DragonForce - Ultra Beatdown [Review]

I think here, Dragonforce have changed a lot. They are still fast, but also a lot of slow parts in it. Listen to A Flame For Freedom. It's one of the slowest ever metal songs for me. Anyone says Dragonforce are repetitive, which I would have to agree with you on Inhuman Rampage, this is the album you must buy. The best are probably Heroes Of Our Time, Reasons To Live, The Last Journey Home and The Warrior Inside. Anyway, here are the tracks and my thoughts. Please tell me your thoughts.

1. Heroes Of Our Time - The only music video so far on ultra beatdown. as usual, the no.1 song solos for dragonforce are incredible. the solo kicks off after a quiet vocal and keyboard only part, and herman takes the first solo as usual. anyway, some great work from all members, and a definite mention to the bass guitar in this song. some great parts frederic has done here. it starts off with a deafening intro, and then some great work from the drums and guitar in the secondary intro. a great target-to-play for drummers considering there are no real speed difficulties here. it's dragonforce, as they are. and we all love that.

2. The Fire Still Burns - A different intro from this song, as the vocals kick off from the very beginning, and for a change, the lead guitar starts after the vocals. here you can see a change developing in dragonforce, and this change, is looking good. i must mention the peculiar yet brilliant sounds on the intro that the keyboardist Vadim is making. some great noises as usual, and to me they sound like 'squishing' noises. after the intro, another fantastic drum fill kicks off, followed up by the guitar parts. they then end and the vocals start, but with nothing else, which is a good effect.

3. Reasons To Live - An immediate mention to the strange yet amazing sound at the start from Herman and his EGEN guitar. Then a loud part kicks off, with some great effects from Vadim, and a keyboard part then does a quick two second solo. the vocals in this song are great. the chorus is extremely catchy: "Hold me, save me! A star shines in all of us we'll search for all our lives, one day we'll find a way and a reason to survive" then a part that i love where it goes quiet with cymbal chokes from dave and chord chokes from guitar and the vocals go: "Cry for the day to return, life no-one can understand!" anyway, one of the best on Ultra Beatdown. great work from all members again. I must mention the change in solo here, which sounds like something Led Zeppelin would do. Did you know this solo was actually supposed be a huge keyboard solo? Herman and Sam deleted it and replaced it with their solo. lol. It shows it on 'The Making Of Ultra Beatdown' on the Special Edition Version of this album.

4. HeartBreak Armageddon - The song kicks off with a phenomenally quick drum fill by dave mackintosh. dave has a lot to do in this song. a magnificent intro followed up by catchy guitar and keyboard work, to create a great song. not much to be said about this one, just again, quiet whilst the vocals are going, which is one of the best things about dragonforce songs.

5. The Last Journey Home - My favourite of the album. Some quick, Revolution-DeathSquad-and-Disciples-Of-Babylon-like guitar and bass at the start. The chorus is amazing. The best bit that really gets me singing is: "Once alone again, silent stares for our Last Journey Home". There is a good vocal work during that. Some 'Hot Hand' work from Herman in the solo. A great song in my opinion.

6. A Flame For Freedom - This is the equivalent to Trail Of Broken Hearts, which was on Inhuman Rampage. Slow, but good. Not the best song of the album, but this song represents the fact that dragonforce don't just play one thing and stick with it. A Flame For Freedom is slow, but yet a beautiful song. The chorus is extremely catchy. I love the part with guitar and drums just after that immediate first chorus. The verses are beautiful and quiet. It just makes me want to cry, it really makes me feel something inside. If they would perform this at a concert I'd take my Dad and make him lift me on his shoulders. I would get out a glow stick and sway. lol. This really is a beautiful song by Dragonforce.

7. Inside The Winter Storm - Anyway, enough of the slow parts, here's another quick song of Ultra Beatdown. Another great fill from Dave Mackintosh near the start. The parts after that sound a bit like that part on Through The Fire And Flames where Sam and Herman turn their hands upside down and play. Great verses in this song, and after the first verse, some really impressive stuff from Herman. I love where it goes: "One stand, one last demand to end it all!". The chorus as usual is very catchy. The sound from Herman before the first chorus = amazing. The quick chorus ends in a quiet, beautiful sample of what ZP Theart's voice can do. It is beautiful. It then hits another chorus, and the song carries on. That beautiful bit I have to mention has great keyboard work as well. Vadim is a fantastic keyboardist. The second time the chorus kicks in, a new bit is added, ending in "Until the end of time, Inside The Winter Storm!". Then the song hits one of the best solos of Ultra Beatdown.

8. The Warrior Inside - This song is the icing on the cake of Ultra Beatdown. The song starts with a cool noise, followed by great keyboard work, then some great drumming work. This song again really makes me feel something inside. Especially when it builds up when ZP sings: "Nothing left still searching for something, deep beneath the cries!" ending in a "Wait for the deafening silence". For some reason, I love when he sings "I'll still be waiting tomorrow". Just that line really makes me feel something inside. I don't know why, it just does. The chorus also makes me feel something: "Take my hand, this one last time, face the world before us, The Warrior Inside, in a lifetime of disaster it's a battle to the end, final stand my life must carry on, and forever this time!". The second chorus is followed up with some great keyboard work, and then an awesome drum fill and some good work. If you love this album so far, wait until you hear the song's solo. Amazing solo, with a beautiful ending, in a beautiful song.

If you like Dragonforce, this album is a must. It is amazing. Great work from all members, especially considering that this is the first time the current line-up of Dragonforce have recorded an album and played together. They understand the aim of the band, to be different from all other bands, and most importantly they all understand each other. If you think Dragonforce are repetitive, download some songs from this album or even buy this album and you are immediately proven wrong. This is absolutely amazing work, as usual. They have met the high expectations set from Inhuman Rampage, and I wish them the best of luck for the future.

