In the long line of guitar players that played with  OZZY OSBOURNE since he left BLACK SABBATH, the last one before OZZY’s involuntary retirement was a guitar player extraordinaire named Gus G. T0 play with OZZY and fill the shoes of Randy Rhoads, Brad Guillis, Jake E. Lee and Zack Wilde, you have to be an exceptional guitar player. Despite the short gig with OZZY, Gus G. is an accomplished musician and has his own band FIREWIND since the early 2000’s with a variety of band members coming and going.The band is composed nowadays of international musicians from Greece, Germany and Belgium and they are releasing their latest album Stand United via AFM Records.

Based on the guitar work Gus G. displayed with OZZY, I do expect to be impressed. The album starts with “Salvation Day” and we are already able to notice the good production and the attention to detail. Impeccable musicianship  in a very traditional and energetic Heavy Metal/Hard Rock style with incredible guitar solos from Gus G. We follow with the same energy with the album title “Stand United”. With some double drum bass madness and great guitar riffage, we can also feel the presence of keyboards arrangements softening the mood a little. Great riff change for the guitar solo. The energy is still high on “Destiny Is Calling” that has a vocal that reminds me of UDO. The singer Herbie Langhans has more range then UDO for sure, but I don't know if he was an inspiration since both are from Germany. Flawless singing in every tune. We change the mood and the speed a little with the good “The Power Lies Within”. A great guitar riff and melody that will make your Heavy Metal bone tingles.

The band shows the experience of these well seasoned musicians making me compare it with bands like THE DEAD DAISIES. Just a group of good musicians with years of experience on the road and many bands in their resume, just getting together to Rock. And they deliver. A synthesizer introduces “Come Undone” that follows with more double bass madness from competent drummer Jo Nunez. The structure of the songs offers a variety of moods and this one has all the ingredients of an Epic kind of Metal ala HALLOWEEN. We pass midpoint with “Fallen Angel” that has an unique sound arrangement in the beginning making me think of DEVO (wtf?) for a moment. However, it turns into another good tune showing this is a concise album that you can easily listen to without skipping any song. Each song has enough uniqueness and enough similarities to make the album varied and keep the trend between the songs. The vibe is the same but the output is full of flavors.

Another nice riff introduces “Chains” that takes you back to the 90’s Hard Rock in an arrangement that could fit in a WHITESNAKE song. Arrangement that also shows a little more the work of competent bass player Petros Christo with some detached bass lines from the guitar on this tune. Being a bass player in one of these guitar gods bands is probably not easy. Usually it is not a Paul Gilbert and Billy Sheham situation. We reach “Land of Chaos” and it is another good heavy tune with a nice melody. You have to give it to the guys. You can feel the competence in every song. No fillers at all and this makes it hard to pick up a favorite on this album. This is the sign of a good album. We have some heavier (than normal) guitar riffs spread in this tune perfectly matching the nice vocal melody. In a recognizable introduction that almost threw me out of the chair, we are hit with a masterful cover of “Talking in Your Sleep” from THE ROMANTICS. I could not think about a better tune to cover. This tune is one of those guilty pleasures of my youth from pop music in the 80’s and 90’s despite being a metalhead (Everybody got guilty pleasures! Don’t judge). The favorite for me so far. What a ride!

We reach the end of our journey with “Days of Grace” , which is the inevitable ballad. Or is it? This one also has the guitar energy in the chorus where the band gets into 3th gear making this another great tune.  I would say it is not a ballad at all, it just has softer and well thought moments. Great work and I would expect no less from this gang. You can feel in every minute of every song, great craftsmanship and musicianship. I do hope to see this live someday.