Hard Rock feeling with certain Kraut/Prog Rock influences, but "Chain reaction" features quite listenable Heavy Metal with either a few NWOBHM leads, reminding a bit of Stormqueen. On the positive side to mention is the quite "modern" sounding production. In contrary to other Hard Rock bands of the early era, the sound of Rooster's 12" could be compared to certain mid 80's productions, though the band stylistically was rooted rather in the 70's. A quite interesting piece...Discography:
"Rooster riot!" 12" EP 198? (selfreleased)
Rosa Rock
Lineup:
Sven Zimmermann (bass, vocals)
Lutz Dammann (guitar)
Christian Hänsel (guitar)
Kai Bünger (keyboard, vocals)
Jean-Peter Koberstein (drums)
Band-info:
Originally formed as the hobby band EFB (Elektrik Firebirds) back in 1982 by the schoolfriends Sven Zimmermann (bass, vocals), Lutz Dammann (guitar, vocals), Christian Hänsel (guitar), Helfried Wildenhain (keyboard) and Jean-Peter Koberstein (drums), this band from Rostock (ex-GDR) went through a few line up changes till 1984 when they changed name to Rosa Rock. Late '83 Kai Bünger (vocals, keyboard) replaced Helfried Wildenhain and after getting officially graded a "middle class band" in autumn '84, Lutz Dammann left the band and Peter Grützmann (guitar) joined instead. Right in spring '85 Rosa Rock upgraded to an "upper class" band due to Grützmann and went through several national contests, that gained them first moments of fame. The guys insisted to be called a Hard Rock band, being influenced by Bon Jovi, Saxon and Judas Priest, later also by the sound of Europe. First Demo recordings was made in 1986, featuring a solid, and compared to other bands of the GDR, quite international sound with mid 80's Judas Priest hints all along plus a strong edge of the classic melodic US Hard Rock. During early 1987 Michael Gröper (ex-Ceylon) was hired as lead singer and Rosa Rock could produced the song "Nevada", that already appeared on the previous Demo, at the MTS-Studio in Lengenfeld for the national broadcast service. Gröper then after just one year left the band again in spring '88 and the rest of Rosa Rock went on a tour through Poland. Later the same year after summer Kai Bünger quit and Steffen Gräver (keyboard) joined. During a national contest later in 1988 the guys finally reached the Profi status and was invited to record 2 more songs for the national broadcast service early '89, being "Song for Sarah" and "Wir wollen nur Rock'n'Roll". Their drummer Jean-Peter Koberstein couldn't know that later in 1989 the wall would fall and tried to escape the GDR illegally in summer, but got caught and jailed, so Holger Makarowski had to cover his empty spot. During that time Rosa Rock started writing english lyrics, but the political change kinda stopped them too, like many other bands in the country. Due to different views of the bands further direction Sven Zimmermann left during December '89 (he joined Jack Mc Tiger in 1990), which brought back former vocalist Michael Gröper and new bassist Frank Maertin (ex-Crystal). But during early 1991 the band split up and some of the guys tried to play in Berluc, which did not work so well, so in summer '91 Rosa Rock reformed under the new name of Dead Bang.Discography:
”Demo 1986” (selfreleased)
Broadcast Recordings:
"Nevada" (1987)
"Song für Sarah" (1989)
"Wir wollen nur Rock'n'Roll" (1989)
Rose
Lineup:
Thomas Meier
Wolfgang
Band-info:
A Heavy Metal band from Duisburg, that was active during 1989. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
Rosebud
Lineup:
Alex Conti (guitar, vocals)
Rudy Englebert (bass)
Derek Ballard (drums, vocals)
Band-info:
Rosebud was the band (founded around 1988/89) of guitarist Alex Conti, who could look back to a long career in music business since the 70's already, being active in bands such as Atlantis, Lake, Rudolf Rock & die Schocker, Elephant etc.With Rosebud he started recordings for the first album "Rosebud" during 1989/90, supported by ex-Ellis Island drummer Derek Ballard and Rudy Englebert (ex-Hollander/Vitesse). The lad's style was classic Hard Rock, driven by Conti's intense guitar work, but either combined influences from Blues and hints of Sleaze Rock. 1993 after their " San Simeon" MCD, they got signed by the EMI and produced one more album ("Keep smiling"), that just like the previous one, featured more Hard Rock influenced by classic bands like AC/DC, Led Zeppelin or Rose Tattoo. Rosebud split up in 1994.
