Former members, and other stuff:
In the modern music scene there are a lot of bands copying the latest trends and fashions in music just to vanish after a short period of unsuccessfulness. On the other hand there are bands which maintain their musical style whilst being ignored by the industry. In spite of these conditions melodic power metal act ATTACK has gathered a large group of fans worldwide and has sold quite a huge number of records. In the songs of ATTACK heavy, speed metal oriented rhythms and powerful guitar riffs, melodic vocals and guitar parts for two voices are followed by instrumental passages, in which instruments as violins, flutes, acoustic guitars and keyboards are used. All of this is combined to a variegated dynamic sound. In the texts medieval themes and autobiographical experiences merge into utopian, cryptic stories which are wrapped up mystically. 1984 the band was founded by multi-instrumentalist Ricky van Helden in Hannover, Germany. Shortly after that a producer got interested in the band. The result was the release of their debut album "Danger In The Air" in the same year. The following tour through Germany showed that ATTACK could transpose their enormous energy and their passion for playing live from the studio onto the stage. In addition they presented a proper show. 1985 the second album "Return Of The Evil" was released which got remarks not only in Europe. 1986 ATTACK was voted as "most promising metal band" in Australia. The band toured in Europe and reached the status of a "cult band" in some other countries. More and more record labels took notice of ATTACK, so that the band signed a contract with Sonic/RCA. The album "Beastkiller" was recorded. After the following tour through Eastern Europe the band broke up. Then Ricky van Helden revived the band near Bielefeld. The new ATTACK signed a contract with ZYX/Mikulski. The result was the album "Destinies Of War" released in 1989. Due to some trouble with their label the band was put into cold storage. Finally the album "Seven Years In The Past" was released in 1992 on the band owned label "ICELAND RECORDS". Japanese record labels became attentive to the band ATTACK when this album went up to position 20 of the Japanese import charts. The band signed a contract with JVC/Victor that assures the label all rights on ATTACK in Japan. At the same time the band also could conclude a world-wide deal with the German music publishing company L.M.P. (Limb Music Publishing). First of all JVC/Victor released the two back-catalogue albums "Destinies Of War" and "Seven Years In The Past" of which the last mentioned one reached position 16 in the BURRN! charts. At the same time ATTACK appeared along with other international stars of the metal scene on the "Pure Metal Sampler Vol. 2" presenting their song "On The Run". The well-known Japanese radio moderator himself, Captain Wada, insisted on coming to Germany to interview the band for his numerous radio shows. As a consequence to the positive reactions coming from Japan, including lots of fan-mail, requests for interviews and the huge number of sold records, ATTACK recorded the compilation album "Revitalize" (1994). In the same year the band signed a contract with the European label EWM Entertainment (Tin Can Discs). 1995 ATTACK produced their seventh album entitled "The Secret Place" which was released worldwide in August 1995. The further development should be observed closely. To the relief of their fans, however, the band maintained their musical style and nothing is going to change this.
