Firewind Album: “Forged by Fire”

Nice speedy power metal with riffs galore. Gus is a master of the axe and the band is really solid. A must have if you like power metal done traditionally with modern sounds and playing. The singer has a great voice and check out his other band, Midnight Agony.

Gus G.continues to churn out quality music that show his roots to the past metal gods, while putting his own stamp on metal's future. Firewind continue to play clear,aggressive,melodic, heavy metal at all tempos. The CD features shred guitar sound with a singer who sings at a mid to high level pitch,while the songs feature good tempo changes along with strong melody. Top tracks for me are "Tyranny" which is a mid paced driver with a chorus that will make you put your fist in the air and sing along. "Can't Escape from Tommorrow" is a superb rocker that starts up tempo,then kicks into a higher gear for the chorus, which blisters. All in all this is top quality metal that should lead the way for metal to make it's comeback.

2005's Forged by Fire is the third album from Greek power metal band Firewind. Firewind, of course, is a side project of Dream Evil (and now Ozzy Osbourne) guitarist Gus G. There was a vocalist change for this album, with Chity Somapala replacing Stephen Frederick.

Forged by Fire isn't too far removed stylistically from previous Firewind albums. It's a melodic power metal album that relies heavily on Gus G's considerable guitar talents. Listening to him blaze away you can totally understand why he was chosen by Ozzy to replace Zakk Wylde. New singer Chity Somapala seems like a good fit for this kind of music, even if he would only last this album. He's got a strong voice that's every bit as powerful as Gus's guitar work. Think Urban Breed meets Steve Grimmett. It's also worth mentioning that James Murphy (Death, Testament) and Marty Friedman (Megadeth) contributed solos to the album.

Forged by Fire's only real flaw is that it's not terribly original. This is almost a textbook power metal album, and it does get somewhat repetitive at times. Of course, you can say the same about any given Edguy or Hammerfall album.

It may not be the most original album, but Forged by Fire is still a well-written and well-executed effort with some pretty amazing guitar work. The band and this album should appeal to just about any power metal fan as well as those who follow guitar hero types like Yngwie Malmsteen or Axel Rudi Pell.

AS OF THIS REVIEW, I WILL HAVE TO DISAGREE WITH THE ONE REVIEWER BEFORE ME, THIS RELEASE IS KILLER. YES THE VOCALIST IS DIFFERENT BUT NOT AT ALL AS BAD AS WAS MENTIONED. CHITY IS AN AWESOME VOCALIST, AS WAS STEPHEN BEFORE HIM. GUS G STATES IN AN INTERVIEW THAT CHITY REMINDS HIM OF ONE OF HIS FAVORITE VOCALIST, KLAUSE MIENE OF THE SCORPIONS. SO DONT WORRY, THE VOCALS, AS WELL AS GUS G'S POWER SHRED, ARE TOP NOTCH. THE CD ITSELF IS HEAVY POWER METAL WITH GREAT SONGS AND A-ONE PRODUCTION. MARTY FRIEDMAN AND JAMES MURPHY MAKE GUEST APPEARANCES ON ONE SONG EACH, WHICH IS A TRIBUTE TO GUS G'S APPRECIATION OF METAL ROOTS. ONE OF THE BEST OF THE YEAR.