Artension was the brainchild of Shrapnel Records head Mike Varney. He received a demo from Vitalij Kuprij and Roger Staffelbach of a project they called Atlantis Rising. He got the idea to hook them up with John West, Kevin Chown, and Mike Terrana. The result was a band called Artension (named for a combination of the words "art" and "tension") and a CD called Into the Eye of the Storm. The group followed that release with Phoenix Rising. ~ Gary Hill, All Music Guide