Discography:
"Rosebud" LP/CD 1990 (MMT)
"San Simeon" MCD 1993 (Harvest Germany)
"Keep smiling" CD 1993 (EMI)
Rostfrei
Lineup:
Willy Schwäbig (drums)
Wolfgang Mirbach (bass)
Andreas Rothe (guitar)
Band-info:
A hard rock(?) band from Bonn, formed in September 1980. In 1983 they changed their name to STAINLESS, and from there the members spread further to slightly more familiar groups like Trans Am, Forced Entry and STS 8 Mission. If you have more info, please get in contact.Discography:
Rostok Vampires
Lineup:
Christian Schwiehusen (vocals)
Cebulla (guitar)
Andy Million (guitar)
Thomas Supe (bass)
Thomas Laube (drums)
Band-info:
Originally founded as a Punk/Hardcore band in Dortmund during the mid 80's, the guys turned Metal influenced during their further career. October 1988 the lads entered Mottek's Masterplan studio to record 21 songs, that was sent to labels in order to get a record deal, which indeed succeeded and the guys got agreed with Nuclear Blast Records, who published "Transylvanian disease" during summer '89. On that album and the following "Pay the price" 12", that was also featured as bonus on the CD version of the album, the Rostok Vampires used to play still a punky Hardcore style, but would turn into a much more (Thrash) Metal influenced act right with the "Misery" album in 1990, where the band was playing a sound similar to the Emils on their second album, adopting Speed Metal and american Crossover influences. On their 3rd output "Torment of transformation" the Vampires sounded very close to the Crumbsuckers follower Pro Pain, but split up already in 1993. 2001 for a few years the guys reunited, but disbanded for good 2006 again.Discography:
"Transylvanian disease" LP/CD 1989 (Nuclear Blast)
"Pay the price" 12" EP 1989 (Nuclear Blast)
"The Pleasures in Life" Comp.-DLP/CD Tracks 1989 (Nuclear Blast)
"Boring old fart" 7" EP 1990 (Nuclear Blast)
"Misery" LP/CD 1990 (Nuclear Blast)
"Torment of transformation" LP/CD 1991 (Nuclear Blast)
"Stone dead forever" Comp.-LP/CD 1993 (Nuclear Blast)
Rosy Vista
Lineup:
Andrea Schwarz (vocals)
Anca Graterol (guitar)
Regine Hellmann (bass)
Gerda Maus (drums)
Band-info:
Rosy Vista was an all female Heavy Rock band from Hannover, got picked up by Noise Records in the mid 80's. The ladies originally started 1983 with Gerda Maus on drums but Marina Hlubek replaced her in 1984. After a 6 track Demo 1985 Noise tried to promote the girls with a MLP entitled "You better believe it", that featured slightly Scorpions influenced midpaced melodic Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. Andrea Schwarz' vocals in places slightly remind me of a softer Doro Pesch, but the album wasn't blessed with much success at all, so Noise let the girls fall again. With ex-Viva Barbara Schenker (keyboard), who joined in 1986 and the former Juliet vocalist Susanne Schätzle on micro Rosy Vista tried to score another record deal, but eventually called it a day in around 1988/89. Two separate singles that was featuring different songs from the MLP was also published in the CSSR and France. Rosy Vista reunited in 2002 and published their debut album "Unbelievable" in 2019.Discography:
"Demo 1985" (selfreleased)
"You better believe it" MLP 1985 (Noise)
"Tables are turned" 7" EP 1986 (Supraphon)
"Sound of your love" 7" EP 1986 (Accord)
Rotten
Lineup:
Christian Luft
Band-info:
A Crossover troop hailing from Kassel, who released a 12 track Demo in early/mid 1989 including an Attitude Adjustment cover version, which should lead you on the right path here. The guys material featured raw thrashing Crossover without any compromises. Further info is needed.Discography:
“Restzerstörung” Demo 1989 (selfreleased)
Rotten
Lineup:
Markus Pfordt
Band-info:
A Speed/Thrash Metal band from Lahr, between Freiburg and Straßburg, which was active during at least 1990. Further info is needed.Discography:
Rotten Bitch
Lineup:
Dirk Strube (vocals)
Bernhard Drax (guitar)
Michael Dusel (bass)
Stefan Scheuerer (drums)
Band-info:
A local Munich Thrash act that was active from April '86 till June '89, and founding members being Dirk "Struppi" Strube, Bernhard "Schlamm" Drax, Michael "Morbid Mike" Dusel and Stefan "Stiefel" Scheuerer, while in 1987 also Gerald "Gerry" Strasser joined on guitar. Rotten Bitch recorded 2 Demo tapes within that time frame and played several gigs in their area. Dirk "Struppi" Strube previously sung in Sign Of Victory and similar to Rotten Bitch also fronted Munich Thrashers Calvary for some months till late 1987. The band performed a melodic kind of Thrash Metal with technical parts that underlined the skills of the guys, but nevertheless indeed yet kept a raw sound, showing certain parallels to bands such as early Sieges Even or Mekong Delta.(Thanx to Dirk Strube for the info)
Discography:
"In battery" Demo 1986 (selfreleased)
”Who the fuck are” Demo 1988 (selfreleased)
Rotten Core
Lineup:
Band-info:
Most probably a Speed/Thrash Metal band from the Ruhrpott area (Essen/Wattenscheid/Bochum/Dortmund/Duisburg), that was actively playing live gigs during 1988. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
Rotten Gypsy
Lineup:
Band-info:
A Metal band from most probably Hessen (Frankfurt/Hanau area), that was actively playing live during 1990. If you got further info, please get in touch.Discography:
Rotten Rose
Lineup:
Manfred Stürner (vocals)
Gino Braun (guitar)
Jochen Becht (bass)
Chris Lausmann (keyboard)
Joseph Huhn (drums)
Band-info:
A Munich based Glam Metal/Hard Rock quintet with heavy Mötley Crüe edge from the late 80's, who recorded a Demo with 3 songs in August 1990. During 1991 these guys participated at the Metal Hammer Newcomer Festival '91, but couldn't really convince the jury in performance technical aspects. The band split up a bit later and Jochen Becht joined Boysvoice to play the basslines on their second album "Dirty talk" in 1992. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
"Rotten Rose" Demo 1990 (selfreleased)
Rouge
Lineup:
Shorty (vocals)
Tommy (guitar)
Abdul (guitar)
Rainer (keyboard)
