There is no doubt that Konstantinos Karamitroudis (Gus G.) has come a long way since picking up a guitar after hearing ‘Frampton Comes Alive’ when he was a lad. As well as Ozzy and Firewind he has played with numerous other bands and this is his fifth solo album where he provides guitars, bass, keyboards, drums and is joined by vocalists Doro Pesch, Matt Barlow, Ronnie Romero and Dino Jelusick (who shows just why he was asked to join Whitesnake with a very Coverdale-style vocal on “No One Has To Know”).
But just because Gus is rated as one of the finest rock guitarists around, it does not necessarily mean he is a great songwriter, and by using multiple singers we again get an album which sounds much more like a project than a coherent piece of work. There are flashes here and there which are interesting, and he is a shredder to place alongside Malmsteen, Satriani, Vai and others, but just because he can play his instrument at the speed of light does not necessarily mean he should. I have never been a fan of Malmsteen as to me he always places technique and skill above melody and musicality, and while I won’t go quite that far with Gus G., this is an album which is very much all at one level with very little depth. Consequently, it all really washes into each other and while there is no doubt it is all very clever there is little which makes me want to delve back in when it has finished as in many ways this is taking us back to the bad days of 80’s hair metal.
Rating: 6/10
Links:
https://www.gusgofficial.com/
https://metaldepartment.com/