GUS G.
Biography and discography of Gus G., the Greek guitarist who founded Firewind and played in Ozzy Osbourne's band from 2009 to 2017, with a page for each of his five solo albums from I Am the Fire (2014) to Steel Burner (2026) and the Japan-only EP Steel Burning Live, including liner notes, running orders, official videos and the Japanese editions, on METAL BOOST.
Biography
GUS G.
Biography
Overview
Gus G. is a guitarist from Thessaloniki, the port city of northern Greece, born in 1980. He founded the power metal band Firewind, played guitar in Ozzy Osbourne's band from 2009 to 2017, and plays on Ozzy's 2010 album Scream.
He is known for pairing speed with lyrical melody, and in the early 2000s he was in so many bands at once that the Japanese music press called him the busiest guitarist in the world. Under his own name he has released five studio albums since 2014, some built around singers and one made entirely of guitar instrumentals. In 2026 he was announced as King Diamond's new guitarist.
His ties to Japan run deep. King Records has released every one of his solo albums there, two of them before the rest of the world, and in October 2026 he plays FULL METAL JAPAN 2026 with a Japan-only EP, Steel Burning Live.
This site carries six records: his five solo studio albums and that EP. The records of Firewind and the other bands he has played in are on those bands' own pages.
From Thessaloniki to Boston: how Firewind began
He has traced his interest in the guitar to a record in his father's collection, Peter Frampton's live album Frampton Comes Alive!. His father, a teacher who sang Greek music at weddings at weekends, started him on a classical guitar; the electric came at fourteen.
At eighteen he went to Berklee College of Music in Boston on a scholarship, found the academic side was not for him and left within weeks, and took lessons from Joe Stump while he was in the city. In 1998 he recorded a ten-song demo, Nocturnal Symphony, with a singer and a drummer he knew, and called the project Firewind. The name came from an Uli Roth album; in 2002 he said it was a word he had always liked and a strong name for a band.
"The busiest guitarist in the world": the early 2000s
According to King Records' biography, he stepped onto the wider stage in 2001 as a member of the German melodic speed metal band Mystic Prophecy, and at the same time belonged to Nightrage and to Sweden's Dream Evil. That is where the nickname came from. He later left every other band to concentrate on Firewind, the band he leads.
His first trips to Japan date from those years: by his own account he came with Dream Evil in 2002 and 2003 and with Firewind in 2004. In the summer of 2005 he toured with Arch Enemy, including Ozzfest, as the stand-in for Christopher Amott, and, according to King Records, he plays on that band's album of the same year, Doomsday Machine.
In Ozzy Osbourne's band, 2009 to 2017
In the summer of 2009 an email from Ozzy's management invited him to audition; he was told later that someone had shown Ozzy a YouTube clip of him playing. His first show with the band was the closing ceremony of BlizzCon '09 at the Anaheim Convention Center on 22 August 2009, which was also drummer Tommy Clufetos's first.
The following year's album, Scream, was finished in the basement studio of Ozzy's house with producer Kevin Churko. His part, he has said, was to put guitars over songs that had already been recorded and to bring his own character to the solos. Its song "Let Me Hear You Scream" was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance at the 53rd Grammy Awards, and that October he played Tokyo International Forum on Ozzy's Japanese tour. He was back in Japan with Ozzy's band for Ozzfest Japan 2015 at Makuhari Messe that November.
In April 2017 Zakk Wylde's return to the band was announced, which ended Gus's eight years there. He has said that Sharon Osbourne rang him at home in Greece, in the middle of the night because of the time difference, so that he would not learn it online, and in 2018 he admitted it had also been something of a relief after years of waiting on plans that were never fixed far ahead.
The solo albums, 2014 to 2026
His first solo album, I Am the Fire, came out on Century Media Records in March 2014. He wrote all of it and gave each song its own guest: Mats Levén, Jeff Scott Soto and Steel Panther's Michael Starr among the singers, with David Ellefson and Billy Sheehan playing bass on the instrumentals. Many of them came through Jay Ruston, who mixed the record. Brand New Revolution followed the same plan in 2015; its "What Lies Below" is sung by Elize Ryd on the album, while the version Heather St. Marie sang on the demo appears only on the Japanese edition.
After signing a worldwide solo deal with AFM Records in November 2017 he toured North America as a trio with Dennis Ward on vocals and bass, and Fearless (2018) was recorded as a trio too, with Ward and Will Hunt of Evanescence. It was his first release after leaving Ozzy's band.
Quantum Leap (2021) was the first of his solo albums made entirely of guitar instrumentals, and its Japanese edition came out on 6 October, two days ahead of the rest of the world; a second disc carries seven songs recorded live in Budapest in 2018. Steel Burner (2026), the fifth, puts instrumentals and songs with guest singers side by side, and its title track began as a commission from a company that builds industrial machines for shaping metal.
