The Rage story begins way back in 1984 when Avenger first got together. Following the arrival of their debut album, " Prayers of Steel" , and an EP, Avenger changed their name and became Rage, releasing " Reign Of Fear" in 1986. Albums came out at regular intervals, and Rage toured with Running Wild, U.D.O., Motörhead and Saxon in the early Nineties. Their 1992 album release " Trapped" marked their international breakthrough, a temporary highlight being Rage's tour of Japan. Their triumphal march was repeated in 1993 with " Missing Link" , followed by a personnel change. The new line-up recorded " Lingua Mortis" , the first classical album by a German metal act, in 1996.

The material was performed live for the first time in late summer 1996 in Kufstein, Austria. Subsequently, Rage plus orchestra embarked on a celebrated Christmas tour and played several European festivals. Their thirteenth album " XIII" saw the light of day in March 1998, marking not only another highlight in the band's career but also the beginning of a new chapter in their line-up: the subsequent album " Ghosts" was followed by a severe personnel change, resulting in the current Rage team – the strongest one to date –, featuring Peavy, Victor Smolski and Mike Terrana. The trio underwent its baptism of fire at the Wacken Open Air in August 1999, presenting an impressive recording in " Welcome To The Other Side" . Their subsequent releases " Unity" and " Soundchaser" met with equally enthusiastic reactions from press and fans alike, and the tours – with Primal Fear in 2002 and Helloween in 2003 – turned into veritable triumphal marches.

The band's 20th anniversary in 2004 was celebrated by the From The Cradle To The Stage tour, where the show in Bochum were recorded and released under the same name as CD and DVD in 2005.

Rage again featured a symphonic orchestra, this time from Minsk, Belarus, under the "Lingua Mortis Orchestra" moniker to play on their next album Speak of the Dead, the last album with Mike Terrana on drums On 1 January 2007, it was announced that their new drummer would be André Hilgers, formerly the drummer of Axxis. He was already featured on the 20th anniversary album Into The Light of Nuclear Blast, which was composed, produced and mainly played by Victor, and its lyrics were written by Peavy.

In 2007, the band toured Europe with the orchestra, and their performance at Wacken Open Air in August in front of 80,000 fans was recorded for a DVD to be included as bonus to their next album. Carved in Stone was released on 22 February 2008. In 2009 the band played at Bundesvision Song Contest 2009 (BUVISOCO) on 13 February 2009, which was hosted by Stefan Raab (TV Total). It has brought them more fame through their participation in the show, as well as becoming third. Their participating song Gib Dich Nie Auf (Never Give Up) was released on an eponymous EP. That year was also the occasion for a 25th anniversary tour, and their Wacken performance - together with guest musicians like Hansi Kürsch - was released on a bonus DVD of the 2011 album Strings to a Web.

Rage entered the studio in October 2011 to begin recording their 21st album, appropriately named 21, for an early 2012 release. Two years later, due to the 30th anniversary, "The Soundchaser Archives, 30th anniversary" was released, featuring rare and demo songs from the last 30 years of Rage history. An anniversary tour was held in the entire year, which has ended up in January 2015 with a show in Sofia.

Meanwhile Peavy has renewed contact to his ex-bandmembers Manni Schmidt and Christos Efthimiadis, and had a secret concert in Peavy's hometown Herne under the pseudonym Tres Hombres. After the success they have decided to play again together as Refuge, and confirmed several festival participations for 2015.

At the 4th February 2015 the band has announced, that Peavy and Victor quit co-operating in the future, and also part from André Hilgers.

Peavy announced that Rage is going to have a new line up and will be presented in June 2015.