DragonForce. Popular to critisice but anyonw else like them?

They are fast and fun and get a lot of stick but... I like them.
For me they are like listening to good jazz. Lots of technical stuff going on and you have to invest a little bit of time to listen properly.

Anyone appreciate DragonForce?

 

I like them since Guitar Hero 3. Technical players with a nice style

 

I spent many many years working in my day job with an ex member who was a supremely nice guy. Never heard Dragonforce, but he's an excellent fellow, so I'll not hear a bad word about them.

 

ZP?

 

If I was 18 again they would be my favourite band. Just picked up their
new `best of' set.

 

New album is well worth checking out!!!

 

Was it ever confirmed that they sped up their instrumentation? Or was that false? Because I liked their stuff, but that rumor turned me off big time.

 

I have a few of their albums but the only one I really return to is Ultra Beatdown. I always think of them as a cross between Meat Loaf and speed metal.

 

Great musicianship regardless of studio trickery or not but they hit me like an olive loaf left out in the sun for four days straight.

 

Having seen them live many times...they sure can play at that speed so why mess with tracking speeds?

 

Their debut album was reviewed thus! I think it sums them up for me.
"The debut album from U.K. power metal giants Dragonforce is a polarizing affair. Valley of the Damned could be construed as a bloated, Spinal Tap-style tribute to early-'80s fantasy-metal, and in many ways it is; however, it's so well played and so joyously executed that it could very well reignite the entire genre. For a band that collectively cites video game music as one of its major influences -- the nine blistering tracks do, on occasion, conjure up images of greasy-haired teens huddled around a Commodore 64 playing King's Quest -- the multicultural sextet is a master of its craft. From the epic title track to the fist-pumping closer, "Heart of a Dragon," the guitar pyrotechnics of Herman Li and Sam Totman light up the sky like a third world war, bending riffs into melodic submission while never overplaying. Vocalist ZP Theart has no qualms about emulating heroes like Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden) and Michael Kiske (Helloween), but his lupine howls have a character all their own. Dragonforce plays faster than most bands in the genre -- this may be the first speed metal pop group -- but the production is precision-tuned and never muddy, allowing the giant Slade and Andrew W.K.-style choruses the room they need to explode. Valley of the Damned may not be groundbreaking or cathartic, and lyrics like "In the land of desire with your heart filled with fire you live for the right to be free/We will sail on forever more to the land of the evening star" may cross the line into heavy metal parody, but it's undeniably entertaining, expertly played, and endlessly fun". ~ James Christopher Monger

 

That's not good, right?


I've heard a bit of DF, not my cup of tea. To each his own.

 

No, not good

 

You had me at olive loaf, nevermind left out in the sun. But like I said, to each his own.

 

They sound very Japanese.

 

I have one of their albums (Sonic Firestorm). I think they're good for what they are but I'm not a huge fan or anything.

That being said, they are touring this summer and I think I may check them out. I think they'd be fun live, especially in a small venue.

 

Like I said in the Heavy Metal All-Purpose Thread, I've been listening to Reaching Into Infinity non-stop since release day and can't get enough of it. I like how they experiment on this new album by incorporating some Thrash and Death Metal into their Extreme Power Metal. This is their best album in awhile. I will have to listen to The Power Within and Inhuman Rampage again to compare, as those are probably my 2 favorites prior to the new one. Definitely is better than their previous one, Maximum Overload and the one from 2008, Ultra Beatdown. And they have grown, for sure, since their debut and sophomore efforts.

 

I'd take Dragonforce over Steel Panther any day.

 

They're a good comparison, not in style at all of course, but because both are at the fairly cheesy end of the modern day rock/metal spectrum.

 

I bought their 2008 album but traded it in. Not for me but I don't like Power Metal.

 

I have the first four albums and have just bought the new album (album number 7 I believe).
So I guess I like them overall. I think sometimes they go way over the top though ! I wouldn't want to listen to them all the time but now and then yeah why not ??!!
Top musicianship with a hefty dose of cheesy power metal. Fast harmless fun.

 

That sums it up for me too!

I grew up in the "power metal" era, and couldn't get enough of the virtuoso guitar bands, so Dragonforce takes me right back to that era. I really like the line about "greasy-haired teens huddled around a commodore 64 playing King's Quest" - so, so true!

The thing is, they are legitimately highly talented musicians and performers. That they can simultaneously showcase their musicianship AND do so in a fun and easily "accessible" manner for the audience is no small accomplishment. Of course the "epic" album covers, lyrical imagery and themes, and solos worthy of Liszt or Paganini are over the top, but that's all part of the charm!

 

Love Dragonforce! Although the new album is a bit of a disappointment for me.

 

They are fun to watch in concert too. I've seen them twice, once during Inhuman Rampage tour and then about a year or two later. They haven't come anywhere near my city since then and don't appear to for the current/upcoming tours.