WORLDVIEW – The Chosen Few (2015)

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WORLDVIEW is novel US band born from the collaboration of guitarist George Rene Ochoa (Deliverance, Recon, Vengeance Rising) and vocalist Rey Parra (Sacred Warrior), and the fruit is their debut “The Chosen Few” to be released tomorrow.
Ochoa gained initial renown from his work in Recon and its acclaimed 1990 release Behind Enemy Lines, and then as part of Deliverance. Parra got his start in the ‘Ryche influenced power/progressive metal of Sacred Warrior, lending his high-end vocal abilities to the group’s 4 highly regarded between 1988 / 1991.

After a twenty-year musical hiatus, fate brought Ochoa and Parra together following the tragic 2009 passing of mutual friend and Sacred Warrior keyboardist Rick Macias. In order to honor their friend – and since Macias always encourage a musical collaboration between the two – Ochoa and Parra formed Worldview in 2013.
It appears that such noble intentions has inspired some strong melodic metal for their first album, “The Chosen Few”.
The music, as you might expect, revolves around the principals, focusing on the vocals and guitar parts, and of course, with a 1988 / 1992 US melodic metal feel.

With drummer John Gonzales (Recon, Deliverance), bassist Todd Libby and keyboardist Ronson Webster rounding out its line up, Worldview recorded a pair of songs in “The Last Cry” and “Two Wonders” that that helped turn The Chosen Few into one of the more anticipated releases of 2015.
Helping garner further interest for the album, Worldview brought in guitarists Oz Fox (Stryper) and Larry Farkas (Vengeance Rising & Die Happy) and vocalists Les Carlson (Bloodgood) and Jimmy P. Brown II (Deliverance, Jupiter VI) for guest appearances.

Parra has always been an exceptional vocalist in the best metal tradition. Singing clean, he’s melodic, strong, and dramatic in his presentation. Ochoa is no slouch on the guitar either. This album is filled with classic metal leads, blistering and soaring. These things are wrapped in large melodic arrangements embellished by some fluid keyboards and touched by violin for the song “Back In Time”.
Title track “The Chosen” is one of the highlights, a stunning anthem driven by piano, sharp guitar riffs, lavish keys and, largely the lush vocal arrangement where Parra finds help from Ronson Webster and Bloodgood’s Les Carlsen. Yet can’t forget another stunning solos in the end by Ochoa.

True to the roots of traditional US melodic metal, Worldview often brings in a nice rock groove at times. This is particularly strong within “The Last Cry”, but more so in the very catchy “Walk Through Fire”.
Te aforementioned “Back In Time” shows the band’s flair for the dramatic with violin at the start, then yielding to the moderate paced melodic metal number with soaring vocals.
Also of note is the opener “Mortality” where Worldview gives you this nice Middle East vibe at the start but really evolving after the midpoint.
For something different, in his vocal performance within “Illusions of Love”, Parra takes on the voice of lead but also the sneering demonic growls of the antagonist.

More could be said of the songs, with even great detail as all are really elaborated, but it’s probably better let you to discover this really well crafted pack of songs that make up “The Chosen Few”.
Worldview’s debut is simply a strong and effective effort: creative, enjoyable, and entertaining clean & polished traditional US melodic metal from some quite talented musicians.
If early Stryper (and the current btw), Rob Rock, Impellitteri, Alcatrazz, Racer X, the heavier Dokken, etc, are your thing, you can’t miss this one.
Strongly Recommended.

01 – Mortality
02 – Illusions Of Love
03 – Back In Time
04 – The Mirror
05 – Why?
06 – Prisoner Of Pain
07 – Two Wonders
08 – Walk Through Fire
09 – The Chosen Few
10 – The Last Cry

Rey Parra – Lead and Background Vocals
Johnny Gonzales – Drums, Percussion
Todd Libby – Bass, Keyboards
Ronson Webster – Keyboards, Background Vocals
George Ochoa – Guitars, Keyboards, Background Vocals
with;
Oz Fox (Stryper) – guest guitars
Larry Farkas (Vengeance Rising & Die Happy) – guest guitars
Les Carlson (Bloodgood) – guest vocals
Jimmy P. Brown II (Deliverance, Jupiter VI) – guest vocals

PRE-ORDER:
worldviewmetal.weebly.com/store/p2/Worldview_%22The_Chosen_Few%22_CD.html
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