Album Review: Dragonforce - 'Ultra Beatdown'

How does one even begin to describe the phenomenon known as Dragonforce? For those who haven’t heard the name before, first you need to crawl out of the dingy cave you have been living in and understand that the lead shred Herman Li makes the guitar sound like it was crafted for his personal use. Dragonforce also features members from across the globe including England, Scotland and the Ukraine.  SHINFO, yes I know.

I suppose it is also noteworthy to mention that Herman Li took out four awards for the Guitar World magazine Readers Poll in 2007 for 'Best New Talent' (winning by 70%), 'Best Metal', 'Best Riff' and 'Best Shredders'. This gives a slight hint of what this bloke is capable of.  Oh, I would also recommend carrying extra underwear during this record, as it has been proven that some solos may result in a total loss of bowel control and motor movement.  

"Heroes Of Our" time opens up Ultra Beatdown with a maelstrom of solos straight of the bat (at the 10 second mark to be precise) and shows that these boys have definitely not toned down the now famous sound and are not shy about letting loose at any point in.  Plus, they sing about the important issues, and no I don’t mean true friends and family, I’m talking about sonic fires, raging storms and blackened nights.  Sweet.  

The pace is carried through on T"he Fire Still Burns" and could just be a hot contender for power metal anthem of 2008 with some awesome keyboard work backing up the solos and a very powerful chorus. "A Flame for Freedom" is the shortest track on the record spanning just over five minutes, which would be the longest track on most albums released now and provides some respite from the frantic guitar work and shows that Dragonforce are infact capable of producing sweet melodies super fast or mid pace.

Ultra Beatdown closes solidly with "The Warrior Inside", and what a finale it is.  It’s hard not to be caught up with what can only be described as the cheesiest piece of keyboard greatness to grace a compact disc since Sonata Arctica's "Silence" circa ‘01’.  The chorus is fantastic and will have you singing along in under two beers.