Umeå based Speed Metal act PERSUADER debuted in 1997. Initially the group hosted two guitarists but this was whittled down to just Pekka Kiviaho, a former member of AUBERON, before issuing an inaugural demo session 'Visions And Dreams' the following year. PERSUADER would share their opening eponymous effort with FRETERNIA, this release comprising earlier demo tracks. The band signed to Loud n´ Proud Records but, just as their first album 'The Hunter' was released, this label folded. Only a few copies leaked out in France through a license deal with the Nothing To Say imprint. Meantime, singer Jens Karlsson guested on the 1999 DEAD SILENT SLUMBER album 'Entombed In The Midnight Hour'.

With the departure of guitarist Pekka Kiviaho, frontman Jens Karlsson and drummer Efraim Juntunen in early 2001 PERSUADER. However, the band swiftly regrouped as Kiviaho was subsequently replaced by Emil Norberg and both Karlsson and Juntunen made a return. Kiviaho would unite with ex-MORIFADE guitarist Jesper Johansson to found a new project.

PERSUADER entered the Powerhouse Studios in Hamburg during September of 2003 with IRON SAVIOR's Piet Sielck acting as producer for the 'Evolution Purgatory' album.

In early 2005 it would be revealed ex-member Pekka Kiviaho had joined ONE MAN ARMY AND THE UNDEAD QUARTET, the new project of ex-THE CROWN singer Johan Lindstrand. Another side project saw vocalist / guitarist Jens Karlsson and lead guitarist Emil Norberg in a new band unit entitled SAVAGE CIRCUS alongside longstanding BLIND GUARDIAN drummer Thomas Stauch, who had opted out of the leading German epic Metal band in April 2005. The concept had been initiated in May of 2004 when producer and IRON SAVIOR frontman Piet Sielck suggested some demos cut by Stauch were similar in to the PERSUADER material. Initial demos, with Sielck handling bass guitar, were cut at Powerhouse Studios in Hamburg during August.

The newly established Dockyard 1 label in Germany re-issued the difficult to find 'The Hunter' album in 2005, complete with bonus tracks. That December PERSUADER entered the Powerhouse Studio in Hamburg, with Piet Sielck producing to cut their third album 'when Eden Burns'. Issued in May 2006, Japanese variants of the album hosted an exclusive track 'Alight The Heavens'.