Heya Mike, I know the "feeling", and there are a few factors involved in your situation. Just changing one part of the braking system should not result in any significant pedal pressure requirements.
Now, when you go with all new parts, there is usually increased resistance in movement like Nick said, just because new parts need to get used a little to "loosen up", but your problem sounds like there is more going on than that.
I think the most difference would be made by a major difference in pad material, the pads not being bedded yet, and/or pad and drum contamination.
Burr is right about the pad and cost relationship; the lower end pads will be mostly organic compound which grabs better, but wears relatively quickly. More expensive pads will include metal fibers (semi-mets) in varying amounts and other added friction compounds. The more expensive pads, since they wear at a slower rate, will need more time to "bed", that is, to be worn enough to match the drum surface. Some of them are also desigend for different temperature ranges and just don't work well until they get hot. If these are a new brand for your bug, then I would start here. If you have used this same exact type of pad before, then we will need to look elsewhere for your problem.
Now, I don't know if your drums were turned or not, but if they were, then Yancy has an excellent point. When drums are turned, the inside diameter of the drum increases. The shoes are made to fit a stock virgin drum so that the shoe and the inner drum surface have the same radius. In this ideal circumstance, both shoes will have full contact with the drum and deliver the maximum grip for the pedal pressure applied. On a turned drum with new pads, the radius of the drum is now larger than the pads, and you can guess what happens; the pads will only have partial contact with the drum until they are worn down enough to match the drum size better.
Contamination? Possible, but you obviously are not a noob so I doubt you greased the bearings and wiped your hands on the new pads! However, if the drums were new, they come with an anti-oxdation coating which needs to be cleaned off or burnt off in a cople of hard stops. I think you already took care of the hard stops though... 
If you clear the possibilities with the pads and drums, then that leave the hydraulic components. Master cylinder is pushing fluid or you would not be able to bleed all four corners. Air is out because that would give you a spongy pedal instead of a hard pedal, unless the fluid reservior got low during bleeding and you have air lock in the master cylinder chamber. That would put the work of stopping on the front or the rear. This seems unlikely with the way you tested, but sometimes the rears are harder to detect a problem with because the bulk of the work is done with the front brakes anyway. When you did your panic stops, did you check for warmth on the drums? The front will get hot and the rears warm, but none of them should be cold.
I know this is a lot of info, so if it was me I'd jack up the car with a friend and see how much pressure on the pedal it takes to stop each wheel when turned by hand. If they all grab with the same slight pressure, then look at the pad quality issue, whether or not the drums were turned, and if there is any problem with the master cylinder.
Paul