With Ronnie Romero, and on to King Diamond: 2024 to 2026
His partnership with Ronnie Romero began in 2024, when Romero, who lives in Romania, invited him to play some acoustic shows there. The two had known each other for ten years; after shows in Romania and Greece came European festivals and, in 2025, a European tour under the name Convergence. "My Premonition", written so that they would have a song of their own to play on it, was released as a single in June 2025 and later placed on Steel Burner.
On 24 July 2026 King Diamond announced both the end of Andy La Rocque's forty years with the band and Gus G. as the new guitarist, who will write, record and tour with them while carrying on with Firewind and his solo work.
Japan
His first Japanese shows under his own name were at Club Quattro in Shibuya on 22 March 2017 and at Club Quattro in Umeda the next night, with Amaranthe's Elize Ryd as special guest. In May 2024 he returned with Firewind, the band's first Japanese visit in thirteen years, for shows in Tokyo and Osaka. In 2026 he played the guitar solo on "Flores a Flores" on PLUVIA, the major-label debut of the Japanese guitarist SAKI, and SAKI returned the favour with a solo on the Iron Maiden cover on his Japan-only EP, Steel Burning Live.
On 24 October 2026 he plays the first day of FULL METAL JAPAN 2026 at Pia Arena MM as Gus G. & Ronnie Romero. The organisers say the set will take in Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath songs, Rainbow and Dio songs sung by Romero, and material from both men's solo records.
Instruments and recognition
He was with ESP for twelve years, and ESP made his first signature guitars, before he moved to Jackson in June 2016. In January 2021 he launched his own pickup brand, Blackfire Pickups, whose first two sets, Proteus and Immortal, had until then come only in his Jackson signature models. Metal Hammer's Golden Gods gave him the Dimebag Darrell Shredder award in 2011, and the German edition of Metal Hammer named him Riffgott, God of Riffs, in 2017.
Discography (the records carried on this site)
| Year | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Steel Burning Live | EP (Japan only) |
| 2026 | Steel Burner | Studio album |
| 2021 | Quantum Leap | Studio album (2CD) |
| 2018 | Fearless | Studio album |
| 2015 | Brand New Revolution | Studio album |
| 2014 | I Am the Fire | Studio album |
What this site carries is the solo work King Records has issued on CD in Japan: the five studio albums and the Japan-only EP. The digital-only singles are not here (among them the 2018 "Force Majeure" with Vinnie Moore, which later closed Quantum Leap), and neither is Live in Budapest, Pt. 1, a 2019 digital EP of four songs from the 2018 Budapest show. I Am the Fire (Expanded Edition), issued abroad in autumn 2014, and King Records' three budget reissues of December 2021 are treated as the records they reissue. His records with Firewind, Mystic Prophecy, Dream Evil, Arch Enemy and Ozzy Osbourne are on those artists' pages.
A note on sources
This article draws on the biography at gusgofficial.com; the descriptions of the videos on his official YouTube channel, @firetv; King Records' artist page and its product page for each Japanese edition, and the news on its hard rock and heavy metal site; the Tower Records Online product pages; the official FULL METAL JAPAN 2026 site; Blabbermouth.net reports of 14 August 2005, 21 August 2009, 26 June 2010, 22 June 2016, 22 November 2017, 25 April 2018, 8 January 2021, 19 May 2026 and 24 July 2026; Guitar World articles of 14 June 2011 and 4 September 2025; the official 2017 award winners list of Metal Hammer Germany; Gekirock's interviews of March 2014 and August 2015; Jackson Guitars Japan's interview of 2022; Guitar Interactive's profile of 2014; a 2002 interview published by Leviathan Records; the release data MusicBrainz holds for artist 722a5515-d564-4215-b4e3-08abad8869f0; and the iTunes Store catalogues for Japan and the United States. Dates, catalogue numbers, prices and running orders for the Japanese editions come from King Records' product pages, and for the international editions from MusicBrainz and the iTunes Store. Every video was verified by its uploading channel, and no fan re-upload is included.
Trivia
In the early 2000s, alongside Germany's Mystic Prophecy, with whom he made his album debut in 2001, he was also a member of Nightrage and Dream Evil. King Records, his Japanese label, says in its biography of him that this earned him a reputation at the time as the busiest guitarist in the world. His first trip to Japan belongs to the same period; by his own account he came with Dream Evil in 2002 and again in 2003, then returned with Firewind in 2004.
In 2026 Gus and the Japanese guitarist SAKI each played on the other's record. On PLUVIA, SAKI's major-label debut released on 24 June, Gus plays the guitar solo on track 8, "Flores a Flores". SAKI in turn takes a solo on Gus's cover of Iron Maiden's "Murders in the Rue Morgue" on Steel Burning Live, an EP planned for Japan only, due on 7 October to coincide with his autumn visit. The EP is also set to carry a cover of Black Sabbath's "The Mob Rules" sung by Ronnie Romero and live recordings from the 2026 Rock Hard Festival.
