Mad Max-Rollin' Thunder

Metal Mind

1984/2010

Mad Max were making changes fast after their 1982 debut. The biggest change being Michael Voss coming in on vocals. Gone was Andreas Baesler and his lack of style, power and range. The band obviously decided to commit to being a metal band for this album and brought in a vocalist to fit the style. Voss had a smooth, strong set of pipes an a fair amount of range. The band also changed bass players and record labels for this album. Once you hear it you realize they also changed musical style to some point too. Instead of the all over the place of the previous album they now seemed more focused. The style here is classic metal with melodic undertones. The band's love of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest works it's way into several songs and they do the best with these influences.Voss easily shifts from heavy, Hard charging attacks into the higher melodies and back with no problem. The guitars are much more organized this time around. They play very tight and the solos are much improved from the other album. The rhythm section falls into place and benefits from a seemingly more consistent production job this time around. Mad Max found a style for this album that not only worked very well, but they also sounded very comfortable doing it. The improvement from their self-titled debut is remarkable. It's almost like two entirely different bands. This re-issue includes a lyric booklet with a band biography.