The Germans of 'Mad Max' have already clocked up quite a few flying hours and they celebrated their 40th anniversary, the group's self-titled debut album dating from 1982. Of the original formation, only guitarist 'Jürgen Breforth' remains, drummer 'Axel Kruse' having joined the band in 1984. Compared to the magnificent last album 'Stormchild Rising', it's 'Julian Rolinger' who now officiates as a singer replacing 'Michael Voss' and 'Fabian "Fabs" Ranft ' is the new bassist replacing 'Roland Bergmann' and, both having joined band two years ago. Created at the beginning of the 80s, 'Mad Max' continues its way and, after about fifteen albums and a few periods of inactivity, they release a new album 'Wings Of Time' which smells good of the melodic hard rock of their beginning which was flooding the airwaves at that time.
We are therefore immersed in melodic and catchy compositions with tasty arrangements that take us back a few decades with, to begin with, the trio 'Too Hot To Handle' (see video above), 'Days Of Passion' (see the video here) and 'A Woman Like That' which send rhythms to knock your head off by dint of headbanging. The suite does not weaken and, in a flamboyant AOR, gives us a little taste of nostalgia while listening to 'Best Part Of Me' (see the video here) and its addictive chorus, the beautiful ballad 'Rock Solid' offering a moment of respite, the energetic 'The Stage is For You' showing a group in great shape or even the melodic jewel 'When It Stops' that I play on a loop and whose chorus has a little air of 'Video Killed The Radio Star' of 'The Buggles' band but in a much more rock, without forgetting 'Stormchild Rising' style highlighting 'hohoho' than we want to resume in chorus. And it's not the last three titles that will lower the quality of the album because, 'Heroes Never Die' is a magnificent mid-tempo, then 'Miss Sacrifice' drives the point home with a melodic and effective AOR, and finally, 'Freedom' offers us the ballad that all the melodic rock formations of the 80s would have liked to compose.
In short, no need to add more, all you have to do is press the play button and let yourself go in the time machine, to a time when melodies flowed freely because 'Mad Max' continues to deliver albums filled with beautiful melodies that we appropriate from the first listen and which will, without a doubt, go on a loop among a lot of fans of rock and melodic hard rock of the 80s... | |
