The Metal Crypt on Facebook  The Metal Crypt's YouTube Channel
Review: Firewind - Firewind
Firewind
www.firewind.gr
Firewind

Label: AFM Records
Year released: 2020
Duration: 47:27
Tracks: 11
Genre: Power Metal

Rating:
3.75/5


Review online: August 3, 2020
Reviewed by: MetalMike
Readers' Rating
How do you rate this release?

Rated 4.14/5 (82.86%) (7 Votes)
Review

I forget which Firewind album I bought back in the early 2000s as I was getting back into metal and that pretty much sums up what I thought about it; forgettable. Sure, Gus G. is a talented guitarist and the most well-known member, and the other musicians past and present are perfectly fine at what they do. It was the songwriting, which was so generic, a glossy exterior of guitar noodling and saccharine melodies with absolutely nothing underneath, that left me utterly ambivalent. That's why album 9, a self-titled affair, caught me completely by surprise. It's actually quite entertaining in a middle of the road, melodic metal way. Gus G. is Gus G. so the riffs are solid and the lead work strictly European, but the real difference maker is Herbie Langhans, who has been in a number of bands, most notably a recent run in Sinbreed with appearances on a couple of their better releases. Herbie has a perfect blend of gruff mid-range and higher screams for this type metal, with hints of Ronnie James Dio and Joachim Broden in his delivery. The songwriting is better than anything I've heard from this band in the past with stompers like "Welcome to the Empire" and the oddly titled but kick ass "Orbitual Sunrise." There are some dogs, too, like the boring, formulaic "Space Cowboy," but the good stuff outweighs the bad by a decent margin. I'm reminded of bands like Dio, Dream Evil and Primal Fear when Firewind is on, so if you've written off this band in the past, it might be time to give them another shot.

More about Firewind...
Review: Between Heaven and Hell (reviewed by Scott Murray)
Review: Days of Defiance (reviewed by Hermer Arroyo)
Review: Few Against Many (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Firewind (reviewed by Bruno Medeiros)
Review: Forged By Fire (reviewed by Bruce Dragonchaser)
Review: Immortals (reviewed by Bruno Medeiros)
Review: Stand United (reviewed by MetalMike)
Review: The Premonition (reviewed by Larry Griffin)
Interview with Gus G. (guitar) on April 21, 2003 (Interviewed by Scott Murray)
Click below for more reviews
Latest 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Various Books/Zines 



The Metal Crypt - Crushing Posers Since 1999
Copyright  © 1999-2025, Michel Renaud / The Metal Crypt.  All Rights Reserved.