Jimmy Kay from The Metal Voice spoke with Firewind/ex- Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Gus G. who is currently in lock down in Greece. Here are a few excerpts from the chat:

The Metal Voice: Tell me about the Coronavirus situation in Greece?

Gus G.: ”In Greece we are on a total lock down, you need written permission to leave the house. You are only allowed to go grocery shopping or go to the doctor stuff like that. Last week some people drove about an hour away where there were beaches to escape the city and a lot of people got fines for that. This is a new thing, it's pretty serious, I understand it's tough to stay home but we have to do it. This is the time to play by the rules, for the sake of humanity. "

The Metal Voice: What is the difference between your new album and albums you have done in the past?

Gus G.: "First of all there is another new singer (Herbie Langhans), also another difference is  guitarist/keyboardist Bob Katsionis is not in the band anymore so there is less keyboards. It's kind of like a reboot, a restart of the band. It's still a Firewind record, people will hear the resemblance on a lot of the tracks cause I am the primary songwriter in the band. It's also a different record compared to the last album 'Immortals'. The last album was a concept album that was epic and power metal album. Whereas this new one I feel is a little bit of a collection of elements that sum up Firewind over the years with a new approach. There is also a lot of variation on the record.  The first single we put out 'Rising Fire' is kind of like more hard rock, stomping, heavy, then there are other tracks that are more epic power metal, then we also have this big ballad with orchestration by Adam Wakeman."

The Metal Voice: What did new singer Herbie Langhans bring to the table on the new album?

Gus G.: "He was a great addition and was a great help on this record because we were on a tight deadline and he got to work right away on the lyrics and melodies. We worked every day and was easy to work with and helped a lot in bringing the album to completion."

The Metal Voice: What did you think about Ozzy's new album Ordinary Man?

Gus G.: "I have to say I like the album. I am happy to see Ozzy recovering and being creative in his downtime. I thought the production was very cool stripped down, back to basics production but still very big and clear. I think there are some really good songs on the record. "

The Metal Voice: Do you ever wish you got the chance to write an album with Ozzy?

Gus G.: "I think it would have been nice to write something from scratch with Ozzy, I never got that chance to sit down and properly write an album with him. But you have to understand Ozzy Osbourne the solo artist is not what it was in the ’80's  where he had a band. Now he writes with different people, tries out different things and I get it. I always take the best out of each situation. But I played on one of his studio albums, how cool is that?!”

Firewind's new album, Firewind, will be released on May 15 via AFM Records. Pre-order the album here.

With his charismatic voice, new member Herbie Langhans (Avantasia, Radiant, Seventh Avenue, amongst others) refines each and every last one of the ten new songs and infuses them with an expressive force that is remarkable.

Gus G and Herbie Langhans got to know each other back in the autumn of 2019, when the Firewind leader was looking for a suitable replacement for Henning Basse after the tour with Queensrÿche. Just a few weeks later the recordings for “Firewind” were a done deal, ready for Swedish sound engineer Tobias Lindell (Europe, Avatar, H.E.A.T.) to mix them in Lindell Audio Studios.

The result is impressive indeed. “Firewind” boasts 11 prime examples of melodic metal songs. The skill, craftsmanship and power bleeds through every note, a passion you can almost taste, with hymnal melodies as a particularly outstanding feature.

Tracklisting:

"Welcome To The Empire"
"Devour"
"Rising Fire"
"Break Away"
"Orbitual Sunrise"
"Longing To Know You"
"Perfect Stranger"
"Overdrive"
"All My Life"
"Space Cowboy"
"Kill The Pain"

Firewind and Primal Fear will support Symphony X on their 25th Anniversary North American tour. The 28-date trek will kick off in Englewood, NJ on May 14 and make stops in Montreal, Cleveland and Austin before concluding on June 17 at The Masquerade in Atlanta.

General admission tickets are now available for purchase, here.

Dates:

May
14 - Englewood, NJ - Bergen Performing Arts Center
15 - Worcester, MA - The Palladium (MA)
16 - Wantagh, NY - Mulcahy's
17 - Philadelphia, PA - Theatre Of Living Arts
18 - Montreal, QUE - Cafe Campus
20 - Quebec City, QUE - Imperial
21 - Toronto, ON - Opera House
22 - Westland, MI - Token Lounge
23 - Joliet, IL - The Forge
24 - Cleveland, OH - Agora Ballroom
26 - Milwaukee, WI - Turner Hall
27 - Minneapolis, MN - The Cabooze
29 - Edmonton, AB - The Starlite Room
31 - Vancouver, BC - The Venue

June
1 - Seattle, WA - El Corazon
2 - Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theatre
3 - San Francisco, CA - Slims
5 - Anaheim, CA - City National Grove
6 - West Hollywood, CA - Whisky a Go Go
7 - Tempe, AZ - Club Red
8 - Albuquerque, NM - Sunshine Theater
10 - Dallas, TX - Canton Hall
11 - Austin, TX - Come and Take It Live
12 - San Antonio, TX - Aztec Theater
13 - Houston, TX - House of Blues
15 - West Palm Beach, FL - Kelsey Theater
16 - Tampa, FL - The Ritz
17 - Atlanta, GA - The Masquerade