Dragonforce

Dragonforce

Ultra Beatdown

[4.5/5]

By this point, almost everyone with a plastic guitar has pulled their hair out trying to shred through the bonus songs on Guitar Hero III, anchored by DragonForce’s blistering 2006 single “Through The Fire And Flames.” What’s remarkably fitting about the video game pairing is DragonForce specialize in music that conjures up visions of impossible Castlevania stages and Legend Of Zelda dungeons. Ultra Beatdown is a relentless explosion of power metal serving as a superb master class for fledgling shredders on any instrument. While the band are known for face-melting dueling guitar solos, the thickly harmonized vocals (mostly concerning victory, glory, triumph and synonyms thereof) and brutally fast drumming take center stage throughout the album. Beatdown showcases these six Brits at their fastest and most punishing-everything about their sound has gotten bigger. One listen to the powerful a capella opening of “The Fire Still Burns” will instantly make your hair grow to your ass and your Bon Jovi records mysteriously find their way to the garbage. It may take a few more albums for us to know for sure, but DragonForce are poised to enter the relatively underoccupied pantheon of British metal gods alongside Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath. Pray these songs don’t slip into Guitar Hero IV. (ROADRUNNER) Kevin Wade

ROCKS LIKE:

Sonata Arctica’s Winterheart’s Guild

Rhapsody’s Dawn Of Victory

Iced Earth’s The Glorious Burden

IN-STORE SESSION WITH GUITARIST HERMAN LI

So can you beat your own song on Guitar Hero?

No way, not on expert. That world record definitely isn’t one of us. I have to say, it was pretty cool to be on the game. Not only because it was kind of a cornerstone song for the game and got us a fair amount of hype, [but] I really enjoyed that the game emphasized-not just with us but with all of the songs-musicianship and not image. We’ve never been a band that cared about how we looked or tried to throw on a lot of makeup or anything. We’re not a fashionable band-we just want to be the best musicians we can, and that was a chance for people to really notice if they hadn’t already.

What do you think is different between Inhuman Rampage and the new record?

When we set out to record Inhuman Rampage, we really started writing a much darker and sadder record. We like fast and catchy songs, so that mood felt like a departure from what fast and catchy usually represents. With Ultra Beatdown, we just wanted to write a killer record that showed us at our best. I think we do a lot more with mixing tempos and bigger choruses. Overall, I just think it’s an epic record-our most epic record so far. [Laughs.]

You have trampolines on stage; can you tip us off to any surprises we might see on the next tour?

[Laughs.] Yeah, we put those trampolines onstage because we were always trying to jump up on risers and do these huge jumps and 360 spins, so the trampolines made sense. We’ll definitely have some new stuff in store, but the one thing we’re really not into [is] big light shows-you know, pyro, big backdrops, strobe lights and the like. That kind of stuff isn’t at all about the band. Anyone can hire someone to come on tour with them and do a cool light show; we like to do stuff that still is showcasing us playing music and not someone in the back of the venue flipping switches.

The U.K. isn’t the first place people think of for metal these days. Do you ever get confused for being Finnish or Swedish?

People actually think we’re American. I have no idea why. We’ll seriously get letters from fans saying, “When are you coming back to the U.K.?” I’m just like, “What the hell? I live in London!” I’ve always been “back.” I guess we have spent quite a bit more time in the U.S. in the last two years, but Europe got a bit of a head start with us before that. The whole world will see plenty of us, so there’s no need to worry. [KW]

Categories: