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

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

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

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

Having just celebrated their 30th anniversary and the release of their collection "The Soundchaser Archives" in 2014, German heavy metal pioneers RAGE have announced the end of the band's lineup of the past 15 years.

RAGE guitarist Victor Smolski and bassist/vocalist Peter "Peavy" Wagner have released the following joint statement: "After thinking it over carefully, Peavy and Victor decided to stop working together in the future. This is due to musical and personal changes.

"We have developed in different directions in the last years, [so] much [so] that we cannot identify with the current band situation anymore. In this situation, we will also part from drummer Andre Hilgers.

"The last 15 years were blessed with many highlights and great releases but this era is over now. Every extension would be untrue to ourselves and to our fans.

"We wish each other all the best!

"Thanks to all the fans for your trust and support!"

Adds Smolski: "Dear friends, after 15 fantastic years, 10 records and countless live shows with RAGE, I have decided to focus myself on other musical challenges.

"I really want to thank all RAGE fans, who supported me all those years.

"In the future, I will concentrate on the new LMO CD. The orchestra project I founded and formed in 2013 will continue with the same lineup, just without Peavy. New musicians, giving this creative band new input, but also a new name will be revealed soon.

"Composing and producing the last record was so much fun to me and I want to thank everyone who supported me doing this. With all the experience from the shows with LMO, I'm quite sure the new album will be even more exciting. Expect the unexpected!"

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

Bassist/vocalist Peavy Wagner has issued a statement clarifying the situation with Rage and Lingua Mortis Orchestra. Just this past Wednesday a statement was issued by the band that the current lineup of Wagner, Victor Smolski and Andre Hilgers have split. For some, this was interpreted as the demise of Rage, however, Wagner insists that the band will continue with a new lineup and a new era and that Refuge (the outlet for the classic era of Rage) will continue as a separate entity.

In the statement issued today, Wagner states: "Hi Rageheads, due to rumors in the past few days, referring to the future of Rage and LMO, I would like to give some more clarity.

"My split from Victor and André does NOT implicate the end of RAGE! On the contrary, set sails again with a new Line-Up soon we. More news to follow.

"Refuge is a blessing for me and my two friends and bandmates, and wants to continue to exist. We are looking forward to the festival summer of 2015 (and beyond) Both bands, Rage and Refuge are going to be present alongside and want even complement each other. With Refuge, we are serving all the oldschool metalheads out there, whilst Rage is covering the whole musical spectrum that I have built up in the past 30 years.

"[As for] Lingua Mortis [Orchestra] (LMO), I created in the early 90's and we celebrated our first release in 1996. Equals to Rage, LMO is important part of me and I want to put in the same amount of passion and creative energy as I have done in the past.

"I promise that I will go ahead with Rage in a high musical quality. With Refuge, we will travel back to the early days and with Lingua Mortis Orchestra, I want to continue the metal meets classic part of me.

"I can't wait for what will happen in the near future, I feel freed and I am full of creative energy. In that respect I want to say THANK YOU for your trust and support."

RAGE LINE UP IS COMPLETED!!

Hello Rageheads: Today I'm happy to announce: Rage is finally completed!!.
After a few days of hearing, talking, sharing… I can assure you that the search is over!
I want to thank everybody who wrote/called/texted me over the last few weeks.

I'm still very touched and flattered for all the positive comments from everywhere in the globe via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.

I promise you that the new Rage will be ASTONISHING!!!, We can’t wait to show you the music we already started to write!!
But, who are they? ... Can you guess?
Stay tuned for more!
Happy weekend.
Yours,
Peavy.

A few weeks ago, the announcement that the most recent lineup of German power metallers RAGE was breaking up caused a furor within the metal scene. While RAGE co-founder Peavy Wagner decided to continue the band with new members, guitarist Victor Smolski set his mind on following his passion for neo-classical, orchestral metal and continue on the path that he began with the LINGUA MORTIS ORCHESTRA CD "LMO". This marks the birth of new band called ALMANAC.

"ALMANAC is the continuation of the concept which I started back in 2013 with 'LMO'," says Smolski. "The well-known faces of 'LMO' stay the same: both female singers Jeannette Marchewka and Dana Harnge, as well as the Orquestra Barcelona Filharmonia. On top of that, I am proud to announce that we also have two outstanding male singers joining us: Andy B. Franck (BRAINSTORM) and David Readman (PINK CREAM 69)! All of them offer me the possibility to add more variety and a new musical dimension to the new tracks' arrangements."

