Inhuman Rampage [Parental Advisory]

I was never a metaller when I was growing up in the 1980s. All my friends were into Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Manowar and so on, but yet I couldn't see what all the fuss was about. Said friends went far beyond the call of duty to get me to understand why True Metal was a concept worth fighting for. And they failed miserably. I guess I just wasn't ready or receptive enough to the idea. No matter. Even if it has taken me over twenty years to fully appreciate the Majesty Of Rock and the Mystery Of Roll, I get it now thanks to Dragonforce.

To the uninitiated, the Dragonforce experience will seem daunting. Take a nice, well scrubbed classic rock song with a proper tune and a chorus even the most tone deaf of milkmen could whistle. The kind of tune that would charm the panties off your Fleetwood Mac loving mother and make your dad-rock father suspicious that someone has been performing immoral acts with his Dire Straits CDs. Make sure that the lyrics are meaningless AD&D themed twaddle that Thrudd The Barbarian (yet alone Conan) would dismiss as hackneyed. Get the bastard son of Ronnie James Dio to sing them, ensuring that every lyrical clanger is crystal clear to even the most casual of listeners. Add two guitarists and a keyboardist incapable of playing a simple riff without tweedle-deeing all over it at break-neck speed and alarming precision. Then get a drummer who would certainly fail an Olympic drug test to drum as fast as (in)humanly possible over the resulting confusion. And there might be a bassist there too. Perhaps. Play said song for six or seven minutes at 78rpm with a truck driver gear change for the last chorus, repeat to fade.

None of this should work. These ingredients should result in an unlistenable mess, but somehow they don't. Admittedly the first time you hear Inhuman Rampage you may beg to differ, but give it time. By the third or fourth listen, the solos will start to show their nuances and the drumming, while frenetic, starts to appear, well, oddly sensible. Of course Mr Drummer needs to blast beat for six minutes continuously! How else could he play? By the sixth or seventh listen, it's much, much too late. You see, Dragonforce have three not so secret musical weapons in their armoury.

One, they fully understand the evil concept of earworms. If you make a tune catchy enough the poor unfortunate listener will wander around all day with your tune playing on an infernal internal loop. Given what Dragonforce sound like, that's no mean achievement.

Two, everything sounds bland, boring and slow after Dragonforce. I listen to music on my MP3 player on shuffle and believe me, Dragonforce in the middle of my usual mix of indie, alternative and electronica is the aural equivalent of a pneumatic drill in the nads.

Three - Dragonforce evidently love what they do and their enthusiasm draws in and captivates the listener. Every twiddle, every bomp and every keyboardy flourish has been lovingly crafted, cogitated over, considered and executed with evident care for detail. Their music may be fast to the point of parody, the lyrics stupidly banal tripe and I doubt very much they were wearing trousers when performing these solos, but goddam it, these guys are good. You need one Dragonforce album in your life, so you might as well choose this one. That or Sonic Firestorm.

Finally, a word of warning. Dragonforce are something to be sampled in small doses - a bit like fine Belgian dark chocolate. Listen to 'Operation Pound And Ground' or 'Cry For Eternity' in isolation and afterwards you'll feel ready to knock seven shades of poo out of any marauding orcs that may be lurking outside your suburban semi. Listen to the whole album in one sitting and you'll find yourself cowering like a sissy girl while six hairy men laugh at your inability to handle True Metal.

And don't drive listening to this stuff. Just don't.

Ok before I heard this album I had listened to a bit of Dragonforce before, very talented stuff but nohting special in my opinion. This album has changed my view completely - well not totally, I still think they're talented, but WOW this is something special!

