Stormwitch (1981-1994, 2002-present): a Power Metal band from Gerstetten, Germany.
Becomming one of the better-known German power metal/thrash metal bands of the eighties Stormwitch played their cards right with a classic Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and Accept heavy metal style. This group of Germans adopted English stage-names in a presumed attempt to garner credibility for themselves at a time when the English and American heavy metal bands were dominating the market. The attempt at gaining the sought-after international English Metal market failed when they could only gain support in their homeland. Under the original line-up of Andy Mück (vocals), Harald Spengler (guitar), Stefan Kauffman (guitar), Ronny Gleisberg (bass) and Pete Langer (drums) they would release their debut, Walpurgis Night, in 1984 to the German public. Tales of Terror (1985), Stronger Than Heaven (1986) and The Beauty and the Beast (1997) would follow with regularity; the former seeing their most popular times arriving for their mid-period work of Eye of the Storm (1989) and their first live attempt Live in Budapest (1989) falling within that time-frame.
By the time War of the Wizzards came in 1992 much of the band had changed, with only Mück and Langer remaining to replace all the string section with Damir Uzunovic (guitar), Joe Gassmann (guitar) and Martin Albrecht (bass). This line-up wasn't working out very well, for Shogun (1994) was released without the help of Gassmann, with the whole band collapsing soon after.
After the Priest of Evil "best of..." compilation of their work was completed in 1998, Mück decided to resurrect the band. He first recruited a new cast of characters featuring himself with Martin Winkler (guitar), Fabian Schwarz (guitar), Dominik Schwarz (bass), Alex Schmidt (keyboard) and Marc Oppold (drums) to then release Dance With The Witches in 2002.