In the early  1980's we were focused on NWOBHM and Glam as the two main factions in metal. Often forgotten (unfortunately for us) was the noise coming out of Europe. Bands like THE SCORPIONS, ACCEPT, and musicians like Ygnwie Malmsteen were setting up their own invasion and PARASITE should have had more attention then they got.

The first five songs were recorded for an EP destined for release, the next three were demos, and the last two were rehearsals. "In the Beginning" is a classical influenced overture  common now days for most bands, and it was bands in this era that made it popular. It immediately feeds off into "Burnin'", a great proto-thrash number that has a great growl at the start, courtesy of vocal/bassist  Paul Zanicell a solid bassist who has a great throaty voice perfect for this band. The music gave me a flashback, so true to the era in every aspect, including the recording done entirely in anolog format. The opening to "Nightwinds" shows two guitar players so in time with each other it sounds like one twelve string guitar, but listen closer to it, you'll see that it is two separate parts played brilliantly by Bo Petersson and Anders Holmstrom.

"Chalice of the Soul" had some interesting rhythms and harmonics going on, and listen to the drum work of Johan Billerhag. If they hadn't broken up who knows where he'd end up in the history of percussion? The last song on the EP was to trick you into thinking "Here's the ballad!" but noooo, "Lonely Eagle" kicks into a hard rocker very reminiscent of THE SCORPIONS.

The quality of the next three tunes drops noticeably due to them being demos, and of the three, I gotta give "Glimmering Steel" the nod as the song that should have been shined to be released on a EP. "Nightwinds" is interesting because  there were sections that repeated themselves too many times and we can see how a producer can curb the bad habits bands start with when we compare it to the EP version. The rehearsals should have been a rehearsal of "Nightwinds" and nothing else so we can hear the evolution of a song. Other than that I felt that the last two songs were added as filler.

Overall I liked the production, and when I judge it, I'm hearing it with 80's ears,  and although it's not up to "now" standards, it was pretty damn fine  for the 80's. I'm glad I got this little gem from the past and wish they could have gotten more notoriety then they did. Give it a listen, this is old school metal.