THROUGH THE FIRE AND FLAMES: This is the first single and it kicks off straight into blinding guitarwork. You'd think you would find only a couple of parts like this throughout the CD, but no, it's almost constant! Vocals are a lil cheesy, but it's power metal and I LOVE IT! Can just see this live with a mass crowd crooning along...magical! The drumming also creates a very kl galloping beat, which along with the guitars gives an upbeat feel to the song, something which I admire power metal for compared to the mostly depressing rest of the genre. You want videogame sounds in the middle of solos? You got it! 10/10

REVOLUTION DEATHSQUAD: The superquick tempo from the previous song is sustained on this song, with credit for this going to the consistent pace of the drumming. More videogame sounds too! Lyrics are incredibly epic - that is Lord of the Rings stylee and in the vein of other bands such as 3 Inches of Blood - something which is actually a great change from the norm. I just can't get over HOW good these solos really are, they are delivered at a breakneck speed and they actually work! Singing that high must hurt certain areas........ 8/10

STORMING THE BURNING FIELDS: Lighting the match at the beginning of the song is incredibly fitting, because this tune hits you in the face like a bomb exploding! Pure noise and speed! Drumming is intense, really well done. My favourite chorus so far, but tbh they are all brilliant and will be so much fun to sing along to at gigs! Strange sounds fill this song, many odd things must have been done to these guitars to produce such aural strangeness. AND, if you think it couldn't get any cheesier, there is a "oh-oh-oh" singalong with clapping beat to boot! Perfect. 8/10

OPERATION GROUND AND POUND: Opening guitar riff sounds kind of oriental, which is really cool! Keyboards definitely make this more prominent, a nice new direction not taken by the band in anything I've heard by them before. Drumming is fantastic as usual. It all gets serious for a while half way through, where crunching guitars start pounding the ears (like the title suggests!), but these soon give way to the typical Dragonforce sound. Nice keychange towards the end too, a very well structured song overall. 9/10

BODY BREAKDOWN: Drumming here is much slower at first, leading to a kind of floating feeling, which disappears suddenly into an onslaught of double-bass kicks. Verse includes this keyboard sound which makes it sound like a dream (almost like Rainbow Road from Mario Kart on N64!). Pretty similar formula to their other tracks, but there is something different here too, an odd bridge part which comes out of nowhere! Insane tapping solo per usual is included. Bass joins in a solo with some juicy slapping, really adds to the talented axemen's work! I just love the cheesiness! 9/10

CRY FOR ETERNITY: Intro is very epic, fast solo over military-style guitars is very nice. The intros on this album are lovely for each song, then they all kick into an insanely fast beat after a short period. The chorus reminds me a lot of Babylon by Edguy, who these guys sound VERY similar to and also are touring with next month. Bass solo AND staccato guitar solo in one song? It just gets better and better! This is personally my favourite guitar solo on the album as it incorporates an obscene amount of finger-tapping, never a bad thing imo! 10/10

FLAME OF YOUTH: The solo vocal parts on this are so much fun to hear, I can imagine them live getting an incredible ovation from the crowd. Most "emotional" chorus on the album imo, but is it really THAT emotional? No, this album isn't about emotions; it's about fun, epic feeling and tonnes of guitars. Solo here has a sort of Egyptian feel for a while, but then it just goes off into what I now called Dragonland, a place where the guitar rules all and the other instruments must try their best to follow it! Whatever occurs onstage or in the studio, it sounds amazing! 8/10

TRIAL OF BROKEN HEARTS: A ballad...and a cheesy one at that! Keyboards emphasising strings, harpsichord sound and double-kicks; this is pure chedder. The vocalist is really talented, a fact that normally is drowned by the guitars taking songs over, but this tune allows the listener to really see his skill. A calm way to end the otherwise hectic album. Still have to include a solo tho... 9/10

Overall this album has pretty much everything: breakneck drumming, bass solos, guitar solos of every shape and size, ballads, headbanging tunes, dancing tunes, moshing tunes and cheesy vocals. A brilliant power-metal offering that has won themself a big fan in me and I'm sure will win anyone who listens to the album fully.
9/10

This album should not work. the guitars are about as fast as could be played. And the titles Inhuman part must refer to the drummer who really shouldn't be able to play so quickly. couple that with vocals that whilst sung fast are understandable (no death grunts here) and you have an album that happens to be one of the greatest metal albums of all time. I've yet to see them live but if they can reproduce this on stage, it will be one hell of a gig.

One piece of advice to the drummer thouigh is that if he is a member of a gym then he is wasting his money because to play like this he has to be one of the fittest men in rock.

If you don't already own a copy of this, as yourself why not. Improve your ollection today and buy this album