DRAGONFORCE: New Album Details Revealed
- June 3, 2008
British extreme epic power metallers DRAGONFORCE will release their new album, "Ultra Beatdown", on August 25 via Roadrunner Records.
The track listing for the CD is as follows:
01. Heroes Of Our Time 02. The Fire Still Burns 03. Reasons To Live 04. Scars Of Yesterday 05. Heartbreak Armageddon 06. The Last Journey Home 07. Inside The Winter Storm 08. The Warrior Inside
In a recent interview with Revolver magazine, DRAGONFORCE guitarist Sam Totman stated about the group's new material, "It's not going to be majorly different. But hopefully the melodies will be nicer, the guitar solos will be better, the production will be better. You just try to improve in every area." Vocalist ZP Theart added, "There isn't much to change, but yet there is. The last three albums have been very much guitar-orientated, and this one probably will be as well, but I want to try to do some extra coloring in with the vocals."
Asked if the songs will be faster, guitarist Herman Li replied, "Bands always say, 'Our new album is faster and heavier,' and then it's never true, so we're not gonna say that. But playing fast just works for us. People who say we play too fast are probably right, but guess what? There's a million other bands that play slow. People listen to DRAGONFORCE and go to the show because they know that we're doing something other bands aren't doing."
DRAGONFORCE will head Stateside in late June for the start of the inaugural Rockstar Energy Mayhem touring festival. The package kicks off in early July and is headlined by Roadrunner labelmates SLIPKNOT.
DRAGONFORCE's last album, "Inhuman Rampage", is still romping out of stores on both sides of the pond, thanks in part to the inclusion of lead track "Through The Fire And Flames" as the "advanced" level on the top-selling Guitar Hero III computer game.
DRAGONFORCE guitarists Herman Li and Sam Totman recently launched their new signature guitars at the NAMM show in Anaheim, California. You can check out the details over at www.ibanez.com.
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COMMENT | posted by : TurdMaster 6/3/2008 9:52:28 AM
COMMENT | posted by : thenumberofthebeef 6/3/2008 10:16:32 AM
Herman Li is a joke? Seriously?? The guy can play better than 90% of all known metal guitarists and you call him a joke? Okay...I can see how Dragonforce can be considered pretty silly...because they are. But they are all very very competent musicians that could put most to shame.
COMMENT | I like Dragonforce but posted by : mattmetallifuk 6/3/2008 10:17:45 AM
As studio players - they are pretty good but I haven't seen anything LIVE that makes me too too much respect for them. Except the drummer seems tight live. For instance, check out Dream Theater live, they do all their nutty studio shit near perfect live.
COMMENT | posted by : Storm King 6/3/2008 10:19:48 AM
The thing I like about Dragonforce is how they don't take themselves seriously; a lot of power metal bands who perform similar material in terms of lyrical content are oh-so-dreadfully serious about their music (hello, Rhapsody of Fire.) Dragonforce are in on the joke.
And right now no band plays fast like they do, so fuck it, enjoy it.
COMMENT | posted by : DemonOfTheFall98 6/3/2008 10:33:40 AM
I wonder what solos the engineer will have to speed up this time because the "guy who is better than 90% of other guitarists" cannot nail his solos in a reasonable amount of time.
This band is a joke.
COMMENT | posted by : Burnett 6/3/2008 11:07:13 AM
ULTRA BEATDOWN LOL
COMMENT | Ahhh The Power Of Protools! posted by : musicdragon 6/3/2008 11:40:34 AM
YES!
Do you think it will be another fine example of what Pro-Tools can do and the use of a Tempo Meter of the overall mix? :P
I'm gonna say Yepper!
Git R Done!!
Slainte, Don www.musicdragon.com www.myspace.com/dragonmusic
COMMENT | posted by : Mathias J Wong 6/3/2008 11:41:01 AM
Ultra Beatdown A metal meltdown Burning down the masses kicking their soft pale scrumptious asses
Herman is a genius And Totman ain't no slouch Carrying the torch of Atari 2600 metal They gots da shreddin' touch
A touch so potent it maketh the young lpale ads quiver Turning their kness to jelly, so jiggly they doth quiver
Come here young lad, so I can cross thy palm with silver I will pay yhee well if you get on thy knees & deliver Uncle Herman will surely sooth the Scars Of Yesterday And dress you up in a tube skirt for a salary & good pay
Uncle Sam will show yhee that The Fire Still Burns By fire, I mean a strong case of shyplis that churns & churns Don't worry about that lad, as I have ointments from Dr Feelgood Let uncle Herman apply it, I gurantee your luv gun, it will sooth
Sammy wants you to discover The Warrior Inside Dress yhee up like a rainbow & show your Dragon Force Pride We'll go marching in a parade & be Heroes Of Our Time And sit on a roadside cafe, sipping mint juice & eat wedges o lime
I feel that it's coming, a Heartbreak Armageddon A feeling you'll leave uncle Herman, when I'm on stage shredding Who will fix my supper, a hearty bowl of sumyunguy soup And fill me in on my soaps & keep me in da loop
The Last Journey Home wil be one filled with strife Like a taste cherry pie about to be cut with a Sam's meaty knife At taste treat bonanza, a lickity split for the masses Who may be do anything for back stage passes
To see Sam & Herman shred would be their dream come true They will even service their roadies in the backstage loo For they need to get close to their idols for Reasons To Live They have so much luv & hot oil massage in them to give
COMMENT | What do I think? posted by : TxKx 6/3/2008 1:03:45 PM
"It's not going to be majorly different."
