Who can forget the power metal force known as Risk? The band competed side by side, head to head, with the best of the German scene inn the late 80s and early 90s. While Rage, Grave Digger, Running Wild, Angel Dust, and the famed Helloween all soared the globe on a speed metal rocket, Risk were somehow left out of the game. Sure the group were signed to a large label for their entire career, SPV, yet still the band never gained the huge notoriety made famous by the other German pioneers. Led by the talented singer Heinrich Mikus, Risk at one point could have been the best of the best in the world of high speed power metal. Instead 2010 leaves us asking where the band has been for the last sixteen years.

To fully understand the band one would have to look to the 60s.

What?

The 60s was when Risk originally formed, going under the band name Faithful Breath. The group began their career as a folk act, playing clubs and fests all over Germany before finally releasing their first record in 1974 with "Fading Beauty". The band finally emerged with a heavy metal sound in 1981 with the Viking themed "Rock Lions". The period between '81 and '86 was spent tooling an Accept type sound, often with soaring melodic riffs that would be on target somewhere in the middle of the Scorpions catalogue. The band released treasured collector's LPs like "Skol", "Gold 'N Glory", and "Hard Breath" before finally disbanding.

In 1988 the band came back in a big way, this time under the name Risk, a well oiled music machine that was one part hard rock, one part speed metal, and one part glorious power metal. The band's debut hit in 1988, a mean sounding guitar kill called "The Daily Horror News". The line-up featured Faithful Breath vocalist Heinrich Mikus and his ex-Faithful Breath mates Peter Dell and Jürgen Düsterloh. Also on the bill was Angel Dust guitarist/vocalist Roman Keymer. The band went to a five-piece in 1989 by adding German metal veteran Thilo Hermann on guitars, a legendary musician who had spent time in Holy Moses and Faithful Breath and would later go on to join the ranks of Running Wild. In '89 the band released "Hell's Animals" and the "Rat Man" EP, both of which are probably the best of the group's discography. In 1990 they released "Dirty Surfaces" before taking on a more modern, groovy power metal sound for "Reborn" (1992) and "Turpitude" (1993).

Fans of rough and ready thrash metal in the vein of Headhunter and early Rage should really seek out the incredible catalogue from this talented band. The discs are very hard to locate because honestly...nobody can locate the whereabouts of the band.

My question to you Maximum Metal readers is this: Where are you Risk?

The members I need to find are:
Heinrich Mikus
Roman Keymer
Christian Sumser
Peter Dell
Jürgen Düsterloh
Thilo Herrmann

If anyone has any information to the whereabouts of the above musicians, please email me us at news@maximummetal.com