Gus G. — born in Greece in 1980, given name Konstantinos Karamitroudis — is the founding guitarist, composer and leader of Firewind, and was Ozzy Osbourne's guitarist. He is the Greek musician with the widest international reach in metal. He founded Firewind in 1998 and wrote practically the entire repertoire across ten albums, crossing five different singers — the group exists as a function of him, and is known for combining melodic power metal with solos of neoclassical vocabulary and extremely precise execution. In 2009 he was chosen by Ozzy Osbourne to replace Zakk Wylde, a position he held until 2017. It is the most exposed chair in heavy metal: whoever occupies it is compared to Randy Rhoads and Jake E. Lee, and has to perform on tour material that is already the genre's heritage. He recorded Scream (2010) and toured the world in that role. His importance goes beyond his own career. Before him, Greece had no metal musician of global reach; afterwards, the country began to figure on the genre's map. Gus G. sustained Firewind throughout the period he worked with Ozzy, keeping the band active rather than dissolving it — a decision that preserved a Greek reference in the European circuit.
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