DRAGONFORCE

WARNING: BIASED BLOGGING AHEAD

I realized the other day I've been forgetting a terribly important album in my reviews, one that's been dear to me for years:

Yeah. DragonForce, beeyotches.

Inhuman Rampage was the album that got me into not just DragonForce, not just power metal, but metal itself. Before I heard Through the Fire and the Flames via a preview of Guitar Hero III that mentioned how impossibly difficult it was, I mostly listened to Christian contemporary music, songs from Guitar Hero (some of which were metal, but I didn't even know that), and the soundtracks of video games that I piped into my computer and recorded. When I heard that song my life was changed.

Compared with the stuff I was used to, DragonForce was larger than life. Blindingly fast bass drumming and virtuosic guitar solos lasting upwards of three minutes (say what you will, but I believe they can play their own instruments when sober), epic multisectioned songs in excess of seven minutes, made-of-awesome lyrics like "So far away, we wait for the day/For the lives all so wasted and gone /We feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days /Through the fire and the flames we carry on!"...where had I been to be missing out on such music?

DragonForce is the musical embodiment of the rule of cool. Maybe a 30-second guitar solo would fit into the flow of the song better and make it a more reasonable length, but DragonForce, luckily, is not a reasonable band. Their lyrics are so epic that they don't even make any sense! As I mentioned in a previous post, DragonForce is sometimes described as "video game" metal for their use of 8-bit-esque electronic effects. So if you like '80s music or video games, this is the band for you!

That said, there isn't too much point doing a track-by-track analysis. I have long admitted that DragonForce's songs mostly sound similar. Similarly awesome. Since the shortest song on the album is over 5 minutes, there's a lot to love here. Through the Fire and the Flames is of course, the most memorable track for me due to its general greatness and inclusion in Guitar Hero III and Brütal Legend. If you only listen to one DragonForce song, let it be that one. The album's only weak point is its obligatory ballad (which really does sound forced compared to the insanity of the rest of the songs), Trail of Broken Hearts.

I usually tend to remember my introduction to something favorably; it gets a special place in my heart that later instances can't claim. Maybe that's why DragonForce remains my favorite metal band, or maybe it's because other power metal bands are slow, short-winded, and boring compared to them. If you're one of those types who listens to music to be cool, stay away from this album and go back to your Animal Collective or whatever. But if you listen to music to enjoy music, you'll be hard-pressed to find a more enjoyable listening experience than Inhuman Rampage.

Warning: May cause uncontrollable head-banging. Reviewer assumes no responsibility for DragonForce-related injuries.