Customer Reviews

Premonition

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

2008's The Premonition is the fifth 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. The Premonition is the first Firewind album recorded by a relatively stable lineup, and the result is the band's best effort yet.

Firewind started to move beyond the power metal formula with 2006's Allegiance, and with this album the band became a leader in the genre, not a follower. The Premonition is what you get when you have a seasoned group of musicians with real chemistry and an insane amount of talent. It's completely heavy, completely powerful and full of great melodies, amazing musicianship, dynamite vocals (Apollo Papathanasio has never sounded better), pristine production and some extremely well-written songs. Everything seems to gel here. I think it helps that Gus G's solos seem more like part of the songs and not just an exercise in technicality.

I'd rank The Premonition alongside the best albums by Brainstorm, Tad Morose, Mob Rules and Symphorce as the best the melodic power metal genre has to offer. Listen to "Into the Fire," "Angels Forgive Me" and "Life Foreclosed" and you'll see what I mean. Hell, even the band's version of the Flashdance theme song "Maniac" is pretty epic, and that's saying something!

As much as I loved Allegiance, The Premonition is easily the best Firewind album, and one of the best power metal albums I've heard in a long time. If you only buy one Firewind album, this is the one to get. Hopefully Ozzy won't keep Gus so busy that he can't get the guys together for a follow-up album.

PS - I caught Firewind live in 2008 at the ProgPower USA IX festival and they were amazing.

I think this is a good follow-up to "The Allegiance". Although there are only 10 tracks on this one, they are strong, well-written, and do the job. The first spin may not leave you impressed, but after a couple more times through the record, you'll really dig it.

Vocals = 5/5. Great job on the vocals by Apollo. Nice and heavy, but at the same time melodic. Again, sounds like a mix of Roy Khan and Geoff Tate.

Guitar work = 5/5. Amazing guitar work by Gus, as usual. What a talented musician.

Production = 4.5/5. Nice, clean, non-distorted.

Length of solos and songs = 4/5. As a solo junkie, I found myself wishing for a few longer solos...but this may not be an issue to others. Songs are about 4 minutes long on average.

Overall = 4.5/5. Great album that you can listen to anywhere. This band is very talented and I would love to see them Live if they ever come here to the US.

Firewind is a band that I discovered sometime a year ago & they were one of the bands that got me to get into power metal more than ever in recent years. Most of their albums are great ('Burning Earth' was OK) & their last one 'Allegiance' was AWESOME, but unfortunately after coming off an excellent album such as the latter, they didn't come through this time like I hoped that they would. 'The Premonition' definitely has the sound & excellent production of 'Allegiance' but the songs are not as good. I would say there are a few cool ones but that's about it. Maybe after a few listens I will appreciate it more but it definitely could have been better. Stand out tracks are "Mercenary Man," "Angels Forgive Me," "My Loneliness," & "Life Foreclosed."

After extensive touring on the back of their major album "Allegiance", the existing line up of guitar prodigy Gus G., singer Apollo Papathanasio, drummer Mark Cross, key player Bob Katsionis and bass player Petros Christo entered once again `Studio Fredman' to record the "Premonition".

In contrast to the diverse "Allegiance", the "Premonition" focused more on melodic/heavy metal compositions and to a lesser extent on speeding power metal tunes. Overall a much more guitar-oriented album, "The Premonition" opens up with the titanic power track "Into the fire" but from there onwards demonstrates standard tempos, boasting heaviness and melody with increased emphasis on expressiveness. In addition the collective themes and performances (particularly those of lead singer Apollo) are far more dramatic than anything the band had come with in the past.

In retrospect "The premonition" did not come out as much as a surprise as their previous album, probably because at that point anyone who had heard "Allegiance" demanded a follow up of equal quality; and that's exactly what the band delivered.

Released in early 2008, "The Premonition" would come to surpass the sales of their previous album within the first few weeks of its release. On that count, the album holds the biggest to date "Firewind" hit, called "Head up high" and a second-mainly domestic- hit with the cover of the Sembello/Matkosky track "Maniac" (perhaps even to the surprise of the band themselves as they were aiming at a hit single with the track `Mercenary man').

