POWERWORLD – Powerworld

Powerworld is technically a new band, but the group consists of Metal and Hard Rock veterans from the likes of Freedom Call, Jaded Heart, and At Vance; the only real “new” member of the group is vocalist Steffen Brunner, who has just one former band – Backbone – to his name. Powerworld’s self-titled album is their debut release.

With a band and album name like Powerworld and with the talent on hand, experienced listeners wouldn’t be taking a huge leap of faith to guess what kind of music Powerworld plays; if you were thinking that the band played up-tempo, melodic, European-styled Heavy Metal, you are absolutely correct in that assumption.

On display for your listening pleasure with Powerworld are a dozen tracks (yes, there’s an atmospheric intro) of well-played and arranged Heavy Metal compositions, with the standard Power Metal trappings of big riffs, upper-register vocals, large, catchy choruses, and some keyboards. Most of the songs are fast-moving and energetic, although there are a couple of slower tunes too. On the whole, Powerworld is fairly heavy, but it’s probably not the heaviest thing you’ve ever heard. Still, the riffs are fat enough and the solos are good enough to keep the album on the proper side of the heavy scale. If you’re looking for familiar traces of some of the other bands these guys have played in, you’d be wise to pay attention to the choruses, which are very Freedom Call-ish (i.e., really big) in places.

Most of the songs on Powerworld are pretty enjoyable, with stuff like “Lake of Eternity,” “Signs in the Sand,” “Your World is Not Mine,” “Our Melody” and “Don’t Walk on Broken Glass” doing the best job of making a positive impression on the listener. ”Dancing With Angels” is the obligatory ballad, and it’s okay. Powerworld reaches back into the ’80s and covers Cutting Crew’s schlocky classic “I Died in Your Arms,” which is probably the album’s oddest song: while it’s faithful to the original, the original wasn’t that great, especially if your doctor told you to cut cheese from your diet. A curio tune at best.

Powerworld does a good job with their self-titled debut, and Power Metal fans should give it a listen.