GOTTHARD - STARLIGHT

[Ali Rock]

Latest video, The title track,,, Not that great IMO. Where is the fantastic hooks from the latest albums. Great singer Though,,,,

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brwD1xlI92g

[TIM (2)]

They sound like Black Stone Cherry.

[Geoff]

I actually dig it plenty enough. Sounds like Gotthard to me. Killer sound/production too. Man that dude sounds like Lee...

[AlphaMale]

It's pretty good. I think they picked a good singer to replace Steve.

[heaven&hell]

I like the song and video but the reviews haven't been that positive for the new album which scares me as I've loved the last three releases. I got into this band way to late and love Steve's voice and will miss it and am mad that I didn't get into these guys earlier in their career.

[cherokee]

Not bad this new singer, but Steve's voice was much better!

[AlphaMale]

Here's a positive review:

 

When at the end of 2010 the charismatic singer and frontman Steve Lee was killed in a traffic accident, in all honesty I didn’t give a dime anymore for the existence of the very successful Swiss act Gotthard, while he was to a very large extent responsible for the band’s overall sound in my opinion. About one and a half year later luckily the band proves me dead wrong, because the new album ‘Firebirth’ has become a work of art in the best Gotthard tradition and seamlessly fits in with the rest of the back catalogue of this great band.

 

How have they been able to fill the gap that world class singer Steve Lee left behind? Well, they did that by getting a guy called Nic Maeder in, who has a similar timbre as the much too early departed Steve Lee. Furthermore the song material again is of such a high level that we absolutely don’t have anything to complain about. “Firebirth is 100% Gotthard” is the statement from the band and I couldn’t agree more with that! The record opens with the single ‘Starlight’, which in my opinion is a bit of a strange choice, because for me personally this certainly is not one of the strongest tracks to be found on ‘Firebirth’. Of course you need to place this in proper perspective, since a relatively weak song from Gotthard is still much better than what other bands are capable of delivering. That isn’t to say that there are much better tracks to be found on this new album than opening track ‘Starlight’. You want some examples? Well, personally I’m very charmed by the somewhat laidback ‘Remember It’s Me’, on which once more becomes apparent that Nic Maeder’s voice has much in common with the voice of the fondly remembered Steve Lee. Furthermore there are the exciting ‘Fight’ (with a lovely groovy chorus), the acoustic and beautifully sung ‘Tell Me’, the again quite relaxed ‘Shine’, the rocker ‘Right On’ and the splendid ‘Take It All Back’ as best examples in my view.

 

It would take things way too far to state that ‘Firebirth’ has the same impact as for instance the ‘Lipservice’ album had, but the record has certainly become a very decent Gotthard album. Therefore fans of Gotthard can add ‘Firebirth’ with much confidence to their personal collection, that’s for sure!

 

Rating: 85/100

http://www.gotthard.com

[AlphaMale]

http://www.bravewords.com/news/184239

 

some audio samples and commentary from the band

[JamesEagle]

Don't like this at all. To me this song is really boring.

[Glen]

Mmm, pretty boring to these ears as well.....hope other tracks on the album are better than this as it pales against some of their recent stuff. Have a horrible feeling they are going to get lumped in with Tyketto, Trixter, Europe etc as the disappointments of 2012

[Geoff]

Mmm, pretty boring to these ears as well.....hope other tracks on the album are better than this as it pales against some of their recent stuff. Have a horrible feeling they are going to get lumped in with Tyketto, Trixter, Europe etc as the disappointments of 2012

 

Nah, no way, mate. I truly believe this will be quite a good album. Like I've said, I like Trixter plenty but if this is anywhere near as bad as Tyketto, Van Halen or Europe I will literally post you my entire CD collection.