  
Steamhammer/SPV/Playground
Third album from ever so promising powe metal force POWERWORLD. It seems the excellent Michael Bormann has replaced David Reece behind the mike. The vocal spot has been consistently revolving as their first vocalist Andrew McDermott perished in 2011. Otherwise the lineup remains with Ilker Ersin (FREEDOM CALL) on bass, Andreas Rippelmeier, guitars, Marco Grashoff, keyboards, and Guido Gallus on drums. The album is a concept outing with an Orwellian theme concerning cyberspace going out of control…
The album has several stages to me. First up is the average phase involving tracks that can´t decide if they are QUIET RIOT or CRIMSON GLORY, e.g. the weaker opening “Children of the Universe”. The first four tracks are not exactly revealing the talent of the band, apart from “Slave to the Powerworld”, which is a real light in the black. A song like “World Knows Your Secret” is best forgotten… But after the initial dismay the album evolves in the right direction. Songs like “You Gotta Hold On”, “Coast of Tears”, “Black Ash” and “Like a Shadow” will convince anyone that makes it through the first third of the album. The trick seems to be to stick to forceful hard rock/heavy metal and leave the often stereotype power metal behind. The rest of the album ranges from pure pleasure to decisively above average. I think that Michael´s voice is an asset to any band and that their penchant for fast slightly power metal influenced tracks to mid-pace heavy metal songs is the way to go. This is a band that will fill arenas!
Track List
Children of the Universe
Slave to the Powerworld
Back On Me
World Knows Your Secrets
You Gotta Hold On
Am I Digital
Coasts of Tears
Black Ash
Like a Shadow
Cybersteria
You Will Find a Way
Not Bound in the Evil
www.spv.de www.myspace.com/powerworld
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