Agent Steel

A long-running West Coast heavy metal group founded by vocalist Johnny Cyriis, Agent Steel emerged in the mid-'80s with an uncompromising and unrelenting sonic attack that combined elements of speed and thrash metal with classic, melody-driven New Wave of British Heavy Metal. The band issued two full-length efforts, including 1985's acclaimed Skeptics Apocalypse, before disbanding in 1988. A different iteration of the group re-formed in 1999 and released Omega Conspiracy and two more albums before calling it quits in 2010. Agent Steel was resurrected for the third time in 2019, with Cyriis leading the charge, and two years later they unleashed their sixth long-player, No Other Godz Before Me. Agent Steel was founded in 1984 in Los Angeles by vocalist Johnny Cyriis, who had just been relieved of his post with fellow speed demons Megadeth. Initially operating under the name Sanctuary, the band endured a host of lineup changes before settling on a crew consisting of Cyriis, drummer Chuck Profus, guitarists Juan Garcia and Kurt Colfelt, and bassist George Robb. After inking a deal with Combat Records, the group released their first full-length outing, Skeptics Apocalypse. Pairing Iron Maiden-esque guitar harmonies with the frenzied rush of speed metal, the LP earned accolades both at home and abroad. Colfelt left the fold shortly after the album's release and founded his own venture, Holy Terror, making room for new guitarist Bernie Versailles, who made his studio debut on the 1986 EP Mad Locust Rising. Robb was the next to depart and was replaced by new bass player Michael Zaputil of L.A. rockers Letchen Grey. Mostly recorded at Tampa's legendary Morrisound Studios, Agent Steel's sophomore album, Unstoppable Force, was shopped to major Capitol Records, which was extremely interested in the group, having only recently bought out the contract of another Combat signing, Megadeth. Discord brought about by more lineup changes and a last-minute demand for more money by the group's management scared Capitol off, and as a result, Unstoppable Force was released later than anticipated by Combat. The band then set off on tour across Europe with Nuclear Assault. This proved to be their last stand, however, and they officially broke up shortly after returning to America -- though an in-concert film at the band's final Hammersmith Odeon show was eventually released in 1989. Years later, one-time guitarist Juan Garcia eventually decided to transform his then band, Evildead, into a new version of Agent Steel, also featuring singer Bruce Hall, bassist Karlos Medina, and past members Versailles and Profus. A new album entitled The Omega Conspiracy was released in 1999, but the band elected to change its name after facing the potential threat of legal action from Cyriis. This version of Agent Steel thus assumed the moniker Order of the Illuminati, but wrangling over the band name was soon a thing of the past, and the group resumed its thrashings under the Agent Steel moniker, giving the name Order of the Illuminati to its 2003 release. Later that year, Agent Steel issued the Earth Under Lucifer EP, and in 2007 they returned with the full-length Alienigma on the Mascot Music label. That iteration of Agent Steel eventually lost steam and splintered into different projects, prompting Cyriis to put together a cosmopolitan new lineup in 2019. Dubbed the "new era" and comprised of Cyriis, Bulgarian guitarist Nikolay Atanasov, Brazilian guitarist Vinicius Carvalho, Japanese bassist Shuichi Oni, and Danish drummer Rasmus Kjær, Agent Steel 3.0 released No Other Godz Before Me in 2021.
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