Paragon (band)

Paragon is a German heavy metal band from Hamburg.

History

Paragon was founded by guitarist Martin Christian (who in many of the band's album booklets is written as Martin Wöbcke when it comes to songwriting-credits). After releasing some demo tapes and a mini-CD, they were able to release an album in 1994, the debut World of Sin. Shortly after this, their record company Blue Merle went bankrupt, and Martin decided to put the band on hiatus.

About two years later, Martin found four new members (Andreas, Jan, Markus, and Claudius) and recorded the album The Final Command. In 1999, Chalice of Steel was released. In 2001, Paragon released Steelbound, engineered and produced by Piet Sielck of Iron Savior. Piet has worked with the band on every album since then.

After the recording of Forgotten Prophecies in early 2007, the band's longtime bass player Jan Bünning quit the band because of "musical differences." Shortly after the band had found a replacement in Dirk Seifert.

In late 2007 the band changed labels to Massacre Records and released Screenslaves in 2008.

In the mid to ending months of 2009, Paragon took a break. During this time they lost two members. Guitarist Günny Kruse who had played on their three studio albums between 2005–2008, and also bassist Dirk Seifert who only played on "Screenslaves".

In 2012 the album "Force Of Destruction" was released.

On 4 November 2014 Paragon announced a new album will be released for the band's 25th anniversary. The album, Hell Beyond Hell came out in 2016.

Band members

• Paragon live at Metal Frenzy 2018 in Gardelegen
• Andreas Babuschkin
  Andreas Babuschkin
• Günther Kruse and Jan Bertram
  Günther Kruse and Jan Bertram
• Jan Bünning
  Jan Bünning
• Sören Teckenburg
  Sören Teckenburg

Current members

• Andreas Babuschkin – lead vocals (1997–present)
• Martin Christian – guitar, backing vocals (1990–2010, 2015–present)
• Jan Bertram – guitar, backing vocals (2012–present)
• Jan Bünning – bass, backing vocals (1997–2007, 2009–present)
• Jason Wöbcke – drums (2024–present)

Former members

Vocals:
Chris Barena (1990–1994)
Kay Carstens (1994–1996)

Guitar:
Frank Hellweg (1990–1991)
Marcus Cremer (1991–1993)
Wolfgang "Woko" Köhler (1993–1994)
Daniel Görner (1995–1996)
Claudius Cremer (1996–2003)
Günter Kruse (2003–2009)
Wolfgang Tewes (2010–2015)
David Wieczorek (2010–2012)

Bass:
Dirk Sturzbecher (1990–1995)
Uwe Wessel – bass (1995–1996)
Dirk Seifert (2007–2009)

Drums:
Kay Neuse (1990–1996)
Markus Corby (1996–2005)
Chris Gripp (2005–2013)
Sören Teckenburg – drums (2013–2024)

Timeline

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Colors =

id:vocals  value:red       legend:Lead_Vocals
id:guitar  value:green     legend:Guitars
id:bass    value:blue      legend:Bass
id:drums   value:orange    legend:Drums
id:lines   value:black     legend:Studio_Album

LineData =

at:08/28/1995 color:black layer:back
at:05/24/1998 color:black layer:back
at:03/24/1999 color:black layer:back
at:05/29/2001 color:black layer:back
at:06/20/2002 color:black layer:back
at:09/15/2003 color:black layer:back
at:04/15/2005 color:black layer:back
at:05/12/2007 color:black layer:back
at:09/15/2008 color:black layer:back
at:10/25/2012 color:black layer:back
at:05/12/2016 color:black layer:back
at:04/11/2019 color:black layer:back
at:11/08/2024 color:black layer:back

