Firewind: Apollo out... Kelly Carpenter in

[labrekk]

I'm kind of (glad) Apollo left. A lot of times a vocalist change yields a stylistic change, and while I loved Allegiance and The Premonition (and their 3 albums previous to those) they lost me with Days of Defiance and Few Against Many. I'm excited to see what happens to them on their next album, hopefully it's a return to form and doing a 180 away from their current classic rock knockoff direction.

I don't hear a change of style in Days Of Defiance and this album is as good as Allegiance and The Premonition for me. In fact, DoD, tP and A are the best Firewind discs for me, even though I enjoy the others as well.
Few Against Many left me disappointed as well though. The songwriting is not as good overall, and I don't really like the vocal production. But there are still 4 or 5 excellent tracks to be found.
I'm still quite sad that Apollo is no more in the band cause he was a big part of the "sound" of the band IMO, even though it's obviously Gus G's band.

 

[orcslayr23]

I don't hear a change of style in Days Of Defiance and this album is as good as Allegiance and The Premonition for me. In fact, DoD, tP and A are the best Firewind discs for me, even though I enjoy the others as well.
Few Against Many left me disappointed as well though. The songwriting is not as good overall, and I don't really like the vocal production. But there are still 4 or 5 excellent tracks to be found.
I'm still quite sad that Apollo is no more in the band cause he was a big part of the "sound" of the band IMO, even though it's obviously Gus G's band.

I agree, there wasn't a MAJOR stylistic change between Premonition and DoD, I just felt like there were only 3 or 4 "good" songs, you know? That's what I meant by it, their first 5 discs were super solid but it felt like they were running on fumes with Defiance.

 

[Met-Al]

I was actually going to pass on this tour's stop in Chicago, but now that Kelly Carpenter is in the lineup, I'm sold. I loved Apollo's work with the band, and I thought he did a pretty good job with them from a live standpoint as well. However, I must admit that I preferred the times that I saw them with Henning Basse, and I also think that Kelly Carpenter is going to fare better on stage with this band, too. He's about to save Adagio from fading into prog metal obscurity, and I can only hope that he gets offered the chance to do double duty permanently.

Speaking of Basse, I had no idea that he was going to be singing with Uli Jon Roth for his upcoming tour. That's coming to Chicago in the same month, and I can only afford one show or the other right now. I'm still sticking with Firewind, but I wouldn't argue with anyone making the other choice!


Stay metal. Never rust.
Albert

 

[Sumeet]

Oh no this is bad news. Apollo was always great live when I saw them. Although he does strain a bit when it comes to higher notes as I recall. Get Stephen Frederick back!!

He's a great singer, and he is US-based... however, based on his guest appearance during a couple songs when Firewind played ProgPower, the microphones of the world are probably relieved that he's not returning this time!

 

[Prog_Muse]

This is super exciting news! Kelly is a fantastic singer and a great guy all-around; super happy for both he and Firewind.

 

[KingsGene]

Ex-FIREWIND Vocalist Apollo Papathanasio - "I Don’t Wanna Be The Guy Who Pulls The Breaks All The Time Because I Cant Take This Gig Or Do That Tour"; Video Interview Streaming