Album Review: Firewind - Stand United

As time wears on, it has become apparent to me that Firewind was a 'one and done' type of band for me. I absolutely love "The Premonition", and that has become the only Firewind album I ever find myself going back to. The others Apollo sang on are still good, but I never feel drawn to them, and I have been unable to get into anything since he left. That's probably on me, rather than them, but it's disappointing when a record you feel is doing something special turns out to be the outlier in a more generic timeline.

Maybe that's what bothers me so much about Firewind these days. Gus G gets talked about as being a guitar hero, but I don't quite know why. He's a talented player, but what music has he made that is inspiring the next generation of guitar players? Firewind isn't that big of a band, most of his playing fits into the generic style of power metal, and he wasn't even allowed to write a single riff when he played with Ozzy. I don't get it.

It also annoyed me when Apollo first left that Gus wrote an entire album with his producer, rather than with the band. That move really made it clear Firewind is almost a solo project with more name value than Gus has on his own.

So now we come to the new album, where I think the reaction will come down to what I'm calling a very 'love it or hate it' voice in Herbie Langerhans. I can absolutely understand how people will hear him as an aggressive singer who makes Firewind sound harder and heavier than ever before, but his style of grit being performed at that register is uncomfortable to my ears. He was ok on Avantasia records as a guest star, but listening to him for an entire record becomes an endurance test for me. I have a thing with singers. What can I say?

The songs themselves are fine enough power metal, trying to balance the desire to be heavier than average with the need to remain melodic. "The Power Lies Within" manages the feat of marrying a stomping Sabbath-esque riff with the hookiest chorus on the record. If they could do that time and again, they would be doing something well worth hearing. That style is far more interesting than the paint-by-numbers power metal songs, which can't be salvaged by Gus' playing. I've never been that interested in guitarists who can throw a hundred notes into eight bars of a solo, and Gus has a tendency to use speed to cover up the fact he's not playing a hummable melody.

All of this is to say that Firewind is moving in the right direction, but it isn't the way I'm headed. This record is certainly an improvement over what I remember of their recent work, and power metal fans should eat this stuff right up. There are plenty of solid songs, and the record does what it aims to do. As I said before, I'm never going to be able to be as positive as perhaps I should, simply because I don't enjoy the actual sounds the record is giving us. If there was a different voice singing these songs, I would be telling you this could wind up being the one power metal record that seems to always sneak onto my year-end list. However, I can't say that with any degree of honesty.

Don't let my hangup stop you, though. If you want to hear power metal doing what power metal does, but done well, give the record a try. I can note the difference between being good and being good for me. Maybe the line will be thinner for you.