Axxis
Best Of Emi-Years (2CD Digipak)

Axxis is a metal band from Germany that performs music in the style of Power Metal, formed in 1988. Kingdom of the Night's first debut album was released in February 1989. The German Axxis team, practicing Melodic Metal, was formed in the late 80s. The original lineup included vocalist Bernard Weiss, guitarist Walter Pitch, bassist Werner Kleichans and drummer Richard Michaelsky. In 1988, the first demo “Tears Of The Trees” was recorded, which the second time the musicians managed to shove on EMI. After receiving a contract with EMI Electrola, the group recorded the album Kingdom Of The Night, which became the best debut among German bands in 1989. The disc was sold in Europe, North America, Australia and Japan with a total circulation of over 100,000 copies. For this “feat”, Axxis received an award from the Multimedia Organization in the Best Selling Debut by a German Rock Band nomination. In September, a tour was held in support of this album, which included joint performances with Black Sabbath. Before recording the second disc in the team appeared keyboardist Harry Allers. Having released the Axxis II, the team swept through Europe as headliners. A year later, Access All Areas appeared on sale, cementing a good Teutonic reputation. The fame of German rockers has spread overseas, and musicians were invited to record the next album in Philadelphia. Joey Beilin undertook to produce the disc. Such a formulation of the question opened up new markets for musicians, including Japan. A special CD “Profile” was released in the Land of the Rising Sun, in support of which Weiss and Pitch arranged an acoustic tour there. Then the European tour took place, on which the group was warmed up by Gorky Park. Now the team is recognized around the world, and to record her next creation, she went to Rock Mecca - Los Angeles. The producer of “Matters Of Survival” was Keith Olsen, who had 25 years of experience in show business and dealt with such well-known bands as Fleetwood Mac, Whitesnake, Foreigner, Scorpions. Before the sessions, Olsen visited the musicians in Germany, where together with them he selected 12 of 30 tracks for the future disc. Needless to say, the record was inevitable success. The concert popularity of Axxis was also great by that time, and they could easily perform in front of a 30,000th audience at the Rock Am Ring festival. Before recording the next album, “Voodoo Vibes”, the musicians decided that they were ripe enough to start producing themselves, especially since they already had some experience in this matter. The result was impressive, and the record sounded much more powerful than it did with the venerable American producer. The work was done in just 18 days, which once again proved the skill of the musicians. The team held a German promotion tour in the company with U.D.O .. Axxis seemed to be doing well, but in early 1998, one of the founders of the group, Walter Pitch, announced his departure and the project was on the verge of collapse. The team managed to recover from the blow only in 2000, when the next album, "Back to the kingdom", was released on the Massacre label. The composition of the group was slightly updated, and included two newcomers - guitarist Guido Wemeyer and bassist Kuno Niemeyer. The next year another studio work was released, and in addition, the musicians participated in the recording of the tribute “Led Zeppelin”, performing a cover of the song “Good Times, Bad Times”.