POWERMAD – This Speed Metal meets Thrash Metal band formed back in 1984, hailing out of the great state of Minnesota. In 1986, Powermad released their self titled and debut EP on Combat Records. In 1988, Reprise Records picked up Powermad, releasing their EP – The Madness Begins… and this is the very EP that I found hiding in an antique co-op mall just yesterday!! (See pics of it below). Whoa. Whoa again, is how I first felt upon gazing my eyes upon this Heavy Metal super find! It’s Powemad… I thought to myself, thinking, can this be really happening? I am looking at and holding the vinyl EP copy of The Madness Begins…!?!
ANTIQUE STORES F’N ROCK.
In Metal summary, as you can tell, I was extremely psyched out of my mind about this Heavy Metal find… and I still am. I paid a meager – $6 for this Powermad gem! Six dollars! The total condition of this Powermad EP is in excellent to near mint too! The top right and bottom corners of the album jacket are the only areas that show a tad of wear. Otherwise, the original gloss on both sides of the album jacket still literally shines on it!
The original circular sticker is on the front side as well. The text printed on the circumference of the circle sticker reads: “Powermad Specially – Priced Mini – LP”. Specially priced alright, only six dollars, after more than two decades after it’s initial release… and it’s super, super, rare!! The inside text on the circle sticker reads: “Warning: Due to the intense nature of this music, neck braces may be required”. That’s vintage stuff… Old School.
There are four songs on this EP, all four are Thrash Metal and Old School too. Upon my first handling of the actual vinyl record itself, I could not believe there were no visible signs of it ever being handled! (Unless someone really, really took great care of it in the past). Once I dropped the turntable needle down on this POWERMAD EP to play, the sweet sound of analog filled the air, with not a crackle or pop. Take my word for it, these songs are incredibly worthy of multi-multiple listens on a regular basis.
Terminator is the opening track, it begins with thunderous drum beats in unison with vintage, heavy riffs that tell me immediately I’m in for a Metal treat. This song sizzles and then explodes into Thrash Metal glory. Joel Dubay on lead vocals has a coherent delivery, only watch out for his screach… he can hit the high note without any trouble and it’s superb. Hunter Seeker is faster than Terminator, it kicks right in where Terminator left off. This song is a rifftastic display of Old School Thrash Metal – period. I find this song rips, tears and burns each and every second… give me more POWERMAD please.
Gimmee Gimmee Shock Treatment is the shortest song on this EP and it offers up some heavy grooves to go along with the Thrash. This is a Ramones cover song, a Thrashtastic version at that. It blisters along with all the fury one could wish for from a quality, late 1980’s Thrash Metal Band. Credible stuff. Blind Leading The Blind opens up with a spoken word, to the best of my Metal ears, it goes like this: “Your gonna do some praying for me now boy”. The voice of this spoken word sounds like an eerie backwoods hermit that you might bump into at a remote, country keg party. The backing, (gang), vocals on this song just screams Old School. Blind Leading The Blind is by far and large, the fastest song on this EP. Unreal great.
POWERMAD, as they appeared on their 1988 EP – The Madness Begins…
Joel Dubay – lead & backing vocals, rhythm & lead guitars
Todd Haug – lead & rhythm guitars, backing vocals
Jeff Litke – bass guitar, backing vocals
Adrian Liberty – drums & backing vocals
Track listing & running times for the Powermad EP – The Madness Begins…
Side One:
Terminator (4:20)
Hunter Seeker (2:52)
Side Two:
Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment (1:45)
Blind Leading The Blind (4:23)
Here is what the front cover of my POWERMAD Vinyl EP looks like:
Man, I couldn’t have asked for this POWERMAD EP to be in any better condition than this! You can see how it still bestows the original gloss on these front and back covers.
Here is what the back cover of my POWERMAD vinyl EP looks like:
POWERMAD, from left to right on this back cover:
Todd Haug, Joel Dubay, Jeff Litke, Adrian Liberty
* POWERMAD – The Madness Begins… was released in 1988 on Reprise Records.
* POWERMAD released their only full length album in 1989 – Absolute Power, on Reprise Records.
This is what the album cover looks like for Absolute Power:
I don’t own a copy of Absolute Power… yet. I will find one though, preferably on vinyl… you betcha.
* The 1986 self titled POWERMAD EP on Combat Records was released as part of the Combat Boot Camp Series, showcasing a heavy band’s demo.
Stone.
I really get a kick out of Alexi Laiho, his lead vocals and lead guitar play are extreme to the Metal maximum. I know that sounds rather yahoo, only there is no other way to really explain it. I like this guys style, he is hell bent on playing some of the fastest Thrash Metal Music out there. On the new Children Of Bodom album, Skeletons in the Closet, (released on September 22, 2009), there are seventeen cover songs. Of the bands and musicians that are covered here, there is one song that I simply cannot get into or simply stomach. Hey, one lousy song out of seventeen isn’t too shabby. Consider the fact, that I really like the other sixteen songs on Skeletons in the Closet and I declare this album a Metal winner. Let’s cut to the Metal chase here and I’ll just state that the cover of the Britney Spears song, Oops… I Did It Again is equally lame as it is annoying. I have never been intrigued by Britney Spears, nor do I give her even one millionth of an ounce of respect for any music she has done in her life.
Exodus… a Thrash Metal originator. Exodus… Old School Thrash Metal. Exodus… Bonded By Blood, was the first album released by this very important Thrash Metal Band, (back in 1985). Why I feel Exodus is a very important Thrash Metal Band is due to their being one of the first Metal Bands to introduce this genre to the world. Back in 1985, there were not the hundreds of thousands of Thrash Metal Bands there are now… you can thank Exodus for influencing countless musicians and bands alike for embarking on their careers in Metal… Thrash Metal. Just seek out and read some interviews of past and current Thrash Metal musicians, you discover after awhile, that Exodus and especially their initial album Bonded By Blood is ultra revered. Yes, I am an Exodus fan, since 1985 until this very day. Lineup changes within Exodus has not made me wince one Metal bit. Guitarist Gary Holt and drummer Tom Hunting have held the Thrash Metal fort for Exodus over the past three decades, serving Exodus and their fans well… extremely well. (Note: Paul Bostaph has stepped in on drums for Exodus, he is an unreal great Metal drummer at large).
Listening to the late and unreal great – Paul Baloff on lead vocals is as inspiring to me as all damn hell. His vocals were not your stereotypical Thrash Metal type… he resonated with the influence of early Rob Halford of Judas Priest… in my Metal opinion, still exuding his very own style that to this day is untouched. I reached for my CD jewel case of Bonded By Blood, (my copy is the reissue by Combat Records, it also has the alternate cover that is shown at the left and bottom of this post). The original front cover artwork is damn more cool than the alternate version, just look at it at the top of this post for proof. On the back cover of Bonded By Blood, it has a group photo of Exodus… Paul Baloff is shown wearing a Pipers Pit sleeveless t-shirt. Rowdy Roddy Piper… Paul Baloff… man, that is as fitting a shirt as any for him to wear back then. I used to be the f’n biggest Rowdy Roddy Piper fan around, imitating his wrestling moves and voice too… silly and cool memories, all courtesy of one photo of Exodus.
Metal Odyssey > Heavy Metal Music Blog 
You must be logged in to post a comment.