Reini (bass)
Dave (drums)
Band-info:
Rouge was a Kraut Rock band from Menden, who published an independent single in 1982. Both of the songs belong to these typical early 80's german Kraut Rock tunes with Hard Rock edge and the B-side "Free" additionally clearly delivers some NWOBHM twin leads and illustrates the harder of the both trax, by constantly dwelling in Hard Rock realms. A bit annoying, especially on the title track, are the keyboard/piano elements.Discography:
"Got no time" 7" EP 1982 (selfreleased)
Rough
Lineup:
Anny Wichardt (vocals)
Ernst Schläfer (guitar)
Rainer Portugall (guitar)
Martin Albrecht (bass)
Michael Kaiser (drums)
Band-info:
Rough was a female fronted Metal band from Mayence, that could at least release one album for Steamhammer before they dropped the band again, but the lack of quality couldn't be the reason of it at all, coz "First cut" delivers above average Heavy Metal refined by the vocals of the blond eyecatcher Anny Wichardt (since 1984 part of the band), who could call a great voice their own. The bands mainly pounding style reminds slightly of later Warlock with a little note of japanese bands such as Loudness and either US american hints like Dokken and such. Originally Rough during 1985 signed a contract with star producer Dieter Dierks, who had big plans for the band and wanted them to push into a more commercial corner, but after almost 2 years of no album in sight, the band cancelled the deal and recorded their "First cut" album during March '88 for the Steamhammer label, which got a perfect production with sheer power almost soaking out of the speakers. Anny Wichardt left the band 1989, but the guys found with Simone Schönbach yet another female vocalist still early '89 and after a tour with Axxis started pre-producing their second album, while early '90 the band again searched for a new vocalist. There also was 2 Demo tapes released by the 1981 founded band prior to the album in the mid 80's as well as their farewell Demo just entitled "Rough" in 1991.Discography:
"Rock attack" Demo 1984 (selfreleased)
"Demo '85" (selfreleased)
"First cut" LP/CD 1988 (Steamhammer)
"Just friends" Comp.-LP/CD Track 1990 (The Future of Metal is now)
"Rough" Demo 1991 (selfreleased)
Rough Angel
Lineup:
Gabi Sutter (vocals)
Tommy (guitar)
Micha (guitar)
Stefan (bass)
Carola Wonke (drums)
Band-info:
A selfclaimed "Hard Rock band with speed features" from West Berlin, founded by guitarist Micha in summer '85. His female drummer mate Carola, that he was previously already playing together with in the bands Minotaurus and Syntax, joined the group as well as ex-Syntax bassist Stefan. Tommy and Gabi joined last and Rough Angel started working on material for future live shows and either entered the Music Lab studio to record a 2 song Demo during summer '86, featuring solid melodic Heavy Rock in the Scorpions vein with pretty cool female vocals.Their first live show happened during autumn the same year. One of the Demo trax was also used for a local Berlin underground tape. If you have more info please get in touch.Discography:
"Demo 1986" (selfreleased)
"Don't Stop" Comp.-MC Track 1986 (Berlincassette 3/4 - 86)
Rough Enough
Lineup:
U. Maurer
B. Mussgnug
A. Koffler
Band-info:
Obscure Karlsruhe locals who contributed the track "Sweet life" to the underground compilation "Karlsruher Rockszene 84", initiated independently by the Andromeda studio, while most of the participating musicians entered a studio the very first time ever. Not to be confused with the Blues Rockers Rough Enough from Ravensburg, who appeared on another local sampler in 1988 entitled "Ravensburg Silhouette", these lads here was the only Heavy Metal troop (most probably) on their sampler, whenalso their song doesn't feature Metal in it's purest form at all, coz Rough Enough's semi-ballad offeres a blend of Metal and proggy Hard Rock with epic aura. Further band info is required.Discography:
"Sweet life" Comp.-LP Track 1984 (Karlsruher Rockszene 84)
Rough Enough
Lineup:
Jörn Blesse (guitar, vocals)
Arthur Isleb (vocals, guitar)
Georg Manger (bass)
Martin Neubauer (drums)
Band-info:
Obscure Ravensburg locals from far south of Stuttgart, who contributed the track "Rough Enough" to the underground compilation "Ravensburg Silhouette". Not to be confused with the Metal band Rough Enough from Karlsruhe, who appeared a few years earlier on another local sampler in 1984 entitled "Karlsruher Rockszene 84", these Rough Enough was active in the late 80's and featured the Hellbreath bassist Georg Manger. In contrary to the Karlsruhe outfit, these lads was rather influenced by the classic 70's Blues and Hard Rock tunes (indeed their contribution spreads an old AC/DC flair), mentioning themselves musical influences of ZZ Top or The Rolling Stones. Manger later reappeared with the AC/DC cover band Riff Raff, while Jörn Blesse went along to play with Little Wing. Drummer Martin Neubauer was also active in Zero Hero. Further band info is required.Discography:
"Rough Enough" Comp.-LP Track 1988 (Ravensburg Silhouette)
Rough Silk
Lineup:
Jan Barnett (vocals, guitar)
Ferdy Doernberg (keyboard, guitar)
Hilmer Staacke (guitar)
Ralf Schwertner (bass)
Herbert Hartmann (drums)
Band-info:
From Hannover, the capital of german Hard Rock, also hailed Rough Silk, that formed in 1989 and had their first and only Demo "Ups and downs" ready in 1990, which features 3 tracks, but 2 of them being just kinda semi-ballads and only the title track sounds convincing enough by offering a US Metal influenced midpaced Heavy Metal that often reminds of Accept-ish pounders. The RCA got interested though and Dieter Dirks produced the bands first album "Roots of hate" at his studios, which was available 1993. Rough Silk delivered quite ballsy Heavy/Power Metal with slightly Metal Church/Accept touch, that sounded very close to everything that came out of the 80's. A vinyl edition of the album was only manufactured in Spain. After "Roots of hate" the guys recorded several other albums until 2004 when the band was disbanded, though they lost their RCA deal after just the debut. Since 2006 Rough Silk is active again in an kinda on/off mode, by trying themselves on different styles.Please visit Rough Silk's Homepage