His first shows in Japan under his own name were at Club Quattro in Shibuya on 22 March 2017 and at Club Quattro in Umeda the next night, with Amaranthe's Elize Ryd along as special guest. Henning Basse, then Firewind's singer, handled lead vocals, and the set mixed his solo songs with Firewind and Dream Evil material. Elize was booked for three songs, but in Tokyo she also joined the closing Ozzy Osbourne cover, "Crazy Train".
"What Lies Below", from Brand New Revolution, was co-written with Mat Dauzat, a Los Angeles producer and songwriter, and the demo was sung by his wife, Heather St. Marie. From the start, though, Gus had Amaranthe's Elize Ryd in mind for it, and it is Elize who sings it on the album. The two takes came out so different that he wanted to keep both, so Heather's became the bonus track on the Japanese edition. He did not know Elize personally; the link was director Patric Ullaeus, who had made videos for both Amaranthe and him.
At eighteen he went to Boston on a scholarship to Berklee College of Music, lost patience with the academic side and left within weeks. While in Boston he was studying with Joe Stump, and in 1998 he cut ten songs with singer Brandon Pender and drummer Matt Scurfield, calling the project Firewind and the recording Nocturnal Symphony. Looking back in 2002, he said shopping it to labels had led nowhere and that the music on it pulled in too many directions at once.
The name Firewind comes from the title of an Uli Roth album. In a 2002 interview he said it was a word he had always liked and that he thought it made a strong band name. Asked in the same interview why he went by Gus G. rather than his full name, he would say only that it was a secret.
Fearless, his third solo album, was made as a trio: Dennis Ward on vocals and bass, and Will Hunt of Evanescence on drums. When he signed a worldwide solo deal with AFM Records in November 2017, he announced that he would unveil a brand-new power trio, with Ward and drummer Richie Monica, on a North American tour with Vinnie Moore starting at the end of that month. The album came out on 20 April 2018, his first release since leaving Ozzy's band.
Quantum Leap, his fourth solo album, was the first of them made up entirely of guitar instrumentals. In 2014 he had said an all-instrumental record of his own would probably be boring, and in 2015 that one would take him about ten years; the 2020 lockdown, with no one to meet or play with, is what finally set it in motion. The title, he explained, stood for the big step of letting the guitar be the voice. The Japanese edition came out first, on 6 October 2021, two days before the international release, as a two-disc set whose second disc was recorded live in Budapest in 2018.
News
FIREWIND Announces New Studio Album ‘Gods, Myths & Titans’, Shares First Single ‘The Legend Of Achilles’
The Greek power metal band's new album arrives on February 19, 2027 via BLKIIBLK, the heavy metal imprint of Frontiers Label Group. Gus G says the Greek mythology concept album was two years in the making and adds cinematic and orchestral elements to the band's classic metal sound, with Felipe Machado creating artwork for every song. The first single “The Legend Of Achilles” is out now with a lyric video.
Play MVGUS G. "Excited About Creating New Music" With KING DIAMOND
In a video message, the guitarist called joining as Andy La Rocque's replacement "a big, big honor".
KING DIAMOND Part Ways With Andy La Rocque — Gus G. Steps In
The guitarist departs after 40+ years since 1985; Ozzy Osbourne/Firewind alumnus Gus G. joins as his successor.
Albums
A Japan-only EP from King Records, out on 7 October 2026 (KICP-4123) and timed to Gus G.'s appearance at FULL METAL JAPAN 2026: four songs recorded live at Germany's Rock Hard Festival 2026, a cover of Black Sabbath's "The Mob Rules" sung by Ronnie Romero, and a cover of Iron Maiden's "Murders in the Rue Morgue" with a guitar solo by the Japanese guitarist SAKI.
Gus G.'s fifth solo album, about five years after Quantum Leap. He wrote and produced all of it, and it sets guitar instrumentals beside songs sung by Doro Pesch, Matt Barlow, Ronnie Romero and Dino Jelusick. The Japanese edition (KICP-4117) adds a radio edit of "Dancing With Death" for eleven tracks.
Gus G.'s fourth solo album and the first made entirely of guitar instrumentals. King Records released the Japanese edition on 6 October 2021, two days before the rest of the world. Both editions are two CDs, the second holding seven songs recorded live in Budapest in 2018.
Gus G.'s third solo album, recorded as a trio with Dennis Ward on vocals, bass and keyboards and Will Hunt on drums, and produced by Ward and Gus G. together. It includes a cover of Mark Knopfler's "Money for Nothing". The Japanese edition (KICP-1908) runs to fifteen tracks, two of them recorded live in 2017.
Gus G.'s second solo album. He wrote every song himself, and the singers include Elize Ryd, Mats Levén and Jeff Scott Soto. King Records issued the Japanese edition on 22 July 2015 with a thirteenth track: a version of "What Lies Below" sung by Heather St. Marie.
Gus G.'s first solo album. He wrote all of it and brought in different guests song by song: singers including Mats Levén, Jeff Scott Soto, Michael Starr and Tom S. Englund, and players such as Billy Sheehan and David Ellefson. The Japanese edition (KICP-1683) adds the instrumental "Without You" for thirteen tracks.