FIREWIND – Firewind

Firewind is Back!

The wait is over. Firewind has a new self-titled album, and it’s been well worth waiting for. If you follow guitar virtuosos then you are probably more than familiar with the work of Gus G from not only his longtime band Firewind, but also from his excellent work in Dream Evil, Ozzy Osbourne, Mystic Prophecy and Nightrage just to name a few. A band that started as a personal project for Gus G to showcase his demo Nocturnal Symphony back in 1998 has become a full blown kick ass Power Metal band and the album proves it.  Although the line has changed a bit over the years, this group sounds like they have been together for a long time.

New Blood

New lead vocalist Herbie Langhans (Avantasia, Radiant, Seventh Avenue, among others) adds his unique voice to the mix, bring a real depth and variety to the material. Gus G explains how he recruited their new singer: “I remembered Herbie singing for Sinbreed and how amazed I always was by his vocal performance”, he recalls. “So I did some research on YouTube, had my record company reach out to him and got right down to it: Hi Herbie, here are ten new songs, can you help us? Deadline is mid of January. Luckily, Herbie agreed immediately and got familiarized with everything in no time.” A few weeks later they had the album recorded and ready for Swedish sound engineer Tobias Lindell (H.E.A.T., Mustache, Europe and Avatar) to work his special magic and behold: Firewind is reborn again.

The Songs

The album opens with a beautiful acoustic guitar part that leads us into the anthemic “Welcome to the Empire”. Langhans growls a bit, yet remains melodic in his vocal delivery on this strong opener which has classical overtones not unlike early 80s work by Yngwie Malmsteen. The sounds are slick and the musicianship is top notch from start to finish. Following this is “Devour”, which also shows a great combining of classical melodies with in your face metal. “Rising Fire” follows with more of the same and reminds me quite a bit of the early Dream Evil sound that Gus G helped to create. Other notable tracks include the ballad “Longing to Know You”, “Perfect Strangers” and “Kill the Pain”. One of my personal favorites is the Dio-ish “Overdrive” which has that Black Sabbath/ Dio Last in Line type of vibe.

Final Notes

The guitar work is without a doubt amazing on every track, and the songs are well conceived and performed from start to finish. The feel of the record had me more than once reminiscing about 80s Dio and Yngwie, which to me is a great thing to conjure up when listening to a new release. Firewind is catchy, well produced and all in all a great album that I think belong in every metal heads collection.

Lineup

Gus G.  – guitars
Herbie Langhans – vocals
Petros Christo – bass
Jo Nunez – drums

Firewind – Tracklist

1. Welcome To The Empire
2. Devour
3. Rising Fire
4. Break Away
5. Orbitual Sunrise
6. Longing To Know You
7. Perfect Stranger
8. Overdrive
9. All My Life
10. Space Cowboy
11. Kill The Pain