Discography:
”Ups and downs” Demo 1990 (selfreleased)
"Roots of hate" LP/CD 1993 (RCA)
"Roots of hate" 7" EP 1993 (PDI)
Rough Times
Lineup:
Band-info:
We guess Rough Times was a Thrash band, most probably originating from the Wuppertal area, according to the bands they've been friends with during 1990/91, which's the only lifesign of these guys we could track down so far. Further info is needed though.Discography:
Rough Velvet
Lineup:
Martin Kröher (vocals)
Frank Wahl (guitar)
Michael Krauss (guitar)
Markus Lang (bass)
Joachim Berger (drums)
Band-info:
A shortlived local Prog Metal band from Pirmasens/Kaiserslautern, that was formed in 1991/92 by veterans of local bands like Pegasus, Pharao, Carissa and Tarkus. The guys recorded their only Demo "Metamorphosis" in July 1992 inside their practise room and mixed melodic influences with proggy Metal. Shortly after the Demo recordings Rough Velvet already dissolved.Discography:
"Metamorphosis" Demo 1992 (selfreleased)
Roughhouse
Lineup:
Band-info:
A local band from West Berlin, that was active during the mid 80's and seen live on stage during 1986. Roughhouse was playing a for that time just typical Heavy Metal style with good vocalist. If you got further info, please get in touch.Discography:
Roxanne
Lineup:
Fred Scheunemann (bass, vocals)
Eddy Sonnenfeld (drums)
Klaus Meyer (guitar, vocals)
Hans-Jürgen Fuchs (guitar, vocals)
Ralph Krautwurst (keyboard, vocals)
Band-info:
An AOR band from Stuttgart that could contribute the 2 german sung trax "Engelein" and "Mensch Maier" for the local Split LP "Stuttgart Rock Sampler" with other bands being Overkill, Trash, Snowgoose and Bel Air. Both their trax still spread a bit kind of 70's flair but more or less their style was similar to Asia's or such bands.
Roxx
Lineup:
Harry Amthor (vocals)
Ricolf Krückel (guitar)
O. Lee Scholz (bass)
Dicki Fliszar (drums)
Band-info:
A Hard Rock/Metal band from Bonn, formed in October 1985 by ex-members Harry Amthor, O. Lee Scholz and Dicki Fliszar of the local band Shining. Ricolf Krückel, formerly in Cross, completed the line-up. In late 1986 Harry Amthor left the band and was replaced with american vocalist Tom Bellini (Harry continued his singing career in bands like Forced Entry, Energy and the Berlin-based Tarot). At least one Demo was produced in 1986 in the Dierks Studios, featuring 3 songs, described as a mix of Europe and Dokken, while one of them being the Sweet cover version "Ballroom Blitz". A year or 2 later, the band changed their name to Vamp. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
"Demo 1986" (self released)
Roxx, The
Lineup:
Bill Itch (vocals)
N.D. (bass)
Hermann Janowitz (guitar)
Tom Tom (drums)
Band-info:
The Roxx was a Munich based Hard Rock band that changed style to Heavy Metal during the years. Founded by Bill Itch (ex-Kobra) in 1984, he joined forces with ex-Railway Hermann Janowitz and the 2 addional musicians N.D. and Tom Tom, that came from non Metal bands. The guys seem to have had quite an extraordinary taste when it comes to vinyl releases, as all of their albums and EP's was manufactured in costly editions featuring triple fold out or bubble foil covers etc. The first album "Sugar & spice" still featured slow american style glammy Hard Rock with a few AC/DC influences, though the guys themselves mentioned to be influenced by the NWOBHM. On "Watch us cum" The Roxx sounded slightly more up to date, though those glammy edges they couldn't get rid off at all. But despite they didn't use guitar solos on the debut, on "Watch us cum" they added them and the band's sound in general became a bit more powerful and melodic, featuring double bass drumming and twin leads, besides their common glammy pounders. 1988 during the recording sessions of the 3rd album "Chills down your spine" guitarist Hermann Janowitz sadly died and the album was never finished. But The Roxx returned in 1990 with a completely new crew (featuring Alex Gaitanides (guitar), Mr. Butterfly (bass) and Sudden on drums) and the double album "Sex & Roxx & Rock'n'Roll", that apparently introduced the typical german sound from pounding Metal to Power Metal with virtuoso guitars. 3 more CD's followed till 1993, that offered the same style, before The Roxx took a time out from recording albums, but since 2006 the lads have published a couple more albums.Discography:
"Sugar & spice" LP 1986 (Exx It)
"Watch us cum" Promo Tape 1987 (selfreleased)
"Watch us cum" LP 1988 (Widder)
Sex & Roxx & Rock'n'Roll" DLP/CD 1990 (Explorer)
"May be" 12" EP 1990 (Explorer)
"Sex & Roxx & Rock'n'Roll Part II" CD 1991 (Explorer)
"No sole Messjah!" CD 1992 (Exx It)
"Wild things - Live" CD 1993 (Exx It)
Roxxon
Lineup:
Jürgen Eidt (drums)
Richie Thurlow (vocals)
Max Paus (guitars)
Paul le Butt (bass)
Werner Chabowski (guitar)
Band-info:
Hannover Heavy Rock unknowns with NWOBHM inspired sound, formed by drummer Jürgen Eidt in early 1980 as RUBBISH. In early '81 they tried their luck in Berlin, doing a few local radio interviews and trying to sort out a proper studio recording, but they quickly discovered their name worked against them as everyone though they were a punk band. A renaming to Roxxon came about, and in February 1982 their first demo was recorded, produced by none other than Scorpions bassist Francis Buchholz, which also led to an unlikely opening-spot for for the Scorp's in march 1982.Founding member Jürgen Eidt later ran the Roxxon Studio (Glory Anthem, Crack Buster etc..) and after that the Roxxon ACB CD pressing plant. Richie Thurlow also had a short stint with Rated-X, appearing on the band's last single. Roxxon recorded 2 Demos within the years 1982-83. The first one featured the 2 songs "Little schoolgirls" and "Cover girls", while Demo 2 had "Hard as a rock", "Cover girls" and "Can't get enough" on the agenda. If you have more info, please get in contact.
