Power metal—that cheese-encrusted province
of swords, sorcerers, and curiously falsetto male singers—has never been
metal's subtlest offshoot, but since DragonForce's 1999 arrival, most other
power-metal bands have seemed timid in comparison. With its fourth album, the
transparently titled Ultra Beatdown, the English sextet again makes the most of its
most-ness: One lighters-aloft ballad ("A Flame For Freedom") aside, the album
just intensifies the dual-guitar fireworks, castrato caterwauling, and
hyper-speed 16-bit-videogame bleeping that—thanks to the combined
promotional impact of YouTube and Guitar Hero—catapulted DragonForce's
2006 single "Through The Fire And Flames" to worldwide recognition. True, the
lyrics (nearly all of which offer some variation on a battle/victory cliché)
are borderline brain-dead, the musicianship is all slippery soullessness, and
the production is so oppressive that the instruments might as well be
synthesized. But in a subgenre where understatement matters less than showing
one's might, these could just as well be merits.
Join the discussion...