Dragonforce Valley Of The Damned (Noise 2003)
With the power metal market literally saturated over the past couple of years, with a good percentage of them not very original and/or not very good, there has been a void of bands like Dragonforce. Fast, catchy, powerful melodic and most importantly they have great songs.
Formerly know as Dragonheart, Dragonforce have been no.1 on the mp3.com power metal chart for over 2 years, getting an astonishing 436,095 plays. No small feats for an unknown band, making some of the bigger bands wish they could get the same attention.
So it was about time that they had something more substantial for their fans to hear, and finally after many delays, the debut album is here.
Recorded in Thin Ice studios, with the help of Threshold guitarist/producer Karl Groom, the sound and production on Valley Of The Damned, is nothing short of amazing, putting many bigger bands to shame.
Those 5 songs found on the demo of the same name, are all on the album, all totally have been re-recorded and given a new lease of life. Those familiar tunes sound the better for it, as you might expect of a band on the Noise label.
After a very short intro, the title cut, Valley Of the Damned jumps out of you speakers at break neck speed, its typical Dragonforce, super fast, but yet still melodic, plenty of guitar solos, a catchy chorus and a super catchy guitar riff. A newer song, Blackfire follows at the same pace, duel guitars reminiscent of Iron Maiden.
Its not until we get to the 5th song, Starfire that the pace slows down enough to give your sore neck a rest. A classy ballad in its own right, providing evidence that Dragonforce are not just all fast songs. Disciples of Babylon, another song from the demo, has a reworked middle section that is a wee bit jazzy, piano, followed by some acoustic guitars, before returning to warp speed 9.
Throughout the album there are lots of guitar solos from Sam and Herman, too much perhaps? Well not for me, no one else is doing anything like this; a bit of originality is probably whats needed in power metal right now.
Probably the best power metal album to come a long in quite a while.
Released on January 20th 2003
9/10
With the power metal market literally saturated over the past couple of years, with a good percentage of them not very original and/or not very good, there has been a void of bands like Dragonforce. Fast, catchy, powerful melodic and most importantly they have great songs.
Formerly know as Dragonheart, Dragonforce have been no.1 on the mp3.com power metal chart for over 2 years, getting an astonishing 436,095 plays. No small feats for an unknown band, making some of the bigger bands wish they could get the same attention.
So it was about time that they had something more substantial for their fans to hear, and finally after many delays, the debut album is here.
Recorded in Thin Ice studios, with the help of Threshold guitarist/producer Karl Groom, the sound and production on Valley Of The Damned, is nothing short of amazing, putting many bigger bands to shame.
Those 5 songs found on the demo of the same name, are all on the album, all totally have been re-recorded and given a new lease of life. Those familiar tunes sound the better for it, as you might expect of a band on the Noise label.
After a very short intro, the title cut, Valley Of the Damned jumps out of you speakers at break neck speed, its typical Dragonforce, super fast, but yet still melodic, plenty of guitar solos, a catchy chorus and a super catchy guitar riff. A newer song, Blackfire follows at the same pace, duel guitars reminiscent of Iron Maiden.
Its not until we get to the 5th song, Starfire that the pace slows down enough to give your sore neck a rest. A classy ballad in its own right, providing evidence that Dragonforce are not just all fast songs. Disciples of Babylon, another song from the demo, has a reworked middle section that is a wee bit jazzy, piano, followed by some acoustic guitars, before returning to warp speed 9.
Throughout the album there are lots of guitar solos from Sam and Herman, too much perhaps? Well not for me, no one else is doing anything like this; a bit of originality is probably whats needed in power metal right now.
Probably the best power metal album to come a long in quite a while.
Released on January 20th 2003
9/10