(Thanx to Rumblefist for the additional info)
Discography:
Demo 1982 (selfreleased)
Demo 1983 (selfreleased)
Roy Bean
Lineup:
Uwe Suerick (guitar, vocals)
Andreas Hladik (guitar)
Andreas Rippelmeier (guitar)
Marc Schulz (bass)
Wolfgang Mann (drums)
Band-info:
A Heavy Metal band from Krefeld, that was active since the early mid 80's and changed name to Mephisto in 1986, when their first Demo was published either. As Mephisto they released 2 albums in 1988 and 1991. Roy Bean was either mentioned being part of the catalogue of the young rising label Metal Voice for future vinyl releases in spring 1986. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
Roy Last Group
Lineup:
Roy Last (guitar, vocals)
Wolfgang Beisel (bass)
Claus Reinholdt (drums)
Band-info:
Roy Last was the nephew of the famous german Big Band leader James Last. He was born in New York City but his german parents moved back to Germany in early years, so he grew up in Hamburg where he started playing in his first band Amazing Grace in the mid 70's till he formed the Roy Last Group at around 1978. The first single "Born to be wild" still featured with "Land of ladies" a mellow Kraut Rocker, but the Steppenwolf cover version might be one of the best that was ever done, and that song must have been covered quite one million times if not even two. On "Rocks" the sails was already set into Hard Rock direction, though just like on the 7" a bit earlier, the 70's Kraut Rock was playing a big role either. In 1983 he published the "Let's go rock" 12", featuring the 12 min lasting "Rainchild" instrumental from the debut album in a more dynamic version with vocals and also the "Goodtimes ahead" LP, that's fully worshipping the Hard Rock with early Metal hints. After those releases it got silent around the band. In autumn '84 an official message announced the end of the Roy Last Group. Roy Last returned in the mid 80's when he was member of Dirty Money, an melodic AOR/Hard Rock from Hamburg formed by the last Roy Last Group singer John Boutkam (aka John Ridge, ex-One-O-One, E.F. Band, Picture, Hot Property), who tried without success to find a label for their selfrecorded album (around 1985/86). In the late 80's Roy Last released a more up to date last album "Comin and a'goin'" (as L.A.S.T.) in a quite experienced guitar driven Hard Rock/Metal style with melodic background, till he helped Jutta Weinhold with the "The 4th quest for fantasy" album in 1992 of her Velvet Viper band. Roy Last died in 2004 completely unexpectedly at age of only 47 years.Discography:
"Born to be wild" 7" EP 1980 (Jax Pax)
"Rocks" LP 1981 (Jax Pax)
"Let's go rock" 12" EP 1983 (Jax Pax)
”Goodtimes ahead” LP 1983 (Jax Pax)
"Rainchild" Comp.-CD 1989 (Jax Pax)
Royal Flush
Lineup:
David Fefolt (vocals)
Jörg Fischer (guitar)
Roy Zerimar (guitar)
Rex Tennyson (bass)
Butch Carlson (drums)
Band-info:
Royal Flush was a band that the ex-Accept/Black Jack guitarist Jörg Fischer formed during 1988/89. He went to the United States to complete his line with Butch Carlson (ex-Jag Panzer/Sahara/Gypsy Moreno) and Roy Zerimar (ex-Gypsy Moreno, later Bruce Dickinsons guitarist), as well as Hellion bassist Rex Tennyson (Heavy Bones), plus David Fefolt (ex-Valhalla/Hawk/Masi) on vocals. The fivepiece was managed by ex-Wiseman guitarist Willi Wrede, operated from both Los Angeles and Essen due to it's mainly american members and either recorded promotional Demo material (not for sale, without booklet) in Sylmar/California, that was mentioned to sound quite promising, rooted in the commercial Hard Rock/Metal spectrum, mixed at Dieter Dirks studio in Cologne in the summer of 1989. But Butch Carlson and Roy Zerimar afterwards left Royal Flush to form their new band Driver, so Royal Flush split up already in autumn '89, despite already having a contract pending with Polydor Records. David Fefolt and Rex Tennyson with still the contract in their pockets formed Bourbon Street together with Wolfgang "Wolla" Böhm (ex-Snakebite/Stormwind/Darxon/Universe/U.D.O.), Jens Frank and ex-Holy Moses' Herbert Dreger in spring '90.(Thanx to David Fefolt for additional facts/info)
Discography:
Royal Flush
Lineup:
Gerhard Hippmann (guitar)
Band-info:
A band from the Kaufbeuren area (Bavaria), that was active during the early 80’s. Their guitarist Gerhard Hippmann joined Kaufbeuren’s own version of Snakebite in April ’85. Further info is needed.Discography:
Royal Mail
Lineup:
Steffen Müller (Vocals, guitar)
Achim Lindermeir (guitar)
Michael Steingart (bass)
Christian Esterhammer (keyboard)
Frank Hammer (Drums)
Band-info:
Lightweight Heavy Rockers from Ehingen/Ulm in southern Germany who independently produced their selftitled EP in December 1990 at the Chriss Studio in Elchingen, that either pressed their vinyls. Royal Mail’s sound was embossed by a rather poppy approach to compose hitparade suitable melodic Hard Rock with AOR touch. Fans of the genre for sure will enjoy their material, as the lads acted somewhere slightly above the average. Further band info is needed though.Discography:
“Royal Mail” 12" EP 1991 (Chriss Tonstudio)
Royal Oak
Lineup:
Dirk Flasche (vocals)
Thorsten Fleisch (guitar)
Andreas Duck (guitar)
Rolf Vollmer (bass)
Mike Schwinger (drums)
Band-info:
