Agent Steel's first incarnation recorded a demo in the studio, titled “144,000 Gone” in the summer of ’84. “144,000 Gone” was written by Cyriis when he was a guitarist in his previous band Sceptre, an underground metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 with his best friends, Tony and Phil Sardo. The lineup — whom Cyriis personally invited — consisted of drummer Chuck Profus, guitarists Bill Simmons and Mark Marshal, and bassist George Robb, respectively. They accepted the offer gratefully, but in the end only two out of the four who were invited stayed in the lineup until the group disbanded — this for reasons unknown. Another member named John Gott joined, but left shortly afterwards. New guitarists Juan Garcia and Kurt Colfelt joined the band. From December 1984 to February 1985, they recorded their debut album "Skeptics Apocalypse", which was released in June 1985 by Combat Records. Until this day, "Skeptics Apocalypse" is a world-renowned Speed Metal classic; its most popular song, "Agents of Steel", has over half a million listens on YouTube as of 2020.