Yeah, killer title, I know. It makes sense though if you think about it. When someone blogs they are putting their opinions out to the general public, so then it appears that they “are” to the public. Nothing really special about that I suppose, but regardless I am now going to add a review of an album I did a while ago for the Album by Dragonforce called “Inhuman Rampage!” Enjoy!

Band: Dragonforce
Genre: (Extreme) Power Metal
Label: Roadrunner Records (American), Sanctuary Records Group Ltd. (Europe)
Year: 2006

Overview: Dragonforce’s third album, with just as much speed, power and length as their previous two albums. The 5 permanent members of the band while recording this are: Herman Li and Sam Totman on Guitar, Vadim Pruzhanov on Keyboard and Piano, Dave Mackintosh on Drums and ZP Theart on Lead Vocals. This album combines their usual speed and length with even greater ferocity and guitar arranging.

Playing and Vocals: Simply superb, as any Dragonforce fan could tell you. The guitarists are certainly some of the best of today’s young guitarists. They can play fast, but still retain their melodicism. The keyboardist has very background parts, but when he does take a solo it is as extreme as the dueling guitarists. The drumming is not very special, but the man gets kudos from me for being able to play that fast and in time for so long. The bass is barely audible for most of the album, but when you do hear it (and feel it) the playing is very good, Adrian Lambert lays down some mean tracks for the boys. The vocals are also quite amazing in their own right, ZP Theart has a fantastic range, which he uses often to provide those catchy choruses. His vocal harmony ideas are also top notch, often employing triple part harmony at any given time through one of Dragonforce’s trademark epic songs. Also Lindsay Dawson comes in on this album to lay down some screaming tracks (evil backing vocals) which are used sparingly, just as they should be. All in all I say that these boys deserve the highest grade in this. I give them a 10/10.

Musicality: Their playing may be amazing, but overall their lengthy songs are quite simple. Their arranging (as in what instruments go where and certain background effects) is some of the best I have heard in modern metal, and yet their songs are basically just Ronnie James Dio on speed. Basic progressions are often used, and while they may lend a certain nostalgia to the whole album, on songs like “Revolution Deathsquad” it gets dull through the 4-minute long instrumental break. The form is also simple, they have a basic formula to all of their songs. “Intro-Verse-Chorus-Bridge-Verse-Chorus-Bridge-Solos-Bridge-Chorus-Outro”
That’s basically what they employ throughout the whole album, it varies a little bit (adding a bridge or lengthening a chorus) throughout, but it stays mostly to that form. I give them some points for creative use of the electric guitar to create some of the sound effects that sound like they would be in a video game. Those sounds are also used creatively and musically to add to the songs and not just thrown in there randomly for some extra noise. Also, the choruses are impossibly catchy, try looping “Storming the Burning Fields” and try to get that chorus out of your head. Though they have a lot of good, the form is far to simple. Sorry boys, I can’t give you a super high-grade on this: 6.5/10

Production: The mixing is quite awesome, the reverb on the vocals and such is perfect for what they are used for in the song. The effects that go on in the background are just where they should be and the bass (though I would have loved it to be louder during more of the song) is perfectly mixed for the low-end dominating guitars. It sounds good, which I believe is part of the reason why I enjoy them and many other people I have talked to do as well. I give the production a 9/10 for not having the bass high enough in parts I think it should have been.

Lyrics: I don’t know if this should be graded, but I will anyway. The lyrics are about far-off lands, slaying evil and such. Obviously not some people’s cup of tea. Though I think that most once they looked beyond the “superficial” part of the words would find deeper meaning. The best part of the lyrics though, is the lack of cursing. I think that it’s unnecessary to curse in a song too much, it can be used correctly but there are few examples of this. However, since they don’t change it up any (I heard “through the fire and flames” on three different song in the whole album) they aren’t perfect. So they get: 8.5/10

The Flow/Pacing: The album starts off well, the introduction of “Through the Fire and Flames” makes for a beautiful statement of what the band is all about: Speed and instrumental virtuosity. The next few songs carry that energy until “Body Breakdown.” This song incorporates more differences in feeling than most of the other ones as the verses are floaty and the choruses are intense and it has a bass solo (a Dragonforce first.) It goes through the next song “Cry for Eternity” the longest song of the album, and therefore the most epic. The end of the album is a breath of relief as it “The Trail of Broken Hearts” begins with Vadim playing a sweet melody on a flute-like sound. The song is low-key, though Sam and Herman both go crazy on their solos. All in all the pacing is quite beautiful, for it ends with a breath of fresh air (unless you have a copy with the bonus track.) I will not rate the pacing on a scale, but a badly paced album would have garnered a subtraction from the overall score.

Overall: I listened to this album for two days before even starting to get tired of it. It was nice background for thinking up stories or writing lyrics, even an academic essay was graced with the Dragonforce experience. If you don’t like fast metal this is not for you, but if you like something ridiculous once and awhile, just download some of their songs. However, if you enjoy something epic, and you think that the variety that they have on their free songs is non-existent, (it doesn’t increase much though) then pick up the album. This is a testament of metal in our time. Overall Score: 8.5/10