Review Summary: Extremely technical and boring power metal taken to insane limits.
DragonForce: a band hated and loved by many. Some diss them as being the next cheesy overdone power metal group to be spawned from the gates of heaven to kill the next dragon on a quest for glory. Some praise their technicality above all things, pointing out that the speeds at which these guys play metal is far above normal. Some just find the songs repetitive, casting the disc away in utter boredom just to get rid of what they see as an inferior album. But what, at the end of the day, is the truth of all this controversy about this relatively new UK power metal band?
Well, the truth is, that everyone who pointed out anything of the above, has a reason to say they're right. Yes, DragonForce is a cheesy band. Yes, their lyrics could have come straight out of Dungeons & Dragons, or some cheesy RPG for girls with too many pimples. The point is not that DragonForce however, are cheesy. The point is: do you care that they are? Do you take this cheesiness seriously? If you do, I can probably already tell that you have no life (not that there's anything wrong with that.) If you don't, you either hate this band to death (no need to hate on anyone guys!), or you're just in it because you like the super-duper awesome speeds and (debatably) high degree of technicality.
Now let me just say one thing about the technicality: in terms of speed, yeah, these guys kick major ass, there aren't many musicians far and between that could play at higher speeds than these guys; in fact, I think playing faster is almost humanly impossible. It is indeed aptly titled in the sense that this is an Inhuman Rampage; it is a barrage of quick guitars, speedy keyboards, ridiculously high drum tempos, and soaring high vocals. In terms of difficult technique: well, it takes a lot of practice to play your scales at this kind of speed, so I would definitely say that on this aspect, DragonForce pass with flying colours.
The only thing I have to note technically is that ZP Theart sounds like a typical power metal vocalist without balls. And that is a part of power metal. However, he can also sing about four different notes. And that is where we get to the heart of the problem with this band. Variety. Sure, ZP Theart can sing high notes. But it's just about everything he can do. He's very good at it, sure. But he can't really do anything else. As for Herman Li and Sam Totman, they can play about three different guitar solos each. They know how to perfectly: it's all the same uptempo scales played at inhuman speeds: but again, there is no variety. The drumming could be characterised as "whacking the double bass gogogogo" at the same speeds. The only song that is here for the sake of variety, marginally, is the closing track, Trail of Broken Hearts, which sees the tempo down, but still the same formula. It's like using the same equation over and over for a maths test: sure, you know how to do the thing after a while, but after a while, it gets boring; it's the reason why people don't study maths, and when they do, they're looked down upon for being totally stupid. The whole thing is repetitive as ***.
Now, this has dire consequences for the replay value. As an initial listen, you might be impressed by these guys work. But once you take a closer listen, maybe twice or three times, you'll find that there's actually nothing special except the speed to this whole cd. It is one of those albums, good to play once, but fades into mediocrity later on. It's the reason why nobody can rate this a classic either: it just isn't good or attractive enough to listen to a million times. I could listen to Number of the Beast a million times. I could play Once till I die, but this? I'd just get bored and sigh after a second or third spin.
So, is this disc a recommendation to buy? Well, it depends. The first thing you need to possess is a great deal of love for these guys, and the style they play in. In other words, being a fantasy nerd helps a huge deal. If you love fantasy and the rest, if your favourite bands are Blind Guardian, Rhapsody, Nightwish, Yngwie J. Malmsteen and co, yeah, sure, you'll love it. If you are a fan of technically skilled bands, that prefer to wank rather than create coherent songs, yeah, you'll love it. Buy this disc. If you're not anything of the former, I'd stay away, it's a waste of money. I wasted mine on it, anyway. I like most power metal, and I can enjoy this disc once or twice, but it's not for the casual listener in my opinion: it takes fanboyism, blindheadedness to really love this disc. If you wanna get into power metal and not look dumb (most people dont care but anyway), you're much better off getting something else. This is only for if you really love the genre, or are just mad in the head.
