Written By: Gdazegod

• Artist: Gus G
• Album: Steel Burner
• Label: Metal Department
• Serial: MDLP 18
• Year: 2026
• CD Info: Discogs Release Info
• Country Of Origin: Greece

Lineup:

• Gus G - all instruments, production

Additional Musicians:

• Andrea Arcangeli - bass (6,9)
• Dennis Ward - bass (2), mixing
• Doro Pesch - lead vocals (2)
• Matt Barlow - lead vocals (3)
• Dino Jelusić - lead vocals, guitar (7)
• Ronnie Romero - lead vocals (6,9)

Track Listing:

• 01 Steel Burner
• 02 Nothing Can Break Me (feat. Doro)
• 03 Dancing With Death (feat. Matt Barlow of Ashes of Ares)
• 04 Advent
• 05 What If
• 06 Frenemy (feat. Ronnie Romero of Lords of Black)
• 07 No One Has To Know (feat. Dino Jelusić of Jelusić)
• 08 Confession
• 09 My Premonition (feat. Ronnie Romero of Lords of Black)
• 10 Closure

Rating: 80/100

Weblinks: Site Link

Background

Greek guitarist Gus G has been off my radar for a good five years now, not since reviewing 2021’s excellent double CD ‘Quantum Leap’. It’s hard to comprehend that I’ve been following Gus since his early Firewind days going back to around 2001/2002. Believe it or not, he was only 21 then.

In the five years since that last review, Gus has kept the Firewind flame burning with two albums released in 2023 and 2024, These were accompanied by many gigs across Europe where he is always a popular draw. Now in 2026, it’s back to his solo venture.

This time, Gus has hooked up with a relatively new label called Metal Department, who are based out of Malta but also have representation in the US. Firewind are also on the label too.

The Songs

The album features appearances from four guests, three on vocals one on lead guitar (see credits above). Opener ‘Steel Burner’ is a relatively short sprint at a touch under 2 mins. The swirly synth intro leads into a rapid fire burst of guitar that segues into second track ‘Nothing Can Break Me’ featuring Doro Pesch. It’s a standard HM tune that doesn’t quite set the world on fire, but it’s good to see he two of them working together,

‘Dancing With Death’ features Matt Barlow, previously with Iced Earth and now Ashes Of Ares. This is power metal, with Barlow delivering clean and cookie monster vocals. There is an acoustic passage opening out the track, but once that subsides it’s all guns blazing. ‘Advent’ is a fiery spiral of riffs and sharp licks, though the speed is reserved throughout, as it doesn’t really deviate from its mid-tempo range. There’s still enough here to thrill.

I liked the melodic strains of ‘What If’, the guitars don’t hit overdrive until the mid-point, and when it does it makes for a compelling listen. ‘Frenemy’ is the first of the Ronnie Romero appearances. This one didn’t do a lot for me. The style was a bit odd for Gus’ method of playing to my way of thinking. ‘No One Has To Know’ introduces Dino Jelusic. His reputation as one of the leading voices in all of HM precedes him. The song itself is kinda OK, but it didn’t really sell itself either.

‘Confession’ starts out with a tube-driven blues intro, it soon opens out with trademark Gus guitar work. Some of the lines he plays hark back to the track ‘Enigma Of Life’ from ‘Quantum Leap’. ‘My Premonition’ is the second Romero track, which I think is a much better track than the first one. This is definitely a cohesive band sounding effort rather than the usual instrumentals we hear. The finale ‘Closure’ is an acoustic/electric piece, though does to tend gallop off on a surge of six string riffing by mid-song, the acoustic interludes aren’t far away either.

In Summary

Having heard a bit of Gus’ material over the last two decades, I’d say that ‘Steel Changer’ is quite restrained compared to some of the bombast from yesteryear. Guitar fans will probably have had all this before, but still, any new album from the Greek Guitar God is worth a listen.