The history of SACRED STEEL started in 1990 with a Progressive Metal band called Variety Of Arts, based out of the area of Ludwigsburg/Germany. The demo tape “Dreams Of Perfection” was released in 1992, and one year later the band made an appearance on Volume III of the “Peace Eater” compilation series, on which they released the song ‘Gardens Of Mischief'. In 1994, the band decided to change name to Tragedy Divine, and become a little straighter and less complicated in their musical style, while still remaining somewhat ‘progressive'. After one demo, “Apostles Of Deceit”, they got signed to T&T/Noise Records, and their debut album “Visions Of Power” was released in spring 1996 and received high critical acclaim within the underground. Soon after, singer Gerrit P. Mutz and guitarist Jörg M. Knittel found they were no longer content with the whole concept of Tragedy Divine, and instead wanted to return to their roots – classic eighties Power Metal in the vein of such US Metal legends as Omen, Helstar and Agent Steel, considering Metal less a form of art than much rather a life style or even religion.

After finding suitable people to fill up the ranks of their new musical home SACRED STEEL – drummer Mathias Straub, rhythm guitarist Oliver Großhans and bassist Jens Sonnenberg (who replaced the unreliable short-time member Patrick Schmidt) – they quickly began to make their vision of a True Metal band become reality. A rehearsal tape and a couple of live shows (including support slots with some well-known heroes such as Blitzkrieg) eventually resulted in a record deal offer by Metal Blade Records, which they gladly signed in April 1997 – as the first ever German band to do so ! A few months later, the band recorded their debut album “Reborn In Steel”, which saw release in late October 1997 and probably was the most Agent Steel record seeing release since “Unstoppable Force” had been unleashed upon the banging Hordes in 1987.
𘹮 saw SACRED STEEL playing a well-received show at the Wacken Open Air, one of Europe's biggest Metal festivals, where they played the second open air stage, called ‘True Metal Stage'.

To everyone's huge surprise, SACRED STEEL were pre-nominated for the ‘Best Heavy Metal Performance' Grammy (!!), but as could be expected, they didn't stand too much of a chance against bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest (this time, that is).

SACRED STEEL's 1999 started with a compilation appearance – “Unbroken Metal”, a CD released by a local Metal TV show in Hamburg, included a demo version of the “Wargods” track ‘Crusaders Of The Metal Blade'. Singer Gerrit also gained some recording credits by joining Goddess Of Desire for their version of Mercyful Fate's ‘Nuns Have No Fun'. February and March saw the band on their first big out-of-area tour, supporting the European leg of Nevermore's “Dreaming Neon Black” tour, together with the Swedish (Morgana) Lefay and Nocturnal Rites.

In August of the same year, the band surprisingly made another (quite triumphant) Wacken appearance, because the Marduk show was cancelled and SACRED STEEL, who had only come as ordinary festival attendants, were asked to fill in for the Black Metallers. Right after the festival, a one week headlining tour called “Crusaders Of The Metal Blade” with Destiny's End and Wardog started, leading them through Germany and to Holland and Belgium. Not much later, SACRED STEEL were featured on another compilation when Nuclear Blast released their “Tribute To Accept”, which contained a SACRED STEEL version of ‘Fight It Back'.

The following months were used for song writing, and in early January 2000, SACRED STEEL entered the ‘House of Music' studios in Winterbach to record their self-produced third album “Bloodlust”, engineered and mixed by Achim Köhler. “Bloodlust” is a concept album featuring a fantasy storyline developed by singer Gerrit and shows a slightly less raw and more melodic approach, while of course generally retaining all of SACRED STEEL's True Metal trademarks. The album was released on May 2nd 2000, late one week due to manufacturing problems beyond the band or label's control, and was supported by single shows and festival appearances (such as the Summer Breeze Festival in southern Germany on August 24th 2000), while a regular tour did not take place until early 2001, when SACRED STEEL supported Primal Fear's “Nuclear Fire” European tour together with Finnish Melodic Death shooting stars Children Of Bodom in February and March.

Meanwhile, SACRED STEEL have already been getting busy again with writings song for their upcoming fourth album “Slaughter Prophecy”, which will be the first SACRED STEEL release to profit from their newly signed record deal with Germany's Massacre Records, after the Metal Blade contract had expired with “Bloodlust”. The album recordings for “Slaughter Prophecy” are going to take place in late 2001 in the House Of Music studios, the album's release is scheduled for February 4th 2002.