Koblenz's Royal Oak was a more or less Progressive Metal unit, that formed in 1989. The band existed till around 1993 and released 2 official Demos, that featured quite long trax with slightly unstraight appearing structures. The first Demo "A childhood's dreams" was still recorded with vocalist Vial and Marco Sprötzer, but the line up changed afterwards on the more Thrash influenced "Experience" Demo. Either a third Demo from around 1993 was though recorded, but never released anymore, coz the band split up. Mike Schwinger initially joined Subculture still within the same year. Further info is needed.Discography:
"A childhood's dream" Demo 1990 (selfreleased)
"Experience (Curiosity has its price)" Demo 1991 (selfreleased)
Royce
Lineup:
Bernd Royce (bass, vocals)
Didi Roesche (guitar)
Stephan Witt (guitar)
Roland Reuter (drums)
Band-info:
Most probably a melodic Hard Rock band, that was active in the later 80's and recorded a Demo tape in 1989. Two of the songs from the tape was used for underground CD samplers in 1989 and '90. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
"Take this song" Comp.-CD Track 1989 (Take This Song - Heart & Heavy Vol. 1)
"Our lifes" Comp.-CD Track 1990 (Six Bands Pop + Rock Vol. 1)
Rubbermaids
Lineup:
Birgit Frehse (vocals)
Minne (guitar)
Matzy Hagenah (guitar)
Hardy Rose (bass)
Meik Dobbratz (drums)
Band-info:
The Rubbermaids was originally founded by Birgit Frehse (vocals), Minne (guitar), Matzy Hagenah (guitar), Hardy Rose (bass) and Meik Dobbratz (drums) 1986 in Hamburg, but Hardy Rose was already replaced by Thomas Zabel in 1988. The band was featured on the very first of the local Hamburg Elbground compilations with the track "High flight" in 1988. Female vocalist Birgit quit in 1989 and Gagu joined, with whom they recorded the debut album "Vulcanite" with. Zabel got replaced by Jason Scott in the meanwhile already and the following albums "Twisted chords", "Straight cuts, no overdubs" and "Present Los Ruberos" was published till 1993. The sound of the Rubbermaids wasn't Heavy Metal at all, but their Punk style featured several Hard Rock elements just like similar Hamburg acts The Honx or The Posers. So we need to mention this band at least.Discography:
"High flight" Comp.-7" EP Track 1988 (Elbground)
"Übungsraum 8/89" Demo 1989 (selfreleased)
"Rubbermaids" Promo Tape 198x (selfreleased)
"Vulcanite" LP 1989 (KO)
"Twisted chords" LP/CD 1990 (Rebel)
"Straight cuts, no overdubs" LP 1992 (Stars In The Dark)
"Present Los Ruberos" LP/CD 1993 (Stars In The Dark)
Rübezahl
Lineup:
Frank Göpfert (vocals)
Andreas Vlachidis (guitar)
Sven Hartmann (bass)
Annegret Morgenstern (keyboard)
Bernd Leucht (drums)
Band-info:
Originally the ex-GDR band Rübezahl from Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz) started 1984 as a Rock band, till Andreas Vlachidis had to join the army and his substitute Thomas Junior (ex-Pent) was responsible that the guys went into a slightly more Hard Rock based direction, by covering songs Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. Annegret Morgenstern left focussed more on background things of the band and when Sven Hartmann 1986 had to suffer the same fate like Vlachidis before, Gunter Pasler first and shortly later Thomas Steinz (ex-Frontal) joined on bass guitar. That was the starting shot for Rübezahl's Heavy Metal career, influenced by Accept and Judas Priest tunes, original songs like “The lion man” was created. In Autumn '87 Sven Hartmann returned to the band and drummer Bernd Leucht quit his drummer job to get replaced by Uwe Eckert (ex-Frontal). Rübezahl's live repertoire featured several tunes of Judas Priest, Accept, Deep Purple, UFO, ZZ Top, Motörhead, Samson, Ted Nugent, Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath. During that time Thomas Junior decided to leave the country and the guys found replacement for him in once again an ex-Frontal member, Thomas Walther on the guitar. While the sound of the band became a bit more Motörhead and Black Sabbath inspired, they changed name to Charon in 1988.Discography:
Rude Boys, The
Lineup:
Bäd Walter
Armin Seebald
U.M.H. Seebald
Chicken
Band-info:
An Indie Rock band from Westerngrund with private vinyl release in form of the "Pyrats" MLP recorded in October '93. Basically The Rude Boys should be absolutely not of interest for Heavy Metal fans, but deserve a mention here due to the two tracks "O Lord" and "Wallbänger", that offer 70's inspired Hard Rock/Psych influences. Really crazy stuff...Discography:
"Pyrats" MLP 1993 (selfreleased)
Rue Morgue (Bamberg)
Lineup:
Wolfgang Nitschke (guitar, vocals)
Ulli Heinze (guitar)
Rainer Hettwer (keyboard)
Klaus Hader (bass)
Lothar Hermann (drums)
Band-info:
Not to be confused with the Rue Morgue Hard Rockers from northern Germany, these lads from Bamberg was delivering a slightly more heavier music. Their privately produced selftitled vinyl, that was recorded in 1989 features 6 songs that combine several Metal genres from epic, progressive to Power Metal, the album is well balanced and at no time getting boring at all. Some of the trax even feature a dark, melancholic touch, that makes the whole affair even more interesting. For friends of the heavier Metal with own special note definitely recommended.
