Euro metal pioneers Oz were originally formed in Nakilla, a small town in Finland, in 1977. The band consisted of Mark Ruffneck (aka Pekka Mark) on drums, lead vocalist Ape de Martini (aka Eero Hämäläinen), bassist Tauno Vajavaara and Kario ELO on guitar. It took the four Fins five years to come up with the material for their legendary debut album Heavy Metal Heroes - Hey You. With the success of the album not only in Finland (but all over continental Europe), Oz decided to permanently move to Stockholm, a much larger city than their original hometown, in order to follow a professional recording career. The follow-up album, Fire In The Brain, was released in 1983, and Oz's third album, aptly named III Warning, in 1984. In his Collector's Guide To Heavy Metal Canadian author Martin Popoff wrote about ""fables of anguish such as 'Crucified,' 'Runner,' and 'Rock'n'Roll Widow.'"" On III Warning, Oz indeed sound like a well-oiled metal machine, best summed up by the last track on the record, ""Total Metal.""
