Album Review: Firewind - Stand United
Reviewed by Dan Barnes
Greek Power / Heavy Metal warriors, Firewind return with Stand United, their first release of original music since 2020’s self-titled. In a world where crossover and genre-fusion is common place, there’s something comforting to know pressing play – or dropping the needle – on certain bands is going to give you exactly what you’re looking for.
So, if you’re the kind of person who can’t get enough of that classic European Metal sound, then Firewind have got you covered with Stand United. The band aren’t looking to be reinventing wheels on this one and, although opener Salvation Day begins with an Eighties-style synth beat, it quickly transforms into a melee of spiralling guitars and rock-solid rhythm work.
Those syths make appearances throughout the forty-five-minute runtime, mostly in a supplemental capacity, but being brought to the fore alongside the choppy Power Metal riffs and gang vocal chorus of Come Undone.
Title track, and upcoming single, Stand United sees Firewind adopting a heavier stance, ushered in by rapid-fire riffing from Gus G and huge drum strikes from Jo Nunez. Previous single, Destiny is Calling, continues the album’s heavy-hitting, as does the driving, modern sounding – though unmistakably classic metal influenced - Fallen Angel.
Land of Chaos completes Stand United’s big sounding and somewhat anachronistic suite, taking the listener back to the glory days of Heavy Metal and evoking pangs of days past.
Mixing things up a little are The Power Lies Within, which finds the band getting about as dirty as the genre allows, through ripping guitar lines and a big message of positivity. Alternatively, Chains takes the album in a lighter tone, more widely accessible perhaps, but no less sweeping or crunching. Closer Days of Grace reminds me of Ozzy’s Killer of Giants, from The Ultimate Sin album, with its enticing acoustics and stirring balladic moments.
Rounding out the ten tunes on offer is a cover of The Romantics’ Talking in Your Sleep, and even though it’s given a metallic make over, it still maintains its Eighties pop-rock credentials to the end.
Vocalist Herbie Langhans’ voice is peerless here, with the former Avantasia crooner delivering a broad-ranged performance, hitting highs and sinking to gruff lows as the music takes him. Production is crystal clear, representing every one of Gus G’s notes with a symphonic clarity.
Stand United is Firewind at their best; although not strictly a concept album, it is thematically about the need for closer unity across the board. To deliver this, the band have collated a ten-song manifesto of chest-beating, fist-pumping anthems, and singalong choruses. By the time the album is released in the UK, Firewind will have joined Masterplan on their quest for European domination, stirring the Metal hordes the length and breadth of the continent.
