DragonForce is the perfect poster band for the Guitar Hero franchise.
The group has been playing video game-ready heavy metal since its debut album, Valley of the Damned, in 2003. That reputation reached a wide audience when "Through the Fire and Flames" was included as a playable song in Guitar Hero III. The track was easily the most difficult in the game, and its inclusion sparked an exponential increase in the band's music sales.
Ultra Beatdown is the British band's first new release since its Guitar Hero appearance, and it finds DragonForce embracing the qualities that made it popular with fans of the series. All of the Atari-inspired synth blips, fantasy-themed clichés and medieval machismo are back in full force (see the album's title), but so is the immense musical skill and creativity.
"Speed metal," the genre label often applied to DragonForce, hardly does the band's high-octane style justice. The guitar and drum parts are so frantic the group has often endured accusations of artificially increasing its speeds in the studio. There may be truth to the rumors, but it hardly seems important in an era when almost every musical release is digitally enhanced.
The fact remains few bands can pull off such fretboard-scorching antics as successfully as DragonForce, and fans are sure to be pleased. The dual-guitar harmonies of Herman Li and Sam Totman take center stage, at times almost drowning out ZP Theart's vocal heroics. Synthesizers are more prominent on this album than previous DragonForce records, lending it a slightly different texture, but the philosophy remains largely unchanged.
The songs on the album are uniformly epic in length. Despite having only eight tracks, Ultra Beatdown clocks in at just shy of an hour. As a result, the constant aural assault can get exhausting. Luckily, several of the tracks include calmer interludes that offer respite from the madness. "Reasons to Live" breaks for a short pseudo-classical passage and "Heartbreak Armageddon" slows down to pay homage to DragonForce's influences, borrowing from Metallica's "The Unforgiven."
The sole "slow" tune on the record, "A Flame for Freedom," is drenched in power ballad cheese. Its soaring vocals about uplifting banalities like "United, victorious, the hearts of our nation tonight" and twinkling, arpeggiated acoustic guitar are almost a requirement for any self-respecting metal album, giving the band members a chance to prove to someone that they are still sensitive dudes despite their tough exteriors. Still, the song works as intended and gives Theart a chance to rise above the guitars, if only for a few minutes.
DragonForce is a band that doesn't take itself too seriously, and listeners should follow suit to best enjoy this album. Ultra Beatdown is an hour of fun melodic metal. It doesn't break new ground, but it hits its mark. Don't be surprised to find another DragonForce song in Guitar Hero IV.
Grade: B
