Gonna keep the album thoughts going 
Over the past few weeks I've been able to give this many spins and I'd sum it up as a great improvement in DragonForce's direction. Losing ZP was the kick up the arse they needed I think. They've written songs which accommodate Marc's better vocal range and think they've done a good job showing off what he can do (I mean look at the very beginning of the album). Even more importantly I think they've taken on-board criticism about the sameness of their song and have injected a lot more melody into the songs. Sure there's still a lot of fretboard wanking and effect-laden guitar wails but I think they cut back on the length of them. Herman Li said "this is by far the most diverse DragonForce album yet" and I'd probably agree with him for the most part. You've got great melodic and catchy stuff like Cry Thunder which hearkens back to Valley of the Damned but keeping the raw energetic speed of Sonic Firestorm mixed in with the electronica-y sounding keyboards of Inhuman Rampage and Ultra Beatdown.
Still think there are places where things sound same-y, some bits of the melody sound like they could've been done better and I doubt some of the vocals could be replicated on-stage...but seeing as I used to be a big BIG fan (to my eternal chagrin) and then went off them big time this album has done enough to rekindle a small bit of affection and I do find myself replaying the album sometimes. Good work DF, not bad.
Over the past few weeks I've been able to give this many spins and I'd sum it up as a great improvement in DragonForce's direction. Losing ZP was the kick up the arse they needed I think. They've written songs which accommodate Marc's better vocal range and think they've done a good job showing off what he can do (I mean look at the very beginning of the album
). Even more importantly I think they've taken on-board criticism about the sameness of their song and have injected a lot more melody into the songs. Sure there's still a lot of fretboard wanking and effect-laden guitar wails but I think they cut back on the length of them. Herman Li said "this is by far the most diverse DragonForce album yet" and I'd probably agree with him for the most part. You've got great melodic and catchy stuff like Cry Thunder which hearkens back to Valley of the Damned but keeping the raw energetic speed of Sonic Firestorm mixed in with the electronica-y sounding keyboards of Inhuman Rampage and Ultra Beatdown. Still think there are places where things sound same-y, some bits of the melody sound like they could've been done better and I doubt some of the vocals could be replicated on-stage...but seeing as I used to be a big BIG fan (to my eternal chagrin) and then went off them big time this album has done enough to rekindle a small bit of affection and I do find myself replaying the album sometimes. Good work DF, not bad.
