| CD REVIEW Dragonforce |
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Band : Dragonforce 2 ½ years after their third album Inhuman Rampage (issued Jan. 2006) we finally get the follow-up album from this ravenous London based Extreme Power Metal sextet. Two years and a half? That IS the longest time ever between two albums the band has ever had...so what happened? First of all, the band added Frédéric Leclercq to their line-up on a permanent basis after his performance on the November '05 Canadian/ US tour (their first in the Americas), and further broke him into the band's catalogue. Then started touring in support of the new album with a first bout of gigs throughout the UK. By the way, also in late November 2005 (which was only a month after the departure of their previous bassist) Dragonforce had signed an additional deal with major Heavy Metal label Roadrunner for the distribution of their album in the areas of the US, the UK, France, Australia, and New Zealand...which greatly helped the band's area of influence and possible places to visit. So, touring schedules were expanded, and after that first UK tour followed a world tour, the 2006 Ozzfest, a further headlining North American tour, a tour across Europe, and the second UK leg. Meanwhile, the song "Through The Fires And Flames" wasfeatured in the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock, and while being considered the most challenging song in the game's series, the band's album sales went to scorching highs. Funnily enough some controversy about the possible speeding up of the music in the studio came about when, as because of their success, several members in the band indulged in some alcohol abuse during a couple of big festival appearances, resulting in a couple of shows (among which Graspop) where the live versions weren't nearly as neetly played as the recorded songs.Touring for Inhuman Rampage continued into 2007 on a continous schedule, starting in late February for a North American, 35-city tour with Chimaira, He Is Legend, and Killswitch Engage, which was followed in March by the release of an expanded version of the band's Inhuman Rampage album by Roadrunner in celebration of that album already selling in excess of 100,000 copies in the US. German shows in April had Freedom Call as support, and Vanishing Point opened on the Australian tour in May, Dragonforce also putting in shows in Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand. Also in May, Leclercq unveiled songs from his Iron Steel Project (among which "Attack" was recorded in one take in early April with guest appearances by members of Chimaira, Dragonforce, and Killswitch Engage). October 2007 saw the re-release of Dragonforce's 2003 debut album under the title Valley Of the Damned – Remixed & Remastered, including a bonus DVD (with footage from the band's first Japanese tour). Recordings for the new album were already commenced during 2007, and continued in 2008. Oh...and then the band's previous label Noise went belly-up along with mother company Sanctuary, leaving the band free to seach for even better posibilities. The solution was apparently found by signing to Sweden's Spinefarm (who happen to be distributed by major Universal Music). Back to the music on the new album, the band posted the album opening song "Heroes Of Our Time" on their MySpace as early as July 4, following it up by its video on July 8. On July 15 the songs "The Fire Still Burns", "Heartbreak Armageddon", and "A Flame For Freedom" were all played at the 106.1 Rock Radio show during an interview with singer ZP Theart. Two days earlier (as will often happen with the albums of bands which gain a mainstream profile), the whole album had leaked onto the Internet through several peer-to-peer networks. Although most reviews of the album appear to be positive, the first one I read (in Aardschok)was quite contrarily rather negative (and a funny thing is that subsequently the album was chosen by the magazine's Soundcheck panel to be featured into the top 30 out of 143 full-length records reviewed that month), claiming "A Flame For Freedom" (which has somewhat balladesque qualities for Dragonforce standards) to be the only song on the album which contains varieties in velocity. Hum...when are the editor-in-chief of major magazines gonna learn that to get a decent review from àny band's new album, you need to hand the job over to someone whom can either take on that job with a minimum of professionalism, or give it to someone whom actually likes what said band does? Really people, if you don't like what this group of speedy lunatics does (and I use both terms in an affectionate way) in spite of the obvious high standard of musicianship (both in songwriting and handling of the instruments), you're free to go look for what sooths your musicl wants elsewhere...but don't go putting things down just because you don't understand what they're doing!!! After all, there's plénty of variety in each and every song on this album, if you care to take notice, that is! Personally, I'm under the impression that the band has taken care of giving sóme songs a more prominent passage of keyboards, that sóme songs have gotten somewhat more elaborate backing vocals...but then I don't even care, because I like ànything these guys do. Their music has been constant food for my melody/ harmony/ complexity craving brains from the first time I've come across their music, and the band has still to disappoint me for the first time! In other words, Ultra Beatdown has again worked its way into my heart and into my "Best Albums Of 2008"-list!!! Well, possibly as a result of te album being leaked already, the band has counter-acted by putting up all 8 songs off the new album (total listening time just over 58 minutes) at their myspace.com/dragonforce (alongside some tracks off the other three albums), so you can actually pre-listen the album in its entirety without using illegal channels. By the way, the album will also be released in a special edition adding two bonus songs ("Ninja" and "Scars Of Yesterday")and a DVD (no details know at the moment). And as usual the Japanese version will also be adding a bonus track ("E.P.M."). Touring for the album, with Turisas as support, begins on September 25 with a bout of gigs in the UK and Ireland. It's then off to Australia (without Turisas) for five gigs towards the end of October. The European tour (again with Turisas) starts in late January (Belgian fans will wanna hurry over to Hasselt's Muziek-O-Droom on Jan. 30th) to end in early March. For what follows after, check out the MySpace page on a regular basis, okay? 98/100 Tony. |