Smolski will announce the bass player and drummer of ALMANAC at a later date, but the band's baptism of fire is close.

"I will present the whole new band on our first live appearance on the Musikmesse Frankfurt [music fair]," says Smolski.

ALMANAC will perform on April 16 at 17.30 CET on the Agora Stage. Furthermore, Smolski plans to enter the studio later this year to record the ALMANAC debut album.

Vocalist/bassist Peter "Peavy" Wagner of German power metallers RAGE has announced the band's new lineup. It is as follows:

Peter "Peavy" Wagner - Vocals, Bass
Marcos Rodriguez - Guitar, Vocals
Vassilios "Lucky" Maniatopoulos - Drums, Vocals

Comments Peavy: "There were quite a couple of proposals from established musicians, but this wasn't what I was looking for. I wanted to have a real band again with all members pulling in the same direction."

Marcos Rodriguez was born in Venezuela and currently resides in Antwerpen, Belgium. The 36-year old guitarist is a die-hard fan of RAGE who met Peavy on RAGE's 30th-anniversary tour when his band SOUNDCHASER provided support on parts of the trek.

Vassilios "Lucky" Maniatopoulos has so far primarily made an appearance as the vocalist of the band TRI STATE CORNER. However, the former drum student and drum technician of former RAGE and current TRI STATE CORNER/REFUGE drummer Christos Efthimiadis is also longtime friend of Peavy's.

"Black In Mind" is one of the ultimate must-have records of the German metal band RAGE. For the 20th anniversary of this release, the group — led by singer/bass player Peavy Wagner — will embark on a tour of Europe on which Peavy will introduce his new bandmates Marcos Rodriguez (guitars) and Vassilios Maniatopoulos (drums) live on stage for the first time.

Says Peavy: "RAGE are back! After the opening show at Metal Hammer Paradise on November 14th at the Ferienpark Weissenhäuser Strand/Germany, we will be back in December with something special. On the 'Black In Mind' tour, we will introduce our new lineup with an exclusive set list."

In other news, RAGE will release a four-track EP on January 22, 2016 to coincide with the band's tour with HELLOWEEN.

"This EP will shorten your waiting time until the release of our new album — the first one since 2012 — which will be in the shops next May," reveals Peavy.

"My Way" contains four tracks, including two re-recorded versions of songs from the "Black In Mind" and a brand-new song in both English and Spanish.

"My Way" EP track listing:

01. My Way (new song)
02. Black In Mind (title song of the album "Black In Mind"; re-recorded)
03. Sent By The Devil (from the album "Black In Mind"; re-recorded)
04. Apuesto A Ganar (Spanish version of "My Way")

"My Way" will be available as MCD and seven-inch vinyl exclusively at the Nuclear Blast shop and on the HELLOWEEN tour at the merchandising booth.

Two decades ago, “Black In Mind”, the highly esteemed album of RAGE – one of the most constant German Metalbands of international level – was originally released. At that time, the band around figurehead Peter “Peavy” Wagner, that is usually known as a trio, appeared in a line-up of four, consistent of mastermind Peavy (vocals, bass), Sven Fischer (guitars) as well as the brothers Spiros (guitars) and Chris Efthimiadis (drums). A line-up, which was literally taking no prisoners, neither in the studio nor live on stage.

For the 20th anniversary of RAGE’s musical mile stone, which still achieves top prices among collectors, frontman Peavy now re-releases “Black In Mind” on his own label Dr. Bones.

As a special thank-you for the fans, the re-release of “Black In Mind” not only contains the bonus track “Chase” which was previously only released in Japan, but also comes with an extra bonus CD of ten songs featuring the demo versions of seven of the album tracks as well as three songs (two original songs and a cover version of Spandau Ballet’s “Through The Barricades”), that didn’t make their way on the album back then and are previously unreleased. A must-have for fans of this unique band!

In time for the re-release of “Black In Mind”, RAGE will be touring Europe again. And even though the band has a brand- new line-up, the three guys from the German Ruhrgebiet of course have also put “Black In Mind” song classics as the album’s title song or “Sent By The Devil” on their set lists.