10.03.2005 
1
- Kill to live
2
- Beware the Beast
3
- Tyranny
4
- The forgotten Memory
5
- Hate World Hero
6
- Escape from Tomorrow
7
- Feast of the Savages
8
- Burn in Hell
9
- Perished in Flames
10
- Land of Eternity
Includes
Tyranny video-clip with related
Making
of + Live footage
Chity
Somapala - vocals
Gus
G - guitars
Petros
Christo - bass
Stian
Kristoffersen - drums
Bob Katsionis - keyboards
review by Marco "Norman
Knight" Signore____ 
| Heavy Power. Decent defense of their genre, but they are still too tied to the typical features of this style of music |
Firewind
are a new metal band, that includes into its lineup the famous Greek
guitarist Gus G (Dream Evil). It must be said since the beginning that
this is no “common” powermetal album. The ideas are all
there, although in an embryonic stage, although the band should mature
yet to be a full grown smash-hit.
Most
of the music here remembers “soft” bands like EdGuy, but
the Firewind are more aggressive, and more hard – giving this albm a
good and powerful hint of “heavy power” that is lacking to most
modern metal productions. But the first
thing that comes to the eye (and ears) is the duration of songs… they
don’t even reach the 4 minutes. If this will be a good or bad idea,
that is for the audience to decide.
But
let’s take a look at the songs.
The
opener, Kill to Live, starts this
album with the aggressive notes of the guitar and doble drums of
Kristoffersen. The harmonics of Gus G and the general style of guitar
pays homage to names such as Michael Romeo, and even the vocals of Chity
Somapala pays tribute to those who are the new “inspiration” for
most new band, that is Symphony X. The voice is
rough and evil, and the song allows for good listening. The bridge and
refrain, however, are a bit on the “already listened” side. All in
all, a good song with no elements of novelty. Good the solo, very
“maidenian” in style.
Beware
the Beast again starts with the guitar in full evidence,
hammering its way through the sound wall of bass and drums. Keyboards
are – like in the first song – very limited, and the song is again
in the standards of metal, with a good mix of classic and power both in
the vocal line and in the instrumental parts.
We
follow up with Tyranny, a power,
old-fashioned heavy guitar song a-là Helloween / Iron Maiden, with
choirs and a well played cadenced drum style. Again the guitar solo
style is not following the usual “lightning speed” standards, which
in my opinion is a damly good thing, as the guitarist can express his
own sensibility, not just a sterile exhibition of technique. But the
song itself lacks again in keyboards – I almost wonder why there is a
keyboard player in the lineup at al…
Good
bass work (by Petros Christo) – yet almost hidden as the guitar phases
in and out in the beginning section of The Forgotten Memory. Here
the voice of Somapala rises in intensity, almost pushing to its limits,
until the slow, cadenced (and very hard rock) refrain kicks in.
Hate
World Hero starts with a clean arpeggio supported by a good
performance of the bass guitar and an almost vibrato vocal line. If
Kristofferssen did not equalize his drum sounds in a power metal
fashion, this song would have been in good company of the almost epic
style songs of the “soft” hard rock a-là Bon Jovi or Whitesnake. In
my opinion this is the less interesting song of the album, but
many of you will surely find it good – if you like the genre.
We
return to something a bit heavier with the next Escape
from Tomorrow. This time the atmospheres are good and the
arpeggio of guitar is rich and good, while the drumming is very varied
from a hard rock style under the main vocal line, to the typical
cadenced double bass drums of the powermetal style refrain – which
comes almost ex abrupto
without preliminary bridge. It seems that in this song Firewind put most
of their energies, although the final result strongly recalls to mind
bands like Edguy. As usual a good massive hammering from the guitar and
bass follow the heavy drum line creating a nice “sound attack”
against the ears of the listener. Pleasant, to be honest.
We
come to a brutal awake with a fierce guitar and – almost a miracle!
– the first serious use of keyboards (just as pads) in Feast
of the Savage, where Gus G shows us all his prowess with his
“weapon of choice”. Darker, sharper sounds for the six strings (and
for the bass drum, as well), as the keyboards create a simple yet
efficacious carpet of sounds, that abandon us at about half of this
song, which is one of the longest tracks in the album (4:21) being also
– I did not mention it before – an instrumental piece. Well… not
bad and nice to listen to, with good ideas sprinkled here and there. Too
bad that the intensity of the song fades at half of is length, leaving
us with a beautiful but sort of “incomplete” song. However this
track is in my opinion the best of the album. Intense, well played and
well mixed.
Second
to the 7th track in my opinion is the following Burn
in Hell, which clearly winkles to
crossover. Aggressive, relentless, almost a
march of hate, this Burn in Hell is another interesting example
of what Firewind would do if only they could detach themselves from the
standards. Again the guitar does a good work and again the
keyboards are lacking, somewhere in the faded tracks, maybe.
And
of course if you burn in hell… you will be Perished
in Flames, which is the almost logical following song. This
time we are in the purest hard rock – which I personally don’t like.
Well played, again, but I think this song is the least interesting of
the whole album. If you like hard rock you may like it, otherwise
just skip it… there is only a slight piece of light in the song, the
ending section with its change of tempo, and the darker distortion of
guitar.
The
album closes with Land of Eternity,
with its arpeggio of guitar, counterpointed by the bass and – lo! A
keyboard in the distance! This song is the melancholic piece you’d
expect in this style of metal and by far the longest song in the album
(5:50). A typical ballad with the good company of usual strings, female
choirs and guitar.
What
could I say of this album? Firewind put up a
decent defense of their genre, which is a genre I don’t like very
much; but they are still too tied to the typical features of this style
of music. Yes, the ideas are there, as I said. And yes, these guys can
play them well – but it looks like they did not have the courage to
spread their wings and fly away from the cozy comfort of their
nest. Surely Firewind are a band with good promises and I am pretty sure
that if they will let this wind blow in the right direction, they will
set ablaze many stages in the metal world, but they must uncorck the
wineskin where Aeolus placed their wind of fire and set it free. And
finally (I’m sorry, I’m a keyboard player): where are the keyboards
they’ve mentioned in the line-up? Poor Katsionis, in my opinion,
receives far less than his rightful share of the album. I think that a
more intelligent and more generous use of keyboards would have made this
album even better.
All
in all a good first try, but Firewind have to
become even better if they want to blaze like comets in our skies.
rating: 6.5/10
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