Gladiators from Markneukirchen (Germany) were founded in the early '90s. The members of the band considered the project as just pure fun (they started as cover-band), they simply wanted to play Heavy Metal and have a great time together. It was clear since the beginning their sound paid homage to Accept and vocalist Udo.
Unrest (Germany) singer, Sonke Lau, took the band under his wings, inspired by their energy and enthusiasm and produced the debut-album "Steel Vengeance" in 1998. Underground HM scene was immediately interested to Gladiators, very good reviews and many interviews followed, granted the band to tour in Europe with Jag Panzer and Angel Dust and then successively to support live Grave Digger.
In the first months of '99 the second album "Bound to Steel" took the light, still obeying the rules and tradition of old-school HM, reviews and appreciations were even better than the debut album and also good sales outside Germany; both albums were released under Black Arrow label.
In 2001 the band split in a friendly way.