Customer Reviews

Allegiance

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Allegiance is masterpiece of music and metal, seamlessly woven together in gigantic proportions.

Firewind has produced a classic album in the midst of a revival of metal. I'm a child of the 80's, when metal ruled the world. I have never been so excited as bands like Dream Evil, DragonForce, Hammerfall and more bring back metal to the forefront.

Firewind breathes some fresh air into the once dying beast of heavy metal. Crisp, clear and powerfully vibrant vocals, extremely intricate and heavy guitar work, bass guitars that won't stop all synchronized with awesome drumming(complete with double bass drums!)

At times the vocals sounds like a blend of anything Jorn Lande has done mixed with a touch of David Coverdale of Whitesnake fame. I just can't stop listening to the song called "Breaking the Silence"!

If you love metal, old or new, this is a must have for any true metalhead.

2006's Allegiance is the fourth album from Greek power metal band Firewind. Firewind, of course, is a side project of Dream Evil, Nightrage, Mystic Prophecy and now Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Gus G. Once again, Firewind went through some major lineup changes prior to this album, most notably replacing vocalist Chity Somapala with Apollo Papathanasio (previously of Time Requiem and Faith Taboo).

As much as I enjoy the band's earlier albums - and they're all pretty solid - Allegiance is the first Firewind album I felt compelled to play more than a couple of times. Gus G's playing is as good as ever, so maybe it's the Fredrik Nordstrom production job or Papathanasio's vocals. He sounds much better here than he did with either Faith Taboo or Time Requiem; more at home somehow. The whole album just seems tighter and more focused, and the songs stand out more, particularly "Falling to Pieces," "Breaking the Silence" and "Dreamchaser."

Again, I totally enjoyed the early Firewind albums, but Allegiance is the first in a run of Firewind albums that I'd consider essential power metal releases. Between the powerful melodies, dynamic vocals, well-written songs and oh yeah that brilliant guitar work (and I say that as someone who's not a guitar virtuoso fan), Allegiance is an album that should appeal to just about any power metal fan.

It's power metal. A genre whose goal is to keep alive all of those old-"stodgy" metal stereotypes of the 1980's, meaning swords, sorcery... and Dungeons and Dragons in your basement.

In many respects the resurgence of power metal over the last 5 years or so is both a blessing and a curse.

I say this as a fan, and not as a hater, but this album will not blow you away with anything you haven't heard before--especially if you're an old veteran of metal, meaning you know who Iron Maiden is.

This band plays it safe, but again, the walls of Power Metal are clearly defined: Classically inspired riffs; Check. Operatic (defined as falsetto male vocals or guys with really tight pants): Check. Shredding guitar riffs: Check. Insane leads: Check. Slightly cheesy keyboards inspired by Rush and Steve Miller Band: Check.

What this album isn't: Dragonforce. But, who the hell is?

Actually compared to the entire genre of Power Metal, this one is by far the one I can listen to over and over again without it getting too repetitive (or cheesy. Well... THAT's relative!)

If you're a fan of PM and haven't picked it up yet, BUY IT.

After scoring their first minor hit with the preceding 2004 album `Forged by Fire', band leader and guitar phenomenon Gus G. stood in as the second lead guitarist in Swedish melodic death metal band `Arch Enemy' during their 2005 `Ozzfest' US dates. After fulfilling his duties, Gus G. took the career decision of leaving the various musical projects he was involved in as guitarist (including `Dream Evil', `Mystic Prophecy' and `Nightrage') in order to step up his efforts regarding his own band `Firewind'.

Gus decided that `Firewind', now a full time band, should be based in Greece for better coordination and flexibility; therefore Norwegian drummer Stian Kristoffersen exited the line up along with singer Chity Somapala who had already left during Gus' stint with `Arch Enemy'. The remaining Greek members, bass player Petros Christo, key player Bob Katsionis and Gus were joined by British-German drum titan Mark Cross (ex-Metalium) who had been long residing in Greece and Swedish singer (of Greek heritage) Apollo Papathanassiou (ex `Majestic', ex `Meduza') a musician with significant contribution in the neoclassic metal genre. The voice and approach of the new lead singer came closer to that of original vocalist Stephen Frederick, still the overall sound and direction of the new line-up stood fairly apart from the power/neoclassic style they had established during their earlier albums.