You're telling me. It'll be the same stuff they've had for their other three albums. Yes, they are proficient, but playing the same type of music without much variety for nine years is simple (like Korn or Limp Bizkit), and anyone who does systematic monotony for a long period of time would be good at it.
lame protools metal. the problem is the people who listen to this band who actualy take it seriously
COMMENT | sloppy live band posted by : blackfarted 6/3/2008 1:10:38 PM
and Sam is a lush.
COMMENT | posted by : dafunkeymonkey 6/3/2008 1:15:56 PM
"Scars"? "Heartbreak"?
RR sure knows how to emo-fy a band.
COMMENT | a lot of talk posted by : JukeBoxHero 6/3/2008 1:25:05 PM
people like to say a lot of stuff about this band. but none of it matters. there are those of us, like me, who love this band, whether or not people think they suck live or speed up their recordings. no one cares what they have to say. the band is great. they do play really sloppy live, but they still put on one hell of a show. they're great musicians, and i can't wait for the new album. don't care if it's better than inhuman rampage, i just hope it's not a letdown becuase IR was awesome!
face it people. there are more ridiculous bands out there. and they're not nearly as fast and proficient as dragonforce. anyway...
and wow. what an album title. that's just ridiculous. i'm gonna be embarassed buying it in the store, but i'll be loving it once i start listening to it really loud.
hopefully zp didn't mean he's gonna throw in a lot of wierd growls when he said, "extra coloring with the vocals."
COMMENT | I get the feeling posted by : AsLongAsTheRavenFlies 6/3/2008 1:39:29 PM
that people bag on this band because they got rapid success with Guitar Hero. I guess they didn't pay their "metal dues."
For the record: Yes, I like Dragonforce (since the Valley of the Damned days.) No, I don't think they are the be-all, end-all. No, I don't take them seriously for a second.
If you want a REAL good power metal band, check out Hibria. Absolutely brilliant!
Decent band, but zero replay factor. Even live it wasn't all that great. Mago De Oz blew these guys away live for me, and as far as Herman Li, let's see him pull off some Angra.
Any guitarist can sit and fingertap out everything, and learn some very basic major scales at fast speeds, but let's see Li take on some good old fashioned jazz scales, esp. semi-augmented scales.
Uh oh, I probably lost the Guitar Hero crowd talking about actual guitar playing. Sorry, kids, come back to me when you have to tune a guitar.
"ULTRA BEATDOWN"?!? I can see Jamey Jasta and other similarly daft hardcore (sorry, hXc) kids or pit ninjas buying this for the title... then being surprised by what comes out of their speakers.
COMMENT | .. posted by : Pod 6/3/2008 3:12:14 PM
Good band, nothing world changing or special musically speaking but Li can write a memorable solo
My opinion: Dragonforce are just a slightly different version of power metal/speed bands that have been around for YEARS, albeit one that has been watered down (and sped up a LITTLE BIT) for the masses. Case in Point: Gamma Ray's Somewhere Out In Space. Basically the faster songs serve as the Template for Dragonforce's ENTIRE CAREER, (especially the title track). Someone mentioned Rhapsody before. Well Dragonforce definitely has that "Limb Records" power metal sound somewhat as well, especially in the vocals/keyboards area. Just merge the two sounds (slight italian Labryinth/Rhapsody keyboard and vocal sounds) with mid period Gamma Ray or Rage/Blind Guardian and you have Dragonforce. Period. Case closed. I like the band but they write the same album over and over again.
COMMENT | AsLongAsTheRavenFlies posted by : The Crusher 6/3/2008 4:45:37 PM
Hibria is fucking amazing! Fuck yeah!!! They stomp the shit out of this band. They can be just as fast as Dragonforce and unlike Dragonforce they don't play sloppy as fuck live. All the DF fans should check out there album and there live videos on youtube.
And as far as the fool saying Herman Lee is better than 90% of all known guitarists in metal, you're not too bright. He uses studio trickery and effects to sound way faster then he really is and he plays like shit live. I know because I have seen them. Jeff Loomis destroys Herman Lee.
Anyways... What can I say, I know this band(DF) is a joke but I still enjoy them. Guilty pleasure I guess.
COMMENT | Re: Hibria is fucking amazing! Fuck yeah!!! posted by : Firewind 6/3/2008 4:51:11 PM
I'll have to check them out. I also liked the first Cellador, though that was a bit more like Edguy meets Dragonforce (pre boring midpaced Edguy period though), that is, a bit more German. I thought the Cellador album was mixed way too loud though..
I've heard Power Quest is good too, has some former Dragonforce guys.
