Powermad

Emerging from Minneapolis, Minnesota, at the close of the first thrash metal wave, the innovative speed metal band Powermad fused punishing, rapid-fire riffs, biting lyrics, and soaring NWOBHM-derived power metal to channel both the aggressive drive of the "Big Four"—Anthrax, Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer—and the melodic impact of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. The Twin Cities quartet's 1989 debut album, Absolute Power, earned widespread critical praise and attained cult status within the heavy metal world; fittingly, the band appeared in David Lynch's singular 1990 film Wild at Heart, yet 17 years passed before Powermad performed live again and more than 25 years elapsed before their second album arrived.

Vocalist/guitarist Joel DuBay and guitarist Bill Hill formed the group in 1984, after which drummer Adrian Liberty and bassist Jeff Litke joined; an eponymous EP of demos followed in 1986 on Combat Records. Once a second demo was completed, Bill Hill departed and Todd Haug took his place. Two years later the band signed with Reprise and released the EP The Madness Begins, which was promoted through an advertisement in contemporary metal magazines allowing readers to request a free copy, while the music video for the lead single "Terminator" received frequent MTV airplay. The full-length Absolute Power appeared the next year, but glowing reviews, the catchy single "Nice Dreams," the Wild at Heart cameo, and strong vocal support from fans and industry figures could not produce commercial success, leading the band to disband shortly afterward.

Powermad resumed activity in 2007 as a touring unit retaining three-quarters of its best-known lineup, with Soilwork's Dirk Verbeuren on drums. In 2011 the group issued its first new material in 22 years with the downloadable single "Souls Descending." That track and nine others comprised 2015's Infinite, on which Powermad continued to probe death, doom, and progressive metal while preserving the relentless, thrash-centric attack of its debut.