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Track Listing: The Ark Of Lies World On Fire Chariot Embrace The Sun The Departure Heading For The Dawn Broken Cold As Ice Kill In The Name Of Love SKG Losing Faith The Yearning When All Is Said And Done

When I first heard of Firewind a few years ago, it was all about Gus G for me. That still remains what I feel about the band to some extent. The other members really shine on this album. Michael Ehre is the new drummer and he fits perfectly with the rest of the band. There are some albums that can be heard from start to finish and this is definitely not one of them. I do not mean that as a negative. You won't be able to grasp the subtleties of a few songs if you listen to it as one huge piece of music. After giving the individual songs a few listens comes the time to play the album as a whole. I was a little sceptical to whether this album would be as good as their past efforts given Gus G's involvement with Ozzy this year.

There are quite a few tracks on this album that keep you coming back for more so to speak. Another highlight of the album is that even the not so epic tracks are nowhere near filler material. There are some really nice acoustic parts on this one. If you're expecting this album to not sound like their past 2 efforts, you will be disappointed because this album is pure Firewind. It has always been a pleasure listening to the duelling guitars vs. Keyboards with Firewind. The keyboards add a brilliant atmosphere to the songs. Vocalist Apollo Papanathasio has one hell of a voice. He is definitely the hero on this album. With bands that have one member as a major focus, people lose track of the remaining members.

The album will appeal to fans of Dio for sure. That is the first name that came to mind when I heard this album. "Cold as Ice" is one of the best songs on this album and from this point the album just gets better and better. The chugging rhythm guitar backing a brilliant keyboard riff is how the next song, "Killing in the name of love" begins, before it goes to become a metal masterpiece. For me, no Firewind album is complete without an instrumental and "SKG" is my favourite song on the album. It's a full blown shred guitar epic.

The overall sound on the previous Firewind albums was a little compressed and refined. Their latest effort is an "in your face" angrier sound. This doesn't mean that it's the typical modern brick wall mastering loudness crap that most bands fall prey to. The music is perfectly represented by the album artwork. Do yourself a favour and pick this album up when it releases. You will not be disappointed. Well done Firewind.