POWERWORLD – Human Parasite

Since their debut album, Powerworld, the German band, the baby of ex-Freedom Call bass player Ilker Ersin, went through some changes. Aside from recruiting new vocalist, Mac McDermott (also known from the English band Threshold) and drummer Achim Keller (also known from Victory), it seems that the band’s musical approach changed as well. Back in 2008, the Powerworld album displayed a type of Melodic Power Metal in the strong German sense. However, with the release of their new album, Human Parasite, Powerworld twisted the angle a bit and turned to Heavy Metal with Hard Rock to preach their words.

With their new crew members, the overall outcome of Human Parasite is pretty impressive. With the addition of McDermott at the vocals, Powerworld were awarded with a twirl of a Zak Stevens / Johnny Gioly voice pattern for the unveiling of their catchy emotive tunes. Furthermore, compiling McDermott’s voices along with the heavy, yet melodic strokes of guitarist Barish Kepic, the positive expectations were fulfilled. Lastly, with the rest of the band’s current talents that once were shared with bands such as Freedom Call, Moon Doc, and Gamma Ray, you can’t really imagine this one would ever be low-rated? If you think otherwise, let the tracks “Time Will Change”, “Stand Up”, “Human Parasite”, “East Comes To West”, “Tame Your Demons”, and “Children Of The Future” mend your state of mind.

With Powerworld’s 80s-like groovy upstart, their production, although formidable, caused the listening experience to slightly drag. Maybe one of the few mishaps that can occur in production deals with phase resolution. It is hard to really enjoy a good Metal album when some of the channels sound as if they are in mono, especially when those channels are important… like the vocals, lead guitars, and some of the keyboard lines. With such an otherwise fine release, a remix & remaster is recommended.

Along with the production concern, there is also a “problem” with the band’s pattern in their songs. Without a doubt, there is not a terrible song within the release. However, maybe a little diversity should be in order in the future, even though the songs are otherwise cool and flowing. Nonetheless, the image of Powerworld will make fans of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal very happy. Their material is fluent, flowing, and performed with high quality. This is a great band to look up to in years to come.

Tracklist

1. Cleansed by Fire
2. Stand Up
3. Evil In Me
4. Time Will Change
5. Human Parasite
6. Hope
7. East Comes To West
8. Children Of The Future
9. Caught In Your Web
10. Tame Your Demons
11. Might Of Secrets
12. King For A Day

Lineup

Andrew “Mac” McDermott – Vocals
Barish Kepic – Guitars
Ilker Ersin – Bass
Nils Neumann – Keyboards
Achim Keller – Drums