Firewind retain the essence of their decades old metal legacy with yet another cracking effort though there have been lineup changes and a move to a mostly full-frontal guitar sound.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Firewind
ALBUM: Firewind
LABEL: AFM Records
SERIAL: AFM 725-9
YEAR: 2020
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Greece
LINEUP: Gus G – guitars, keyboards * Herbie Langhans – vocals * Petros Christo – bass *Johan Nunez – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Welcome To The Empire * 02 Devour * 03 Rising Fire * 04 Break Away * 05 Orbitual Sunrise * 06 Longing To Know You * 07 Perfect Stranger * 08 Overdrive * 09 All My Life * 10 Space Cowboy * 11 Kill The Pain
RATING: 85/100
Background
Greek band Firewind and their erstwhile leader Gus G have been frequent visitors to Glory Daze going back to the start of the century in 2001. The band retain the essence of their decades old metal legacy with yet another cracking effort though there have been lineup changes and a move to a mostly full-frontal guitar sound.
Keyboardist and guitarist Bob Katsionis has departed while German singer Herbie Langhans joined a few months prior to the release of this album. ‘Firewind’ is like a return to those early times, where riffs, tone, rampant drums and aggressive vocals dominated. Langhans brings a Rick Altzi styled vocal, and suits the material on offer here.
The Songs
The album is mainly fast and heavy, though there are slow crunching numbers too. They even toss in a ballad (‘Longing To Know You’) at the halfway point which helps breaks things up.
In Summary
If you like projects like Magnus Karlsson’s Freefall, then Firewind makes for a complimentary fit.
Video
Welcome To The Empire
Devour
Rising Fire
Entire Album (Select Tracks)