Rue Morgue (Ellerhoop)
Lineup:
P. Hans
A. Niemann
Band-info:
These guys from Ellerhoop in northern Germany released a quite obscure 7" on the Raubbau label, that features the 2 Kraut/Hard Rockers "Kick down the wall" and "What is the world?", recorded 3rd of May 1981 at the Raubbau studio. Unfortunately there are no names of the guys mentioned, guess they wanted to stay incognito. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
"Kick down the wall" 7“ EP 1981 (Raubbau)
Ruhrpott
Lineup:
Band-info:
One more obscure Hard Rock band featured on a CBR compilation. Since the band's name was Ruhrpott, it's clear they hailed somewhere from the greater Essen/Dortmund area. That troop was celebrating 70's inspired heavy boogie-ing old Status Quo-ish stuff with heavy guitar sound. The keyboards just disturb my pleasure a bit, but to be fair, it fit very well their antiquated style. If you got more info about this band, please get in touch.
Rule 43
Lineup:
Band-info:
A Thrash band originating from Dortmund, that till summer 1989 already had recorded 2 Demo tapes, both stylistically featuring a huge Voivod edge. If you got further info, please get in touch.Discography:
Rumble Militia
Lineup:
Efstathios Agoropoulos (guitar, vocals)
Halkan Onük (guitar)
Michael Lohmann (bass)
Olli (drums)
Band-info:
Rumble Militia from Bremen was founded by Efstathios Agoropoulos and Halkan Onük in October '85 together with Michael Lohmann and drummer Olli and started playing a Crossover influenced Speed/Thrash Metal, whose first effort was the highly respected and limited (handnumbered) Demo "Treason", recorded in November '86, that led to a deal with the label Atom H. The tape features absolutely raw thrashing Speed Metal and marked the very best performance of the band in their whole existence. The same rough way of Speed/Thrash offered, though with also a few more temperate parts, the debut album "Fuck off commercial", released in late 1987. Parts of the LP was already recorded in October '86 while the B-side recordings happened July '87. May '88 the EP "En Nombre del Ley" was released with the same line up, and the Crossover edge that the band was later known for, started growing with this release. Due to their extremely political attitude the guys started working with Hardcore/Punk elements also. The guys made a big support tour for Death Angel and was preparing the second album "They give you the blessing" with Thomas Nendza on bass in 1989, which was released on their new label Century Media 1990, who also still in the same year published the compilation album "Destroy fascism". "They give you the blessing" hadn't much in common with the debut album anymore, though Rumble Militia still worked with Thrash'n Speed Metal elements, but equally to it the Punk/HC influences grew and especially the vocals wasn't anyone's cup of tea anymore, while certain songparts appeared almost influenced by M.O.D. For the producton of "Stop violence and madness" Century Media sent the to a three piece shrunken band into the Morrissound Studio, where they got helped by almost all Death/Massacre members with the background vocals. Seems the stay there helped the guys to find back to their old identity, coz the whole recent sound had moved drastically back to their former straight Thrash sound with also a few Anthrax hints. But those got quickly dropped again on the follow up EP "Wieviel Hass wollt ihr noch?" 2 years later, which was almost entirely sung in german. After the "Hate me" album 1994 their star was sinking and Rumble Militia quit in 1999, but reunited in 2002 again and are active till nowadays.Discography:
"Treason" Demo 1986 (selfreleased)
"Fuck off commercial" LP 1987 (Atom H)
"En Nombre del Ley" 12" EP 1988 (Atom H)
"Different colours" 7" EP 1990 (Century Media)
"They give you the blessing" LP/CD 1990
"Destroy Fascism" LP/CD 1991 (Century Media)
"Stop violence and madness" LP/CD 1991 (Century Media)
"Wieviel Hass wollt Ihr noch?" 12" EP/CD 1993 (Century Media)
Rumpelstiltkin
Lineup:
Wolfgang Lindner (guitars, vocals)
Nicki Marinic (bass)
Stefan Götz (drums)
Hans Platz (guitar)
Band-info:
Hardrockers from Erlangen who published a self financed MLP 1990, that nowadays almost can't be found anymore. Though the guys pressed 1000 copies, it seems they are all still stored in any moisty basement of an ex-member. Soundwise the guys for sure have to be named as the metallic answer to AC/DC. You won't find so many bands that sound so close to their heroes. Though the vinyl comes with a rather Demo production, the whole songwriting and even vocals (like a cross of Brian Johnson and the Fastway guy) remind of just the one and only AC/DC, but heavier. A real highlight and huge contrast to the rather easy riffing are the guitar solos, that pretty much show what talent hides there. Dunno why they received such a bad review once by the Metal Hammer magazine.
