Impressive stuff indeed
By anyone's standards, Greek guitar virtuoso Gus G (real name Kostas Karamitroudis) is one of the most exceptional, indeed prolific talents to emerge in the last decade or so. Cutting his teeth with bands such as Dream Evil, Nightrage and Mystic Prophecy, it is with his own band Firewind that he has subsequently earned the most praise, their ever impressive (and ever growing!) string of studio albums providing the perfect framework for his pyrotechnic 'shredder' (he cites Joe Stump as a major influence) talents to shine.
In more recent years Gus has hooked up with seminal Metal legend Ozzy Osbourne, that very visible showcase on the crazy train affording him the opportunity to impress an even wider audience. Not before time he now turns his attention to his first solo record, an album that will actually come as quite a surprise to his growing legion of fans... not least as he's eschewed the obviously tempting (and to a certain extent somewhat expected) route of issuing a shred-fest solo album.
Far from it in fact as aside from the neo-classically infused speedball cocktail that is 'Terrified' – a track where our hero understandably really lets rip on his trusty six string – the remainder of 'I Am The Fire' is all vocal with such established names a Mats Leven, Tom Englund (Evergrey), Jeff Scott Soto and Michael Starr (Steel Panther) adding their own particularly distinct stamp to proceedings.
Style wise there's quite a mix of moods and tempos from the Neo-Goth Metal of 'Long Way Down' (with vocals from Eyes Set To Kill chanteuse Alexia Rodriguez), through the low slung 'Summer Days' (with JSS) or the equally sinewy 'Redemption' (yep, that is Mr. Starr you can hear), to the broiling menace of 'My Will Be Done' (if only Red Dragon Cartel had done a whole album like this). Bending and shaping his playing to fit the moods and needs of every song and situation (ergo, not doing a Malmsteen and ego wanking at every available opportunity), Gus adds even more credence to his growing reputation as the next "go to" guy in Metal.
Impressive stuff indeed, even more so as I was expecting Firewind part two and 'I Am The Fire' proves to be anything but!
Dave Cockett
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