A m e r i c a n . T h r a s h . M e t a l
  Powermad - The Madness Begins... (Reprise) 1988 1. "Terminator"
(4:20) |
 The Madness Begins...LP cover |
Powermad's debut is a great little thrash metal EP and one of the rarest CDs ever! The three original songs on this EP are nothing short of outstanding. Excellent speed metal with high, soaring vocals. Add to this their incredible cover of the Ramones classic ("Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment"), and you have one heck of an EP. The reason this CD is so rare is that it was never officially pressed to CD and sold to the public. The CD version was only made for and sent to radio stations as a demo-promo for air play. Unfortunately this makes this classic a very rare to find indeed. This EP along with TT Quick's first EP (also never officially released on CD) and Reverend's first EP are all so rare, that they all sell for well above $50 in auctions, if you can find them at all. Well fortunately I was able to secure a copy in a trade, albeit for a pretty lofty trade. I traded six full length CDs for this EP and a Japanese copy of John Sykes' "Chapter One." However, mint vinyl copies are still floating around and relatively cheap. I also own a vinyl version of this album (pictured above). The radio promo copies of this CD do not have any front cover art, rather only the back insert, which did feature the cover art. However, since I own the vinly version I scanned in all the artwork for the front and back cover and made my own cover, which looks pretty authentic.
Powermad are an ultra-tight speed metal band, with great vocals that range from the mid-range thrash yell to some powerful high pitched screams. My favorite cuts are "Slaughterhouse," "Absolute Power" and the absolutely infectious and melodic "Nice Dreams." Also, "Plastic Town" and "B.N.R." contain some of the finest technical musicianship of anyone in this genre. I never could understand why this band didn't garner a much large fan base. "Nice Dreams" alone should have made a name for Powermad among tradition metal and power metal fans. However, little was heard from Powermad after this release. They had created such a buzz with their first EP, then after releasing this full length album, they disappeared into obscurity.
At one time this disc was out of print and selling for around $30 on eBay, if you can find a copy. I was lucky enough to get a hold of two CD copes, one that I kept, the other that I traded to a friend for a copy of Realm's "Endless War." I also have "Absolute Power" on vinyl.
Combat Boot Camp (Century Media) 1999
POWERMAD DEMO 1987
11. "Chashing the Dragon" (4:31)
12. "Terminator" (5:47)
13. "Plastic Town" (5:35)
14. "Nice Dreams" (4:24)
15. "Blind Leading the Blind" (4:51)
Released as part of a five CD box set called "Combat Boot Camp", these five songs, originally released as a cassette demo in 1987, are part of a compilation CD called "The Bootcamp." The box set also included Agent Steel's "Mad Locust Rising" EP, Dark Angel's "Leave Scars" EP, Impaler's "If We Had Brains" and Possessed's "Seven Churches". A couple of these tracks from their self-titled demo were re-recorded for their first EP ("Terminator" & "Blind Leading the Blind"). "Nice Dreams" and "Plastic Town" were both re-recorded for their first full length album "Absolute Power." The only track that is exclusive here is "Chashing the Dragon." However, all these tracks are different than the official releases. The vocals are especially more raw and gritty. For more info, check out the compilation section.