`Allegiance' released in Europe during the summer of 2006 marked the recording debut of this particular line up; the first to gather the entire band in the same studio (JM- Fredman studios in Sweden)and the first to feature song writing contributions from all five band members. The result saw the band growing in all directions and `Allegiance' subsequently becoming the most diverse `Firewind' album to date.
From mid tempo metal opuses like `Allegiance' to melodic metal tunes `Insanity', `Ready to strike' and `the essence' to power metal epics `Till the end of time' plus a few slower moments `Deliverance', `Before the storm', the album clearly showcased the diverse talents that 'Firewind' now consisted of.

The album effortlessly climbed the official domestic music charts top 10 and established a presence for a good number of weeks. That was largely due to success of the two hit singles, the duet `Breaking the silence' (featuring singer Tara Teresa) and `Falling to pieces' which came to be their biggest hit till that day.

`Allegiance' is definitely an album to place `Firewind' amongst the leading forces in European melodic/power metal, it is the very definition of collective band effort, perfect start to finish material and incredible production.

On a personal level, it was almost a shock to discover how much the band had grown form the previous album (which was actually less than a year prior to Allegiance). At that point musically they could stand to toe with any other highly acclaimed band of the genre.


Metal Hammer (Greek magazine) issue 259 marks this album with 8,5/10 commenting: "The musicians are top of the top, the production is impressive, the compositions solid and worked to perfection.

Allegiance is the first Firewind CD I picked up. It is awesome!! I have since added three more of their CDs to my collection. The guitar work on this CD smokes with super fast leads that fit the songs well. Every song rocks and will have you head banging and singing along to the chorus. I wish some of these fantastic metal bands from Europe would come to the US. This CD belongs in every Power Metal collection!!

I just found out about Firewind a couple of weeks ago and decided to pick up their latest release, "Allegiance". I was not wrong in my choice - it turned out to be an awesome heavy metal album with really sweet hooks of power metal, 80s metal, and heavy speed metal here and there.
Lots of great solos on this one, the riffs are nice and heavy, the vocals are simply superb. The lead singer reminds me of a mix of Roy Khan (Kamelot) and Geoff Tate (Queensryche), but a little heavier.
The instrumental of the album is "Before The Storm" and is one of the most beautiful metal instrumentals I have ever heard.
Overall, a very solid 4 stars, could be 5 with a few more longer tracks and solos, but still an incredible album to listen to. I highly recommend this to everyone who likes Edguy, Kamelot, Queensryche, and Iron Maiden.

This is the 4th & by far the best album Firewind has put out! Each CD is absolutely heavy & at times melodic & 'Allegiance' certainly has those elements, but this album sounds much different from the first 3 in the fact that it just sounds much better produced & the song writing has expanded into newer territory instead of the usual power metal sound. This CD quickly became 1 of my all-time favorites upon my first listen..that's how GREAT it is! Fans of power metal don't want to miss this one!

This album grabs you by the throat and won't let go. Start to finish. Not one bad song. The guitar is blazing, the vocals are excellent. No sappy power metal here, this is the real McCoy. No growling, no screaming. Just good metal, good songs, great guitar. If I had to make one criticism, it would be the structure of a few songs. The choruses sound a little strange in the midst of the rest of the song. But, all in all I can't think of any band that's kicking it today like these guys do. Definitely worth the money.

'Firewind' is one of those great power-metal bands that come along once in a while! It is even more surprising that they are from Greece, not exactly a hotbed for known international metal bands. I've been to Greece many times though, and surely the picturesque and idyllic vistas and majestic landscape must have been an inspiration to 'Firewind', given their masterful and progressive songwriting skills so evident on this phenomenal release. The songs are a bit evocative of Dio, Whitesnake, Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Queensryche, Dream Theater, Malmsteen, etc, but with total originality and sound that only 'Firewind' can bring to the table. The playing and musicianship is clockwork and precise, with some ungodly bombastic riffing and articulate and emotional world class soloing work from 'Gus G.', their guitarist extraordinaire! All in all, a GREAT metal release that is right 'up there' with the best hard rock/metal bands in existence. Highly HIGHLY recommended!

Incredible album, and even more incredible the musicianship here. Everything here is superb, guitars, keyboards, voice, drums and bass, perfect melodic metal. I'm a Gus G fan and in my opinion in this album really improves it, the solos with a very melodic parts are unique!!! Recommended!!!