Running Wild
Lineup:
Rolf Kasparek (guitar, vocals)
Uwe Bendig (guitar)
Matthias Kaufmann (bass)
Wolfgang Hagemann (drums)
Band-info:
Running Wild started in Hamburg 1976, founded by Rolf Kasparek, Uwe Bendig, Michael Hoffmann and Jörg Schwarz as Granite Hearts and changed name to Running Wild in 1979. This legendary band that influenced so many musicians, bands and most of you too during your childhood days has released 16 albums till today. The Corroseum honestly doesn't think that we still need to introduce this legend to anyone of the readers. In case someone doesn't know them yet, please check out the Running Wild HomepageDiscography:
Ruscut
Lineup:
Olaf Dietzel (vocals)
Thorsten Weber (guitar)
Clemens Goth (bass)
Ulli Quaiser (drums)
Band-info:
Progressive Power/Speed Metallers originating from the Lahn/Dill Kreis (between Gießen and Siegen), who combined the german Speed with some proggy US Power Metal, while the Speed parts remind me of Angel Dust on their debut LP. A pretty much playful acting band with even a few Running Wild hints showing up here and there. Ruscut existed since summer '86 and released 2 Demos all in all. After the first tape recorded in November '87, Mekin Gürson joined as second guitarist and Peter Berger replaced Olaf Dietzel in late April '88. After 2 successful participations on local newcomer festivals and a small tour through Germany, Ruscut announced to release a Maxi single during spring '89, that was never released though. Joe Mizzi (ex-Rain 'n' Steel) and Gino Micallef (both ex-High'n Dry) was found in their line up as well.Discography:
"...the war drags ever on!!" Demo 1987 (selfreleased)
"Time waits for no one" Demo 1991 (selfreleased)
Russel Square
Lineup:
Thomas Huckenbeck
Band-info:
HR/HM unknowns from the town of Radewormvald, Nordrhein-Westfalen, active around 1982-83. If you have more info, please get in contact.Discography:
Rusty Chains
Lineup:
Band-info:
Utterly obscure local Heavy Metal unit from northern Germany, most probably originating from the wider Wolfsburg/Braunschweig/Hannover area. So far it’s confirmed these lads played a show together with Adrian, Tempest and Shooting Gallery in the fall of the 80’s (possibly 1988/89) in Schweimke. Further info is needed.Discography:
Rusty Nail (Andernach)
Lineup:
Manni Schmidt (guitar)
Hans Böckelmann (guitar)
Chris Mittler (vocals)
Pano Petrakakis (bass)
Siggi Cera (drums)
Band-info:
A Heavy Metal act from Andernach and probably the first band of Manni Schmidt (later in Vötca and Rage). Also future Vötca band mate Pano Petrakakis (ex-Blue Sky) was active in this band. They played several live shows in 1983 (probably the year the group was formed). Some members would found another Andernach Metal band Vötca. If you got more info, please get in touch.Discography:
Rusty Nail (Frechen)
Lineup:
Zeta Nierhoff (vocals, guitar)
Olaf Heine (bass)
Bobo Kubovski (drums)
Band-info:
From Frechen/Cologne came this mysterious band that sounds like an incarnation of AC/DC on every single one of their 3 EP's. Unfortunately there is no year mentioned on any of them, but we've found enough info to say the band existed since 1983 and besides a Livetape (90 min), the lads released their first single "Girls get older" during 1985. Early 1986 the trio even took a selfproduced LP into consideration, but instead another single with the title "Empty bottles" was published, with Uwe Belz on additional guitar. Single number three, and the best of all, "In the claws of Rock 'n' Roll" was produced probably around 1988/89 then. Olly Blahak had replaced Uwe Belz on guitar and Martin Scheferhoff was to hear on the bass guitar. On the earlier singles Rusty Nail's music featured exactly the old 70's AC/DC sound, while on "In the claws of Rock 'n' Roll" the fourpiece offers a slightly more modern style and doesn't sound too much like from the 70's as on the previous EP's, though the AC/DC worship is prevailing here too. We are speaking of an 1:1 copy, just that you get the picture.Discography:
"Girls get older" 7" EP 1985 (Spider)
"Empty bottles" 7" EP 198x (Spider)
"In the claws of Rock 'n' Roll" 7" EP 198x (Spider)
No Corroseum-feature would be complete without some proper sampler CDRs!
Straight from Prowler's personal archive we present thee...
download ~Volume West~
download ~Volume East~
(For more obscure German goodies, check out "Teutonic Evasion", the German edition of the Veterans Of The Various-Wars samplers...)
Straight from Prowler's personal archive we present thee...
download ~Volume West~
download ~Volume East~
(For more obscure German goodies, check out "Teutonic Evasion", the German edition of the Veterans Of The Various-Wars samplers...)
Keep exploring the olde German Metal scene on these other sections of The Corroseum:
