The band's first album (named "X") was released in May 1996 and was warmly acclaimed by the fans and the press especially in the UK and Japan, where they were outselling huge rock bands, reaching sales of 100,000 records only during the first week of release. In order to support the album for the forthcoming tour, the band recruited bassist Martin "Shelley" Shelton (ex-Dare), keyboard player Ged Rylands (ex-KAGE) and guitarist John Halliwell (ex-KAGE). With the songs already written, the band returned to the studio in order to finish their second album. "The Name of the Rose" was released in September of the same year (1996) and was equally successful to "X", gaining some enthusiastic reviews from the critics. The title track was also voted "Song Of The Year" by the readers of "BURRN!" magazine in Japan.