The band Trance was formed in the late 70s from the school band Tribut, which was founded in 1974 and later became AGE. In 1980, the band attracted attention with second place at the Festival of the Förderpreis of Ludwigshafen am Rhein and first place at the SWF Music Festival in Rülzheim. In 1981, the line-up was complete with Lothar Antoni (vocals, guitars), Thomas Klein (bass), Jürgen Baum (drums) and Markus Berger (lead guitar), and the band went into the studio on their own for the first time and recorded the single A Hard Way to Go / Haze in the Twilight. With this single in tow, they quickly found Rockport Records, the label that would stand by the band for many years.

Break Out was recorded in December 1981 and released on 5 May 1982. In particular, the 8-minute song ‘Loser’ was a hit and brought the band their international breakthrough and a total of 14 performances in Germany and Benelux in 1982. Behind Scorpions and Accept, Trance was the third force in the German heavy metal universe. A total of 150,000 units of Break Out and the follow-up album Power Infusion were sold, and subsequently the band played up to 150 concerts a year, with bands like Accept and Warlock.