CD FEATURES: • Remastered reissue • Includes 1987 6-song “Metaldrone” EP • With 3 bonus tracks (only available on CD version) • 12-page booklet • Full lyrics • Never before seen photos • Restored original 1987 cover art • Limited to 500 copies worldwide
OVERVIEW:
Formed in 1985 in Erie, Pennsylvania, by vocalist Jimi Jaymz Balduf, guitarist Scott Davis, bassist Mark Chulick, and drummer Fred Haener.
The band went into TRS Studio in Erie to lay down some tracks. A demo from these sessions landed the band a deal with David Richards’ independent label, Arza/Iron Works Records, in Hollywood, California. The label was famous, perhaps infamous, for its limited shaped die-cut vinyl. The label released bands like Overkill, Liege Lord, Dark Angel, and Jag Panzer, which went on to become well-known over the years. However, most of the bands the label released would gain no more than cult status. Such is the case with MARS.
While the EP was being pressed, Bainbridge would decide to leave the band. Guitarist Scott Davis was then recruited to replace Bainbridge. This line-up change would cause a bit of confusion, seeing Davis’ picture used on the “Metaldrone record jacket and his name credited as the guitarist on those tracks.
In 1987, Arza released MARS’ debut 6-song EP, “Metaldrone. The EP was a pure, straight-ahead collection of 1980s traditional heavy metal that would bring to mind bands like Dokken, Talas, Starz and Twisted Sister. Songs like ‘Damnation’ stand up strong and proud beside any denim and leather clan fair from the decade. Of course, the typically styled power-type ballad of the time, ‘It's Your Life ’, would be included, offering a breath-catcher between the rockin tunes. The song ‘Metaldrone’ comes off as the lead track for a Maxploitation movie.
Richards would release several different versions of the EP in very limited edition die-cut vinyl, as well as include the band on several shaped-disc compilations with other bands on the label roster, all of which were unbeknownst to the band at the time.
MARS would lter record other demo songs like ‘Speed King’, the “Nightmare on Elm Street" inspired ‘Knifemare ’, and ‘Beast in the Sky ’, loosely based on the tragic events on January 28, 1986, with the Space Shuttle Challenger. These tracks would be the only recordings with Scott Davis on guitar.
FOR FANS OF: Ratt, Dokken, Talas, Starz & Twisted Sister
TRACKLIST:
01. Breakin’ My Heart
02. Obsession
03. Metaldrone
04 . Ash Tuesday
05. It’s Your Life
06. Damnation
Bonus
07. Speed King (Demo)
08. Knifemare (Demo)
09. Beast In The Sky (Demo)