A rating of 5/5 stars. It just had to be.

I downloaded it but let's keep it a secret.

I would also like to add that they really vary on the themes. For example the brutal begginning of Reasons to Live and the psychedelic keys solo in Heartbreak Armageddon.

yeah got the album

great album...

i have a new idea

i think we should have a new section where we do reviews of new albums

but we have to make it professional so ONLY one member can review an album and everyone else can comment on it

but we have to agree on who will review an album....all tracks must be reviewed....and then a rating out of 5 stars must be given

what do people think?

I agree. It's not like I WOULD do a review since I always give 5 to every thing I like and 1 to every thing I don't.

yeah i like the idea of that. and yes be professional about it so we dont have loads of people reviewing one album. and also only albums from bands that people like and are popular. i recommend rhapsody, dragonforce, power quest or stratovarious lol. have more of the bigger power metal bands.

nice review its definitely one of their best albums. its nice they have improved so much. i just hope all these DF haters on youtube will shut it when they'll hear Ultra Beatdown

NightwalkerRicku wrote:

nice review its definitely one of their best albums. its nice they have improved so much. i just hope all these DF haters on youtube will shut it when they'll hear Ultra Beatdown

No. They will never shut up. I tried showing them awesome Dragonforce live shows, and still they say they suck. I just leave them alone now, because I really can't be bothered. They're never going to change their mind. I've actually seen a couple that have, but not many more will. You can try to convince them, but good luck.

tcjacko that was truly a great review

well done

i enjoyed reading that

PowerMetalLivesOn wrote:

tcjacko that was truly a great review

well done

i enjoyed reading that

thanks alot man. took me a long time to do that lol. I just played each track through my PA and reviewed each one as it played.

TCJacko wrote:

PowerMetalLivesOn wrote:

tcjacko that was truly a great review

well done

i enjoyed reading that

thanks alot man. took me a long time to do that lol. I just played each track through my PA and reviewed each one as it played.

haha , you might regret doing such a good review, because we just might force you to do a 'classic' review on inhuman rampage

although i think i will do valley of the damned (even though it isnt new)

whenever you can be bothered to do one really no rush

Really good review. Now do Inhuman Rampage! ON THE DOUBLE! And call me Colonel Rokai. And get me the cavalry.

great review of the album. just a side note: maybe you should add strike of the ninja and scars of yesterday, both very good songs.
but i totally agree with you on the reviews. the chorus of the warrior inside is just awe inspiring and imo the last journey home is the most epic dragonforce song ever.

Awesome review yo
i too like the last journey home
great song
cool album
amazing band

PowerMetalLivesOn wrote:

TCJacko wrote:

PowerMetalLivesOn wrote:

tcjacko that was truly a great review

well done

i enjoyed reading that

thanks alot man. took me a long time to do that lol. I just played each track through my PA and reviewed each one as it played.

haha , you might regret doing such a good review, because we just might force you to do a 'classic' review on inhuman rampage

although i think i will do valley of the damned (even though it isnt new)

whenever you can be bothered to do one really no rush

Yeah I can do an Inhuman Rampage review as well. I have got the album, so I just do the same method. Play the whole album, and review each song as it goes. Inhuman Rampage will probably be a five stars, because it's definitely the second best if not best album they've ever done. I think I will go easy on Through The Fire And Flames - the newbies who don't know me as much as all you might think I like it because of Guitar Hero. My view on that is it is a great song, whether it was on Guitar Hero or not, it is still as good.

Do the bonus songs damnit. Ahh well, good review none-the-less.

Chaosdragon94 wrote:

Do the bonus songs damnit. Ahh well, good review none-the-less.

I dont have the special edition album, so I can't really. I know they are great songs, Scars Of Yesterday and Strike Of The Ninja. they both have lots of effects in them which is cool.

TCJacko wrote:

Chaosdragon94 wrote:

Do the bonus songs damnit. Ahh well, good review none-the-less.

I dont have the special edition album, so I can't really. I know they are great songs, Scars Of Yesterday and Strike Of The Ninja. they both have lots of effects in them which is cool.

Don't forget E.P.M, silly.

Chaosdragon94 wrote:

TCJacko wrote:

Chaosdragon94 wrote:

Do the bonus songs damnit. Ahh well, good review none-the-less.

I dont have the special edition album, so I can't really. I know they are great songs, Scars Of Yesterday and Strike Of The Ninja. they both have lots of effects in them which is cool.

Don't forget E.P.M, silly.

there are three? the video game stuff in epm is epic. i didnt know there were three tho.

TCJacko wrote:

Chaosdragon94 wrote:

TCJacko wrote:

Chaosdragon94 wrote:

Do the bonus songs damnit. Ahh well, good review none-the-less.

I dont have the special edition album, so I can't really. I know they are great songs, Scars Of Yesterday and Strike Of The Ninja. they both have lots of effects in them which is cool.

Don't forget E.P.M, silly.

there are three? the video game stuff in epm is epic. i didnt know there were three tho.

Uhh :/
9) Strike of the Ninja
10) Scars of Yesterday
11) E.P.M (Extreme Power Metal)

Then what did you think E.P.M. was?

Rokai wrote:

Then what did you think E.P.M. was?

i thought that was just a side project song from Shadow Warrior or Shadow Ninja or whatever you call it.

No, Strike of the Ninja was from Shadow Warriors.

Ya, originally it was Feel the Fire.

Anyways, what do you mean Rokai, about E.P.M?

I'm glad that Herman and Sam deleted Vadim's solo. Vadim's solo sounded like pop!

Yeah that sucked.

Chaosdragon: nothing really.