Mad Max-Stormchild

Metal Mind

1985/2010

Things were happening fast for Germany's Mad Max after their second album and to keep up they changed 3/5 of the band line-up prior to recording "Stormchild". Guitarist Jurgen Breforth was now the only original member left and vocalist Michael Voss was going into second album as the band's frontman. The band's image changed as well with them pulling away from the simple black leather look and opting for a more colorful, semi-glam look. The music picked up on the melodic metal sound that they began working with on "Rollin' Thunder". Only this time around they are not quite as heavy and they had began to subscribe to an even more melodic sound. In fact they sound most similar to some American bands of the time including Leatherwolf, Dokken, King Kobra and Icon. They had toned down on the traces of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest that been present before, but one only has to listen to songs such as "Never say never" and "Return of the hunter" to realize that Mad Max were playing the kind of songs they were comfortable doing and they excelled at it. In fact for 1985 they were certainly one of the best bands playing this kind of metal. Makes me wish I had actually hear this album back then because I would have been all over it. The lyrics are about as cliche as it gets, but the music and the powerful vocals make up for it. At this point "Stormchild" could be certainly be seen as their tightest and most consistent release. This remix includes the bonus track "Can't stop taking" and a lyric booklet with a band biography.