Songs like ‘Valley of the Damned’ and ‘Disciples of Babylon’ have some really kickass moments and memoable vocal melodies, but then descend into the standard DragonForce routine of ruining a perfectly good song with stupidly fast solos that lack any sense of musicality.Īs a fan of shred guitar playing, it saddens me to say this, but in the case with this band, ‘speed kills’.ĭragonForce is a band that will bring the experience of fantasy and sprawling lands of adventure, all with the power of, well, power metal. It’s a shame, because this band has a lot of potential, and in the very few cases when they do slow down their music is awesome. As a result, it's hard to really care once they get started. Every solo, and I mean EVERY solo, sounds exactly the same, and by that I mean a flurry of notes where the main focus is flashy acrobatics over actual substance.
What bothers me when DragonForce start wailing away, is that it’s so fast and flashy that there is no distinguishable melody. With bands such as Dream Theater and Symphony X being top influences of mine, it’s clear that shredding isn’t a problem for me. It quickly becomes apparent that this is the formula for all of their songs. ‘Valley of the Damned’ has a very promising start, with the title track producing some very nice riffs, accompanied by some incredibly catchy vocals, however, this is as good as it gets, as halfway through the song the band, in particular, guitarists Sam Totman and Herman Li, decide to disregard any logical tune and just shred away.
They were happy with ‘Sonic…’ at the time and remain so to this day, which is why the mixing and the mastering have been left just as they are however, the packaging has been upgraded, an extra track added (‘Cry Of The Brave’ – a song the group felt uncomfortable taking off first time around), and – as with ‘Valley…’ – a bonus DVD added, this one featuring live footage from Japan (‘Fury Of The Storm’), video commentaries plus freshly recorded interviews with the band members themselves.Īs a way of celebrating the recordings that effectively launched DF’s international career, both re-issued albums will be included in a limited edition package along with exclusive band merchandise and various collectable items.With the obvious talent and potential to become one of the greatest power metal bands of all time, the thing that makes DragonForce stand out the most is also the thing that annoys me about them. The studio track, ‘Where Dragons Rule’, has now been added to the audio side, and there is a bonus DVD featuring never-before-seen live footage (‘Valley Of The Damned’, filmed in Japan), behind-the-scenes material (also from Japan), video commentaries, plus in-studio interviews and clips (shot in Denmark & the UK), all of it lovingly assembled by Li himself.Ģ004 SAW the release of the follow-up album, ‘Sonic Firestorm’, which gave the band the chance to hone their skills and push their trademark sound to a whole new level.
We just didn’t have the time back then to make everything sound the way we wanted.” “Fans who have heard the original mixes many times might find that the songs sound a bit different now,” observes guitarist Herman Li, “but that’s how we always wanted the original songs to sound. Containing a host of songs that still rank amongst the most popular of their output, the likes of ‘Black Fire’, ‘Evening Star’ and the title track itself, ‘VOTD’ has now been Remixed and Remastered to allow every aspect of the recordings to make maximum impact… DRAGONFORCE have their first two studio albums – ‘ Valley Of The Damned’ & ‘ Sonic Firestorm’ – re-issued on February 22nd 2010 via Spinefarm Records.īoth titles will now be available with updated packaging and bonus audio/DVD content, some of it exclusive to these releases.įORMED IN 1999, DragonForce issued their ‘Valley Of The Damned’ debut in 2003 – an impressive nine-track showcase for their accomplished power metal forays.