Friday, August 09, 2013

Toronto - Wall of Sound

Band: Firewind
Venue: The Mod Club
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Date: Feb 9, 2012

I first heard of Greek heavy metal band Firewind because they featured Apocalyptia on a song on their most recent album.  I actually wasn't overly keen on the song, but it turns out that it didn't really represent all of their music (at least not to my ears) so it was interesting to see them live.


(note: Apocalyptica isn't actually visually in the video, much to the complaints of Apo-fans!)

Firewind is the 'side project' of Gus G, best known as the guitar player for Ozzy Osborne.  Firewind started as a demo project to showcase Gus's talent and earn him a recording deal, but has since evolved to a stand-alone project.  For the tour, Firewind also had Kelly Sundown Carpenter standing in on vocals, after loosing their original singer Apollo Papathanasio (who reportedly couldn't keep up with the band's touring schedule.).  I didn't actually know this when I saw the show, but even then sort of felt as though the singer was somewhat detached from the rest of the band, not unlike when Apocalyptica has a guest singer come along when they tour. It looks like Kelly has subsequently joined the band, though Firewind has not reported plans for their next studio album with the new singer according to Wikipedia.  A live album is set for release in 2013 according to their website.

Gus G and Bob Katsionis


 The band played 8 songs, including:
  1. Wall of Sound
  2. Head Up High
  3. Destination Forever
  4. Few Against Many
  5. World on Fire
  6. The Fire & the Fury
  7. Mercenary Man
  8. Falling
Gus G. - founder and lead guitar for Firewind


I enjoyed Firewind, and have listened to them a bit since the show but I was glad that Turisas was the headliner, as I enjoyed them considerably more.  Still, the audience was filled with more than a few people who were there for Firewind, and considered Turisas to be a 'nice addition' to who they were really there to see. I'd definitely say that Gus G (along with keyboard player and rhythm guitar player Bob Katsionis) was an amazing showman.  Although he sometimes seemed absorbed in his own world, he really knew how to perform, and it was hard to stop watching either musician.

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