`The Premonition' turned out to be another amazing album and an additional step up the ladder of metal recognition. During an interview* Gus G. claimed that `The Premonition' was actually a very positive title, a gut feeling of his that the album would be the beginning of even greater things for the band.

More than two years past that time, Gus G. is found a full time member of Ozzy Osbourne, lead singer Apollo also became the front man of acclaimed Swedish hard rockers "spiritual Beggars", Bob Katsionis became the key player in Timmo Tolki's "Revoluiton Renessance" while he also put together the hard rock band `Outloud' along with drummer Mark Cross. On account of these developments the guitarist's premonition was spot on; what's more? `Firewind' are ready to release their brand new album in a couple of month's time!


*Metal Hammer (Greek Magazine) issue 280 marks this album with 8,5/10 commenting: "Gus G. and the band do justice to the high expectations of the audience".

after a few listens this is one great recording. it's hard to stop listening to this album.
becoming one of my favorites.

I came across Firewind when browsing for new power metal bands on Amazon, and got this cd after checking out a couple of their songs. My ideal metal album is edgy, but chock full of hooks, and The Premonition delivers on both counts. Much has already been said about Gus G- I'll just add one comment: so many virtuoso guitarists just try to dazzle us with their speed and technical ability- I don't think anyone since Slash has churned out leads that FIT THE SONGS better than Gus. A guitar solo should be the climax of the song- for confirmation that this guy is a master check out the crushing solo after the bridge on 'My Loneliness'.

I checked out some videos of keyboardist extraordinaire Bob Katsionis on YouTube, which I encourage you to do if you're interested in this band- wow. I'm impressed with the fact that he plays rhythm guitar too. Mark Cross is a phenomenal drummer, check out the fills at the beginning of the chorus to 'Angels Forgive Me'. Can't say much about Petros Christos' bass playing except it's solid- he seems to be the dark, mysterious member of this band (good look...haha). And finally I've become a big fan of Apollo Papathanasio's strong voice- it's tough enough for the metal songs, soft enough for the ballads and bridges, and I dig his slight Mediterranean accent.

To sum up, this album (and Allegiance too) has the perfect combination of elements: strong, hooky songwriting, stellar musicianship, powerful vocals, and crystal clear production that dares you to turn it up one more notch. One of my favorite albums of 2008.

No, it's even better. There is no one out there jamming like these guys today. Just in your face metal chock full of melody and guitar madness. These guys have really hit their stride. This album is SO listen-able. Ok, that's not a word but you get the idea. This CD kicks righteous butt.

Now sure we all know that any album with Gus G on the guitar is going to be face-meltingly awesome. His ability to hammer out fast and heavy riffs is all too well known. However, with the other albums (especially forged by fire, between heaven and hell, and burning earth--the vocalists, which at this point were not committed to the band, could not deliver. The inclusion and entrance of Apollo Papathanassio to this band really made this band one of my favorites. Their latest (and 2nd album with Apollo) is their most mature effort to date as it includes high energy riffs, catchy lyrics, and vocals that any power metal lover would be fond of. All in all, its a good buy, especially if you're already a firewind fan looking for some of their best. Not a bad track on here! 5 STARS

I actually like this album more than Allegiance. Allegiance had one very strong song in Falling to Pieces which highlighted that album. The rest of that album was good but I tended to skip tracks. I believe this album feels more complete and delivers a better experience end to end. My favorite track is Head up High. The choice of a cover song is a bit questionable but it's just goofy enough to work. Gus G is amazing as usual and Apollo's voice fits in perfect with the band's sound. 5 Stars.

BEST POWER METAL CD IN LAST DECADE (AFTER WARRIOR - ANCIENT FUTURE ) . PERFECT BALANCE BETWEEN EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN SCHOOL . "MANIAC" IT'S AN AMAZING COVER SONG. GREECE METAL SCENE ROCKS ! IT'S A MUST ! BUY IT NOW !