Dragonforce - Ultra Beatdown
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CD Details
Artist: DragonforceEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
CD Release Date: 2008-08-26
Music Label: Roadrunner Records
Soundtracks:
- Heroes of Our Time
- The Fire Still Burns
- Reasons to Live
- Heartbreak Armageddon
- The Last Journey Home
- A Flame for Freedom
- Inside the Winter Storm
- The Warrior's Side
Music reviews of Ultra Beatdown
Music Review: Dragonforce's 'Ultra Beatdown' review here; Dream Theatre fans please look away...
Rating: 3 Stars
There appears to be a gremlin in the Amazon.com database. This review is for Dragonforce's 'Ultra Beatdown', and has nothing to do with the band Dream Theatre's endeavours past, present or future. I have submitted this review on the Amazon.com's page for 'Ultra Beatdown', but somehow all the reviews appear to be for Dream Theatre, and evidently their fans are quite unforgiving when it comes to this sort of thing.
So if you are expecting something about those fantastically wonderful and jolly chaps at The Theatre Of Dreaming, here is your capsule review:
This CD is lovely and will make a wonderful gift for all your nearest and dearest, with the possible exception of your gran who thought they were much better when they were called 'Majesty'.
Please do not flame this review when I have no control over where Amazon decides to post it! Please sort this problem out, Mr Amazon.
...
...
...
Still with me? So... Another Dragonforce album. Another dose of The Iron Maiden and Judas Priest Songbook played ridiculously fast with surprisingly catchy melodies and twiddly video game noises.
Let's start with the cover - it is worth mentioning for its sheer awfulness. It features a pixelated robo babe with bits of machinery protruding from various limbs and orifices. She has breasts big enough to give her backache, evidently drawn by someone with only a passing acquaintance with female anatomy and the limitations of modern lingerie. You can tell that the band were aiming for H R Giger but ended up with a variation of that bizarre robot porn that was popular for about five minutes in the 80s. Now, I wasn't expecting the elegance and smooth lines of a Peter Saville record cover but *really*... On the back the band are just looking, well, goofy and rather hairy. My wife's reaction was probably typical of many a long suffering partner of DF acolytes everywhere - 'What on EARTH have you bought? That's really, really horrible.' And that's before I even took the cellophane wrapping off the CD.
The song titles; the words heroes, fires, flames, winter, storms and freedom all feature prominently. Compare these to those found on their previous three albums. Now look at the lyrics. Oh dear. Plus c'est la meme chose, plus ça change... I'm convinced that they aren't even trying anymore; they have a little computer program at DF HQ that generates them. Perhaps they should call the next album 'More Songs About Warriors, High Temperatures and Inclement Weather' and be done with it.
But what does it actually SOUND like? Well, what do you think?
There's a singer emoting like a heavy metal version of Smilin' Stan the Salesman from the Monkey Island PC games. There's two guitarists and a keyboardist trying their absolute level best to prove that Emperor Joseph II was completely wrong - you can never have too many notes - and that Mozart chap just wasn't trying hard enough. And finally there's that poor over-worked drummer and the incredible inaudible bassist. So no change there, then.
When listening to the album you get the gut feeling that you've heard most, if not all, of these songs before. I found myself recognising guitar sequences from their second album 'Sonic Firestorm' on 'Heroes Of Our Time' and 'The Fire Still Burns'. 'Inside The Winter Storm' echoes that fantastic bit on 'Soldiers of the Wasteland' when the guitars sound like they are being played on horseback. And just like on previous albums there's little let up. It just goes on and on and on. And then a bit more. Tweedle dee ad infinitum.
Fortunately the plusses do outweigh the minuses. The melodies are strong enough to carry the accompanying musical mayhem, if only they could hold off on that incessant soloing for a few seconds. The enthusiasm of the playing seen in previous albums is still very much in evidence. And the songs do eventually stick in your head just like before. There are also moments of (inadvertent?) hilarity on the album. For example, half way through 'Reasons To Live', the tempo slows after three minutes of frantic blast beating - to a slow tango. You can imagine the drummer looking a bit like Animal from the Muppets at this point, trying so hard not to play but somehow not quite managing it... Then there's the country rock interlude, complete with slide guitar, in Heartbreak Armageddon. And the lighters-aloft moment that is 'A Flame For Freedom' that the Scorpions should start investigating with the help of Messers Sue, Grabbit and Runne. I know I've heard this tune before, but I can't quite place where...
The album does improve, mature almost, upon repeated listening. Before you know it, everything does click into place and whatever sense of déjà vu you might have felt before gradually disappears. And I still stand by my statement in my 'Inhuman Rampage' review that everyone needs a Dragonforce album in their life. Sadly 'Ultra Beatdown' is not it. The law of diminishing returns has already kicked in.
Description of Ultra Beatdown
On the way to selling over 300,000 albums and spawning a gold digitalsingle, DragonForce went from being one of metal s fastest bands to
a cultural phenomenon thanks to constant touring and a little game
called Guitar Hero. The song Through The Fire And Flames was
included in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and helped spread the
name and music of the band. Now, the band is back to deliver an
Ultra Beatdown to the unsuspecting public. This album takes off where
Inhuman Rampage left off, with soaring, epic vocals and lightning fast
guitar solos. Led by the single and incredible video, Heroes Of Our
Time, the album will continue to spread the name DragonForce from
message boards to schoolyards and beyond.
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