Album title: Immortals
Artist: Firewind
Genre: Power Metal
Nationality: Greek
Release date: January 20
Position in Discography: Eighth
Fear Factor: Extremely Low
Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Totally dude
Check out more from this artist? Yes
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Always
Oh thank ****! At last, something I can enjoy, or at least be sure of getting through the whole album without vomiting blood! Good old power metal: it may be in no way innovative, but like Ronseal, it does what it says on the tin and you know what to expect, and you usually get just that, or a version of it anyway. Interestingly, these guys are Greek; don't think I've heard a Greek power metal album before, though maybe I have. I think I even have this album, though I have (or had) yet to listen to it. Ah yes, it's all there. Mad galloping guitar solos, thundering drums, organ, even a spoken-word intro to “Ode to Leonidas”. ****ing great stuff. You have to chortle at the song titles: “Back on the Throne”, “War of Ages”, “Warriors and Saints”, “Live and Die by the Sword”....
Nobody, least of all me, expected this to be groundbreaking or experimental, or to write a new page in the dusty, dog-eared tome of Power Metal, and nor do these guys do so. What they do is present a Power Metal album easily as good as some of the mid-tier American bands, and very definitely hold their own. Oh yeah, there's an acoustic ballad too. You can't really have a Power Metal album without an aching ballad played on acoustic guitar, preferably with some flute or violin thrown in. Okay, it doesn't stay a ballad. Still, there's also a short instrumental, of course. Ah, God bless Power Metal! May it continue to ride its well-worn path.
Expectation Index: 0