DRAGONFORCE: Ultra Beatdown

Produced by Karl Groom, Herman Li and Sam Totman

Released: August 25, 2008

Back when I reveiwed Inhuman Rampage I suggested that it sounded almost exactly like the one before it, Sonic Firestorm. As that album then went on to become a surprise smash hit, it was pretty unlikely that DragonForce was going to dick with such a successful formula very much. It takes all of about ten seconds of Ultra Beatdown to realise that this is another continuation of what they've been doing now for the past three albums, melodic power metal at a furious gallop, laden with lightning fast and enormously long guitar solos and dripping with lyrical cheese.

With the shortest track on Ultra Beatdown clocking in at 5 minutes and 20 seconds, it's very clear that reining things in this time around has not been a DragonForce priority. In fact it could be that the success of Inhuman Rampage has just encouraged them to push the envelope of ridiculous hyperspeed style over substance even further. While it's true that the band has actually incorporated a few touches of melodic rock and even managed a couple of slower passages here, it's also very much more of the same: endless duelling lead breaks, guitar/keyboard battles, never-ending double kicks, ultra-polished melodies and shiny harmonies, and all of it repeated again and again. If DragonForce weren't already responsible for some of the most contrived music in recent memory then Ultra Beatdown certainly gives them that distinction, with teflon-coated production so bright you need sunglasses to listen to it. To top it all off, the entire package just doesn't seem as memorable as what they've done previously, which isn't that surprising as they've pretty much just been rehashing "My Spirit Will Go On" for three albums now.

Ultra Beatdown is as much fun as any other DragonForce album but the fun doesn't last very long. Like their carefully calculated and choreographed live shows, this is a band that has become a slave to their own formula to the point where there are no surprises left, and no inspiration.

1. Heroes of Our Time
2. The Fire Still Burns
3. Reasons to Live
4. Heartbreak Armageddon
5. The Last Journey Home
6. A Flame for Freedom
7. Inside the Winter Storm
8. The Warrior Inside

Rating: 50%

DRAGONFORCE: Inhuman Rampage

Released: 2006

DragonForce's previous album Sonic Firestorm was a breathtakingly over-the-top collection of hyperfast power metal laden with seemingly infinite wild instrumental breaks featuring blazing guitar and keyboard solos and the occasional bit of singing. Inhuman Rampage sees them continue in the same vein to the extent of not being that different, but when a band does this so well and is obviously having so much fun doing it, it probably doesn't really matter.

Like its predecessor, Inhuman Rampage is the ultimate triumph of style over substance. The songs are blindingly fast with soaring, chest-beating choruses and dazzling, endless, wrist-breaking dual guitar solos with equally histrionic keyboards thrown in for good measure. It doesn't really matter what the lyrics are about, because the solos go on for so long you can barely remember them. It's cheesy beyond belief, but it's also very clear that DragonForce at no time ever pretends to be anything more than they are, and that is an insanely fast band having a complete blast. The album is one infectiously catchy track after another, and while each one really doesn't sound that different from the next the whole thing is done so well and is so ridiculous at the same time that's it's hard not to like it.

I reviewed Sonic Firestorm in my zine when it first came out and said pretty much the same sort of thing, but in truth there isn't much else you could say. I'm not sure how much longer DragonForce could go on in this vein without becoming just a little bit tedious, but while they do the ride is going to be fun.

1. Through the Fire and the Flames
2. Revolution Deathsquad
3. Storming the Burning Fields
4. Operation Ground and Pound
5. Body Breakdown
6. Cry for Eternity
7. The Flame for Youth
8. Trail of Broken Hearts

Rating: 86%