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Draeden's Artist Spotlight: Firewind

It's kinda ironic how, in listening to an old blog-cast, we talked about what bands we were listening to at the moment. I had mentioned that I was listening to Italian Gothic metal band Domina Noctis and Rob Liz was listening to Greek power metal band Firewind. Well, it's been a few months since then and I haven't listened to Domina Noctis once since and I've gone through Firewind's discography at least a hundred times.

From the point when I first heard their music to now they've gone from an "I've heard of them" band to my second favourite band...ever.

I can't be sure if I can place my finger on one thing that draws me to this band like a moth to a flamethrower. It's most definitely Gus G's mastery of the guitar and the riffs and solos that are just so epic, most bands pale in comparison. Though I don't think I ever hated any of their vocalists and it affected my enjoyment of their music, I really do like Apollo Papathanasio's tone and delivery. He's certainly not the greatest singer in the world (we'll leave that title for Kamelot vocalist Roy Khan) but there is something really enjoyable about it. There's a bit of gruffness to his voice that makes him unique in the power metal community.

The songwriting and musicianship is brilliant and each album has an amazing mixture of up-tempo songs, ballads and roaring instrumentals.

The only real unknown factor for me right now is their new drummer, Michael Ehré who, though he's on the CD in name and is in their latest video, World On Fire their former drummer Mark Cross is the one actually playing on the CD. I'm sure they picked him for a reason as they don't take second class musicians.

Rounding out the troupe is guitarist and keyboardist Bob Katsionis who is so freaking amazing a musician he can play intricate piano and guitar parts at the same time, I mean seriously - it's amazing. Bass is handled by Petros Christo and his bass-lines are always technical and full of bad-assery.

If you have means, definitely pick up their discography, though I would start with Allegiance, The Premonition and their latest release Days of Defiance: as I've mentioned these all feature current vocalist Apollo Papathanasio. Once you get these songs etched into your brains you can go back and check out the other vocalists and enjoy all that Gus G's
creation has to offer.

Here are a few tracks for you to enjoy. Since they didn't start making videos til Allegiance, you're only going to see the current line up (save for Mark Cross) who left after recording Days of Defiance.

Let's start off with my Favourite Firewind song: Falling to Pieces.


















Please visit and spread the word about these Links:


Songs of the Goddess - For and about all things Pagan music.
and
That Devil Music - For the best in Hard Rock and Metal.


That Devil Music's Last FM page!

E-Mail That Devil Music!

ESP Guitars unveil some monster Axe's for this years NAMM!

Not many of you may know this I'm a Guitar buff.. A fairly NEW guitar buff, but a fan nonetheless. Many people swear by Zakk Wylde's "Bullseye" Gibson Les Paul or Kerry King's Signature BC Rich Guitars, but for me.. I'm an ESP man... Look at their list of musicians. Thomas Youngblood of Kamelot plays ESP. Hetfield and Hammett play ESP. My girls of Aroarah plays ESP. What's not to love?



So I happened to see that ESP had let the cat out of the bag for some of the 2011 models they'll be unveiling this year at NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants). Anyways, as I was saying, here's a few new signature models from some bad-ass axe-men this year. No wait! Go grab a bib before you get too far down the post!

For those of you who may not know, there are usually 2 or more types of signature guitars per model. The "Signature" which is the most expensive one because it's basically the closest to the actual one played by said guitarist and then there's the "LTD" model which is as close to the signature model as you're going to get.. Still expensive but nowhere near as much. Ok, drool away.



James Hetfield Signature Series ESP and LTD Snakebyte





Kirk Hammett Signature Series ESP KH-2 SE and LTD KH-SE





DevilDriver Signature Series: Jeff Kendrick LTD JK-1 and Mike Spreitzer MS-1.





LTD SLAYER-2011





And though this model came out a few years ago, this is MY dream Guitar, Firewind and Ozzy Osbourne Guitar God, Gus G's Signature ESP LTD 600-EC.



Here's the website for NAMM 2011. Good luck getting to go, it's REALLY hard to get tickets.


If you want more information on ESP, click HERE! And you DO want more information on ESP! They're amazing. I have my EC-50, which is my pride and joy.







Please visit and spread the word about these Links:


Songs of the Goddess - For and about all things Pagan music.
and
That Devil Music - For the best in Hard Rock and Metal.


That Devil Music's Last FM page!

E-Mail That Devil Music!

Best Cover Ever!

