| I chuckled when I first recieved Dragonforce's new record "Ultra Beatdown" on my desk. On a neon
pink promo sticker for the album the sentence "The True Guitar Heroes Triumphantly Return" read out.
I was chuckling because of all the bands and people that have made money from the Guitar Hero
series, Dragonforce has to be at the top (behind those rich devils Activision). Ever since people
heard their simply unbelievable fretwork, the downloadable songs as well as Dragonforce albums have
been bought up like proverbial hot cakes. Well we are back again with their new album that is
certainly going to end up on some Guitar Hero game in the near future.
The reason I say that is because simply put, Dragonforce has some of THE best guitars ever
assembled on recordable media. I'm sure some developer was listening to DF one day and was like,
"hey I can make a timed button pressing game out of this where people think they are amazing at
actual guitar." Bam, now everyone is the rockstar. But I can't argue with the fact that Herman's and
Sam's (both guitarists) twin guitar harmonies are some of the most beautiful things to listen to as a
guitarist myself.
I read somewhere that their Dio-like vocalist ZP possesses the counter-tenor vocal range giving him
great power and volume at high registers, which seems to make him perfect for opera,
which is what DF is in a sense. Its never ending guitar work, keyboards that add every single effect
known to man, and ZP's vocals seem make this "power metal" band scream rock opera. (Please don't
think rocky horror picture show).
If you are looking to see a change from their 2005 album, there isn't much. DF seems to believe in
the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" school of philosophy because except for a few lighter rock
moments for the band, "Ultra Beatdown" still holds together the similar sound and short
track list/long track times configuration that we are used to from them.
I don't know what it is about a Dragonforce album, but everyone I turn on I feel more majestic in my
everyday doings with every track that plays. The songs are just so epic in nature and feature an
abundance of talent that can't be replicated just anywhere. "Ultra Beatdown" is another platinum
trophy on the mantle of DF and even though the cover features a barely clad pale chick dressed in
future technology, holding what looks like a gun, I still would strut around with a shirt of this cover art because it is that good.
~ Pernell
August 25 2008 |