BarData =

bar:Chris    text:"Chris Barena"
bar:Kay      text:"Kay Carstens"
bar:Andreas  text:"Andreas Babuschkin"
bar:Martin   text:"Martin Christian"
bar:Frank    text:"Frank Hellweg"
bar:Marcus   text:"Marcus Cremer"
bar:Köhler   text:"Wolfgang Köhler"
bar:Daniel   text:"Daniel Görner"
bar:Cremer   text:"Claudius Cremer"
bar:Günter   text:"Günter Kruse"
bar:Tewes    text:"Wolfgang Tewes"
bar:David    text:"David Wieczorek"
bar:Jan      text:"Jan Bertram"
bar:Dirk     text:"Dirk Sturzbecher"
bar:Uwe      text:"Uwe Wessel"
bar:Jan1     text:"Jan Bünning"
bar:Seifert  text:"Dirk Seifert"
bar:Neuse    text:"Kay Neuse"
bar:Corby    text:"Markus Corby"
bar:Gripp    text:"Christian Gripp"
bar:Sören    text:"Sören Teckenburg"
bar:Jason    text:"Jason Wöbcke"

PlotData=

  width:11
 bar:Chris      from:start      till:07/01/1994 color:vocals
 bar:Kay        from:07/01/1994 till:12/31/1996 color:vocals
 bar:Andreas    from:01/01/1997 till:end        color:vocals
 bar:Martin     from:start      till:12/31/2009 color:guitar
 bar:Martin     from:07/01/2015 till:end        color:guitar
 bar:Frank      from:start      till:07/01/1991 color:guitar
 bar:Marcus     from:07/01/1991 till:07/01/1993 color:guitar
 bar:Köhler     from:07/01/1993 till:12/31/1994 color:guitar
 bar:Daniel     from:01/01/1995 till:07/01/1996 color:guitar
 bar:Cremer     from:07/01/1996 till:11/01/2003 color:guitar
 bar:Tewes      from:01/01/2010 till:07/01/2015 color:guitar
 bar:David      from:01/01/2010 till:02/01/2012 color:guitar
 bar:Günter     from:11/01/2003 till:12/31/2009 color:guitar
 bar:Jan        from:02/01/2012 till:end        color:guitar
 bar:Dirk       from:start      till:11/01/1995 color:bass
 bar:Uwe        from:11/01/1995 till:12/31/1996 color:bass
 bar:Jan1       from:01/01/1997 till:07/01/2007 color:bass
 bar:Jan1       from:01/01/2010 till:end        color:bass
 bar:Seifert    from:07/01/2007 till:12/31/2009 color:bass
 bar:Neuse      from:start      till:07/01/1996 color:drums
 bar:Corby      from:07/01/1996 till:07/01/2005 color:drums
 bar:Gripp      from:07/01/2005 till:07/01/2013 color:drums
 bar:Sören      from:07/01/2013 till:04/01/2024 color:drums
 bar:Jason      from:04/01/2024 till:end        color:drums

</timeline>

Discography

Albums

• World of Sin (1995)
• The Final Command (1998)
• Chalice of Steel (1999)
• Steelbound (2001)
• Law of the Blade (2002)
• The Dark Legacy (2003)
• Revenge (2005)
• Forgotten Prophecies (2007)
• Screenslaves (2008)
• Force of Destruction (2012)
• Hell Beyond Hell (2016)
• Controlled Demolition (2019)
• Metalation (2024)

Other releases

• Into the Black [EP] (1994)
• 2000 Promo CD [Demo] (2000)
• Eye Of The Storm [Single] (2003)
• Larger Than Life [EP] (2008)

Compilation appearances

• "Metal Invader" on a Helloween tribute released by Arise Records
• "Two Faced" on "A Tribute to Tankard" (included as a bonus disc on the AFM Records 2007 Tankard release "Best Case Scenario: 25 Years In Beers")

External links

• Official website
• Template:Allmusic
• Template:MusicBrainz meta discography at MusicBrainzTemplate:EditAtWikidata
• Template:Wikidata Template:PAGENAMEBASE discography at DiscogsTemplate:EditAtWikidata