Mad Max-s/t

Metal Mind

1982/2010

Germany's Mad Max formed back in 1981 and released their self-titled debut the following year. I will come right put and say this is a very uneven album in both influences and results. The sounds vary from containing bits as heavy as early 1980's Judas Priest down to rather pedestrian radio friendly rock. It's like they listened to a lot of different bands, but they couldn't decide what they wanted to play so they tried tossing everything in. The results are a bit messy. Some tracks are relatively tight while others sound like the band recorded them before they finished fleshing everything out. The end result is the band sounds like a club band who should have spent some more time figuring what they wanted to do. Now that's not to say there are not a few sparks because there a few riffs that pull forth from the tangle and show some potential. However there are too many times where they just can't build on those moments. Original vocalist Andreas Baesler is a large part of the problem too. He has spirit, but he doesn't have a great deal of range or presence. That's a shame because a better singer might have been able to elevate these songs to some extent. The good news was a better singer was coming and brighter days were coming for this band as well. This album did help the band get started and get some notice. They had a lot of problems, but they would soon address all of the problems I stated above. Nice re-issue from Metal Mind includes a band biography.