German power metal band Powerworld are an offshoot of the band Freedom Call; in 2005, bassist Ilker Ersin and keyboardist Nils Neumann split from that group to form this one. This is their second CD, and unfortunately, they haven't learned the first commandment of power metal: Thou Shalt Be Epic. Album-opener "Cleansed by Fire" has a great title, and it opens with a better-than-decent Judas Priest-esque riff, but things go way, way downhill as soon as the vocalist opens his mouth; he's singing about love, not dragons or mystical lands, and he's doing it like he's fronting a Foreigner cover band, not a power metal band. And this mistake is made over and over again on Human Parasite. The songs are too slow, like they're aimed at AOR radio, not to get fans headbanging, and the keyboards (which are everywhere) are set to maximum cheese, whether they're faking string parts on power ballads ("Time Will Change") or muting the impact of potentially rockin' songs ("Evil in Me"). The title track is pretty good, sounding like Armored Saint with a more modern production sound, but it's the fifth track, and by then, the damage has already been done. There are at most four songs on this 12-track disc that any real power metal fan would be seen headbanging to, and even those are far inferior to the work of dozens of other acts. Powerworld, despite their name, are just not up to snuff.
© Phil Freeman /TiVo