Guitar supremo Gus G released his latest album “Fearless” through AFM Records on 20th April. This was one of those albums that I really looked forward to hearing after the announcement that it was due for release, and I wasn’t to be disappointed. The Greek guitarist is best known for working with Ozzy from 2009 to 2017 and for his albums with his band Firewind, but I’ve been a big fan of his solo releases. “Fearless” is the third of these and the extended version features 9 vocal tracks and 3 instrumentals. The track “Letting Go” was included on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 20th April.
The first Firewind album was released in 2002 and by that time Gus G had already worked with a few other bands. In 2009 he replaced Zakk Wylde in Ozzy Osbourne’s band and recorded the album “Scream” in 2010. Last year he was replaced when Zakk returned to the band. Firewind have now released eight studio albums, the latest of which was “Immortals” in 2017. Gus G has also continued to work with many other artists, including Jorn on the 2017 album “Life on Death Road”.
On the first two Gus G solo albums – “I Am The Fire” in 2014 and “Brand New Revolution” in 2015 - he worked with a number of different vocalists including Jeff Scott Soto, Elize Ryd and Mats Leven. On “Fearless” all of the vocals are handled by Dennis Ward (Pink Cream 69 / Unisonic) who also plays bass and who produced the album. The final link in the trio performing on the album is drummer Will Hunt from Evanescence and Black Label Society.
The basic version of “Fearless” features 10 tracks including the instrumental title track and another called “Thrill of the Chase”. There is also a cover of the Dire Straits classic “Money For Nothing”. The bonus edition includes two more tracks, one of which is the instrumental “Aftermath”.
Check out the website at http://gusgofficial.com/
About “NI Rocks Recommends”
The simple idea behind “NI Rocks Recommends” is to acknowledge and promote some of the great music being submitted to Rock Radio NI. The albums that I’ll be recommending are those that you’ll hear me playing tracks from on my shows. I'll not be giving marks or ratings or analyzing the tracks in great detail; just telling you something about the artist and the album. It’s a personal recommendation to go check something out, not a traditional “review”!