Dragonforce - Ultra Beatdown

[Cisco]

Anyone heard this new album yet? I just got it and I’m sitting here listening through it. I’m about 3/4ths done and I’m a little disappointed so far. This may sound redundant coming from a Dragonforce fan but it sounds a little . . . corny. Ok, cornier. It doesn’t seem to be as fast or hard as their previous albums, and somehow not as melodious, either. It’s more light and airy.

I’m withholding final judgement, though, because often the albums I don’t like on first listen, become albums I love after a few more spins. It’s just a little jarring because I loved their first 3 albums as soon as I heard them.

Just a note: Please don’t drive by just to say Dragonforce sucks or similar. If you can’t contain yourself, start your own thread. I really want to talk about them and especially their new album here.

[Cisco]

42 views, 0 replies. Was it 42 people who just wanted to say Dragonforce sucks?

[Grumman]

@Cisco

42 views, 0 replies. Was it 42 people who just wanted to say Dragonforce sucks?

I like Dragonforce, I just haven’t bought this album yet.

[MOIDALIZE]

Dragonfarce corny??! No way!

[ultrafilter]

Serious question: I have and like Valley of the Damned, but I’m not interested in picking up the other albums if they’re pretty much the same thing with slightly different song titles. How soundalike are the later albums?

[Cubsfan]

I can handle Dragonforce in small doses. My son loves them. The songs all blend together though after about 20 minutes.

With a title like “Ultra Beatdown” you are surprised that the album is corny?

[cainxinth]

Heard it, liked it. They are definitely a niche band, but this album is really fun.

[Cisco]

@ultrafilter

Serious question: I have and like Valley of the Damned, but I’m not interested in picking up the other albums if they’re pretty much the same thing with slightly different song titles. How soundalike are the later albums?

The production values got waaaaay better after Valley of the Damned. The one after that, Sonic Firestorm, is a lot faster and more melodious. The third one, Inhuman Rampage, is faster still and uses a lot more keyboards and sound effects. I still don’t know what to think about Ultra Beatdown but I listened to it a second time and it caught me a little more.

I don’t get the “all the songs sound the same” complaint with Dragonforce. If all you’re hearing is fast guitars then you don’t really like them beyond the fleeting novelty of hearing fast guitars - and that’s totally fine, but don’t blame it on them by saying all their songs sound alike, because they don’t. Since it’s become the standard complain with them, I think a lot of people just hear 2 or 3 of their songs and decide they sound enough alike to agree with the complaint so they repeat it.

[cainxinth]

@Cisco

I don’t get the “all the songs sound the same” complaint with Dragonforce.

You’ve got to be kidding. They’re an interesting band, but they have a pretty narrow and predictable formula and they don’t deviate from it too often.

[Cisco]

@cainxinth

You’ve got to be kidding. They’re an interesting band, but they have a pretty narrow and predictable formula and they don’t deviate from it too often.

Depends on how you look at it, really. If you’re going to go down that road you could say it about A LOT of bands. Once you get past the fact that they’re going to play fast, and they’re going to sing about the glory of battle and all that ('cause that’s just what kind of band they are), there’s a lot of variety in there. You can pick songs all day and say, “see, fast solo, chorus, solo, keyboard solo, verse, solo, end” or whatever, but when you get specific about it, you can’t find me two Dragonforce songs with the same melody. Any genre band could receive the same complaint, but you never hear it about The Ramones or Bob Marley or The Temptations. Like I said, people say all Dragonforce songs sound alike because they don’t really like listening to that kind of music, they just like a little bit of it for the novelty.

[cainxinth]

@Cisco

Depends on how you look at it, really. If you’re going to go down that road you could say it about A LOT of bands. Once you get past the fact that they’re going to play fast, and they’re going to sing about the glory of battle and all that ('cause that’s just what kind of band they are), there’s a lot of variety in there. You can pick songs all day and say, “see, fast solo, chorus, solo, keyboard solo, verse, solo, end” or whatever, but when you get specific about it, you can’t find me two Dragonforce songs with the same melody. Any genre band could receive the same complaint, but you never hear it about The Ramones or Bob Marley or The Temptations. Like I said, people say all Dragonforce songs sound alike because they don’t really like listening to that kind of music, they just like a little bit of it for the novelty.

You have a point, but hyperkinetic, fantasy themed power metal is a bit more narrow a genre than reggae, motown, or punk.

[Acid_Lamp]

@cainxinth

You have a point, but hyperkinetic, fantasy themed power metal is a bit more narrow a genre than reggae, motown, or punk.

Not really. It simply hasn’t acquired the respect of non metal loving music critics. There is any number of formulaic rhythms and melody formats present in all of those genres.