At least decent metal is big again, even though im sick of the "Iron Maiden" comparisons. Iron Maiden? Uh, I guess people haven't heard of Helloween?
COMMENT | Also posted by : The Crusher 6/3/2008 5:04:27 PM
Everyone should check out Pharaoh on Cruz Del Sur Records for some quality power/traditional metal with lots of passion and amazing songwriting. There newest album "Be Gone" is streaming on myspace.com/cruzdelsurmusic and it is my album of the year so far. Also check out the review of it here on blabbermouth. It got a 9.5 baby!!!
COMMENT | OK I checked out Pharaoh posted by : AsLongAsTheRavenFlies 6/3/2008 5:24:32 PM
Wow! This band is fuckin awesome! Thanks for the tip man, I am loving what I am hearing!
COMMENT | No problem dude^ posted by : The Crusher 6/3/2008 5:57:47 PM
I love to help spread the music of a band that deserves to be heard. Glad you are enjoying them. Maybe you can help them out and go to theomegaorder.com and get all 3 of their awesome albums? ; )
COMMENT | ^^^^ posted by : AsLongAsTheRavenFlies 6/3/2008 6:24:13 PM
Hell yeah man, that's my top priority come payday. From what I've heard it's worth every penny!
I dig the band. Also, their drummer was one of my fave writers at metal maniacs back in the day. he turned me on to the German Melodic Speed bands
COMMENT | awesome posted by : Evil_Realized 6/3/2008 9:03:59 PM
I love Dragonforce, great power metal.
That's cool someone mentioned Pharoah, their new album is their best. Cruz Del Sur is a great label. Slough Feg, Bible of the Devil and they've got fucking Battleroar now.
BUT the best power metal is FALCONER! Even if they want to be called power metal exactly...
COMMENT | Oh good, another DF song about FIRE... posted by : Your Ornery God 6/3/2008 11:57:14 PM
I like Dragonforce but take them with a grain of salt.
They really just play 4 chord pop songs (slow any DF song down a bit and play the song on an acoustic guitar strumming and its a typical pop chord progression. Not that that's bad, but you would think for a "speed metal" band that they would come up with some cool and heavy riffs or something, instead of chugging away on a I-IV-V-VI chord progression.
They also need to change - they already have 3 of the same album out, now apparently just because its caught on with people, they are playing it safe and doing a 4th. Here's a tip boys: Ease up on the Pro Tools and the digitally harmonized guitar solos for once. OH and STOP trying to emulate a fucking video game already. It was cool for 5 minutes, but the gimmick is old hat now - this is YOUR FOURTH ALBUM... show some growth. Fuck...
COMMENT | The Crusher posted by : kling_klang_bed 6/4/2008 4:39:36 AM
HIBBBBBBBBBRIAAAA!!!! Fuck, yeah, amigo, kudos for knowing about that band. "Defying The Rules" is a masterpiece, kinda like a textbook example of old and new school power metal blended together.
So much great power metal out there, alot better than Dragonforce. But hopefully DF will be like something of a gateway drug to some better power metal out there, like Excalion or Galneryus.
Check out Galneryus sometime, esp. "Cry For The Dark", "Sign Of Revolution", "Everlasting" and "Aim For The Top".
It will blow you away.
COMMENT | ... posted by : OfSinsAndShred 6/4/2008 4:41:58 AM
This would be cool if the band weren't a fake band full of studio magic.
OK, here's some good new and little known power metal bands to check out, and trust me 80% of the music I listen to is power metal (with a tip of the hat going to Firewind, whose CDs I love):
Excalion, Dendria, Vhaldemar, Mago De Oz (of course had to put this in since they are one of my fave bands), Kiuas, Alogia, Fairyland, Winds, Morgana Lefay, Viper, Metalium, Shaaman, Theocracy, Luca Turilli's Dreamquest, Aquaria, Dark Moor, Steel (Mikael Akerfelt's power metal band before Opeth), Legend Maker, Rata Blanca, Control Denied (I know we all know about Chuck Schuldiner, but this was VERY underrated!!!), Conquest, Red Wine, Jag Panzer, Angel Dust, Gun Barrell, Domain, Beto Vázquez Infinity, Powersurge (fun, cheesy band), Pegazus, Dungeon, Avalanch, Santiago, Angeles Del Infierno, Powwerquest........... the list goes on and on!!!!
Best I can say, if you wanna get the skinny on Power Metal, check out this link, Soulseek some stuff and check it out, and buy it if you like it.
valley of the damned is the best album and song. I thought dragonforce were supposed to be re-makeing that album and give roadrunner some more money that way.
however, a new album is much better than a remake of an album which dont need to be remade
COMMENT | posted by : killemallcliff 6/26/2008 4:40:53 PM
i like dragonforce, been a fan for a few years, seen them live 5 times. They are a band that has fun! so who cares if you dont like em, obviously some people DO like them. Go pretend to be hardcore and listen to Hatebreed, my 12 year old SISTER and her friends think they are hardcore too. Dragonforce may be a joke, but hey there aint nothing wrong with humor!
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