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Germany could be considered the birth place for what is now known as Power Metal. Bands like Helloween, Gamma Ray and Blind Guardian first forged this path in the ’80s, but there was one band that never seemed to get their just due. SCANNER’s 1988 debut concept album, Hypertrace, was as good as any album out at the time, if not better. Conceptually speaking, Hypertrace was an intriguing tale of space travel and the bettering of humanity, while sonically it was filled to the brim with charging thunderous riffage and ear-piercing vocals (thanks to guest vocalist, Ralf Scheepers) it placed the band on the right trajectory for success, but soon after its release, their vocalist quit.

Quickly picking up S.L. Coe (ex-Angel Dust) to fill the vacated spot, the band forged onward with 1990’s Terminal Earth. Decidedly not following the previous album’s concept, Coe struck out on his own lyrically with solid tracks like “From the Dust of Ages,” “Wonder,” “Not Alone” and “The Law.” Musically speaking, SCANNER marched forward continuing to carry the torch of power metal across the globe pushing the genre into new markets. But even with these two impressive albums in their repertoire, and the flourishing power metal scene growing so rapidly, it would seem the plague of continued member departures would spell out disaster for SCANNER when this era of the band came to a close in 1990.