Ok, so I'm gonna take a LOT of shit for this, I'm sure. A little while ago I immersed myself into Firewind. After tearing through their discography OVER AND OVER, and slowly getting my hands on ANY cd I could find at Rasputins (seriously, the only store that you can walk in and purchase a Firewind cd) I've decided to go searching through the covers and collaboration songs they've done through the years.

A while back, I had asked people what they thought was the best cover out there of any song. I believe I've discovered it. The problem is, I had recently discovered who did the original. Nevermore.

The song is called "Believe in Nothing". I seriously fell in love with this song the moment I heard it. The acoustic guitars on this just kill me. Apollo's voice is like butter.. Not to offend any Nevermore fans but I think that his soft touch and vocal control on the verses far surpass Warrel Dane's inability to sing this song as beautiful yet seething with melancholy as Apollo does. The guitar work is stunning. This song IS perfection, but it's only recently been perfected by Gus G and Firewind.

But don't take my word for it. You be the judge. Here's the original by Nevermore off their 2000 cd Dead Heart in a Dead World.



And here is Firewind's version, taken from the compilation cd; Century Media: Cover 20 Years Of Extremes:

Firewind's newest release is hot

So, for the past week or so, I've been immersed in the world of Firewind: a power metal band from Greece; who's guitarist and founder is Gus G (who also happens to be Ozzy Osbourne's current axe man; replacing long time resident Zakk Wylde.

So, on October 26th, they released their latest work, Days of Defiance; which is great timing for me getting into this band so I don't have to worry about reviewing something that everyone's already heard a billion times.





Firewind, it appears, has gone through a pretty hefty amount of lineup changes. The only real constants in the band are, of course, founder and only original band member Gus G and bassist Petros Christodoylidis who's been with Firewind since 2003. Apollo, their current singer, has been with the band for the past three albums and his singing has remained just as good as Allegiance and The Premonition.

Their current lineup is:

Gus G. (Guitar)
Apollo Papathanasio (Vocals)
Bob Katsionis (Keyboardist/Guitarist)
Petros Christodoylidis (Bass)
Michael Ehré (Drums)

Musically it's as strong as ever, on par with the quality they've been shelling out album to album, better than its predecessor even in some parts. What has changed for me with this album is the song writing. Instrumentally speaking - it rules, lyrically it's a little bit lazy. Maybe I'm just being a little anal about things, but the only real beef I've had with Days of Defiance is the middle tracks of the cd. Starting about "Broken", there was a running theme with the songs where the choruses were REALLY, REALLY repetitive. I hate to say such things because "Broken" is an amazingly beautiful song, but I can't help but nitpick. As the songs go on, and this patter continues, it gets more and more grating.

Here, for example. This is track 8, "Cold As Ice". Notice the repetitive lines in the chorus...

"I feel cold as ice, I'm hypnotized, always turn away
We are cold as ice, something something, something
I am cold as ice, something something something
We are cold as Ice, something, something, something...."

Obviously I didn't feel like transcribing all the words out, but you get the idea.. It goes on for a few songs, until it gets to the kick-ass instrumental, SKG. More artists today really aren't able to get down a great instrumental, Firewind doesn't have that problem.. SKG is an incredible, cohesive blending of all the artists where you don't hear them competing against each-other to have the best solo, instead they're working together like a well oiled machine to put out a solid track.

As I said before, it's a sweet album. The only thing that irritated me was the lack of ingenuity in the crafting of the choruses. It's definitely not enough to stop me from listening, and enjoying this cd repeatedly, though sometimes I find those choruses grating on me a bit. I think it would have come across a little better if these said songs were in different places on the album. I might have to throw this cd on Random and see what happens.. I'll let you know..

Otherwise, it's a great cd. Not as good as Allegiance, my very favourite Firewind cd, but it's good.

I'd give it a solid 7-8 out of 10.

If you don't want to take my word for it, you can check out this video, where singer Apollo and guitarist Gus G give a play by play of each track and some insight to the creation of this CD.. I've never really seen an artist do something like this before, which is a refreshing change. I think, sometimes, it's nice to hear the artists talk about their works, especially since not everyone can get to the concerts to (hopefully) hear them talk a bit about a song or two and what it's about.



Here's their newest video, for the song World on Fire. I don't know who that blonde chick is but she's seriously one of the hottest video vixens I've seen in a LONG time!!!! Holy hell! The video is standard, European Metal with the band on some fantastical themed world where armies or whatnot is forming together to either fight the band or fight for the band, who knows. The song is awesome regardless. And that chick, seriously.



Go check this album out for yourself!

Here's a link to their website!

Here's Days of Defiance on Amazon!

Here it is at Best Buy!

It's also, obviously on iTunes!