DragonForce - Inhuman Rampage [Review]

The 3rd album from British extreme power metal band Dragonforce. Sonic Firestorm left fans in suspense as Dragonforce readied to release the 3rd album. The album seems to be the best so far, some of you may argue against, for some of you, for. Here are the songs and my views:

1. Through The Fire And Flames - Immediately, Inhuman Rampage kicks off with an acoustic guitar intro from Herman Li. Performing this part live, they used to play it through keyboard, but now Herman plays it with an acoustic guitar. Then the part kicks off that has everyone wowing. The upside down hands part, in which Herman and Sam play with their hands upside down. Truly amazing. The music then stops and ZP Theart's voice starts the verses. You must listen behind the vocals here to listen to the great keyboard work behind the verse. After 'We ride towards the fight' which is sung by ZP, a quick, brilliant keyboard part unleashes. The song continues with fast rhythm playing, and you can feel the song build up to the chorus: 'So far away! We wait for the day, for the lives all so wasted and gone!....'. After the verses have past, a good crowd worker comes up. 6 'Woahs' come up, and 3 of them, one half of the crowd sings, then the other 3, the other half of the crowd sings. The solo kicks off, which is one of the best dragonforce have ever done. Under a minute into the solo, you think "What the..." as a cool pac-man fever noise kicks off, followed by the solos that herman and sam master. After the solo, a last verse is sung, and at the end of that verse, amazing stuff by herman li. The chorus repeats, and the upside down hand work repeats after that, followed by the ending of a magnificent song.

2. Revolution DeathSquad - Immediate kicking off here. Some fast guitar and bass work, then followed by a quite slow guitar part. Nearing the verses, a keyboard phenomenon takes place from Vadim. Some amazing stuff. The verses are quick, a bit like Fury Of The Storm. After the verses, some great backing vocals by bassist Frederic Leclerq: "Cry out for the fallen heroes, lost in time ago. In our minds they still belong, when the sands of time are gone". The chorus then kicks off ending with an amazing "On towards the gates of reason, fight for the truth and the freedom, Gloria!". After the second verse, some great vocal mixing they have done in the studio: "When the tides of time roll on". A great effect. After that second chorus, an amazing solo kicks off. Just into this, a great keyboard effect kicks off, then Herman Li masters something you have never heard before. Seriously it is amazing. The solo carries on, and ends with some 'Woah''s. It then again, repeats my favourite bit "Cry out for the fallen heroes, lost in time ago...". The song ends with a high bent note from Herman.

3. Storming The Burning Fields - The song starts with the sound of a match lighting, and some high notes from guitar come in. Not much to say in this song, it is a great one though. Some effects from keyboard at the start of the solo, followed up by the main guitar parts.

4. Operation Ground And Pound - My favourite of the album. The song kicks off with deafening guitar parts, and then some great work from drums. An incredible drum fill kicks in, and then the real song kicks off. Fast and furious. Before the verses start is absolutely amazing. Just after ZP sings "Smashing through the boundaries" which is the first line, guitar parts play under that that sounds really good. A good fill on drums after the first verse. Another great part of backing vocals from Frederic Leclerq on the prechorus: "Crashing steel and raging fury, smash the quest destroy their army". Just after that, the secondary pre chorus kicks off, which is epic. You must listen closely to hear the phenomenal guitar work from Herman after ZP sings "Blasting our way through the punishment and the pain". Just before the chorus starts, you can hear an amazing drum fill taking place as ZP sings "Far away, will our eyes now see the day". The song has a whupping solo, as demonstrated as a guitar battle on the video. It starts off quick, and that is mostly what it is, except there are a few slow parts. Awesome song.

5. Body Breakdown - I love the beginning to this song. Epic drum fills. I also love the verses to this song, and how everything goes quiet, and then the vocals come in. Great guitar work throughout this song, except when there is none on the verses. Speaking of verses, I must credit Herman Li, Sam Totman and Karl Groom on their excellent work on writing for this song. It has some awesome lyrics in it. There are also some great keyboard throughout this song. Some great effects Vadim has pulled off. I love the solo for this song, its pretty fast, and also pretty slow.

6. Cry For Eternity - The song starts off with nice guitar work, followed by the inclusion of drums. The verses are epic again here, as to are the lyrics. Backing vocals from Freddie again here, which are pretty epic. This song is beautiful, especially the chorus. Great stuff again, as the chorus follows up with some fast guitar work. In parts of the second verse there are some awesome keyboard parts, and after that, some great guitar work. I love at the end of the chorus: CRY FOR ETERNITY!!!!. lol, an awesome song, and the solo starts off with some greats effects and playing at the same time by Vadim.

7. The Flame Of Youth - The 'motorbike noise' as Dragonforce call it, starts off this song. That is followed up by about a minute of epic guitar stuff. The verses are awesome again, especially when it goes quiet. Some great work from guitar in between the verses, and the chorus, again with Dragonforce, is epic. The lyrics are just as good, so credits go to Totman, Li and Groom for their work. After the first chorus, some great guitar stuff kicks off. There are some great keyboard works throughout this song as well. Just before the chorus ends, some great keyboard/guitar stuff you can hear in the background. The solo starts, with something different. After that, there is something even more different. A little preview of Herman Li's speed is played, which is amazing. There are some great keyboards in the solo, as to there are guitar. Amazing song.

8. Trail Of Broken Hearts - A very different song by Dragonforce. If you were to guess which band played this, it would not be Dragonforce. You would recognize ZP Theart's voice, but that's it. It is a beautiful song. This is another song I would get out a glow stick and sway to at a concert. Just before the chorus, the vocals are mixed for one line. A great effect that is. Keyboard is a key instrument in this song. There is hardly any guitar. It is slow, almost throughout. ZP Theart shows off his voice here a bit, which is always a good thing. During the chorus, there are some great 'Ooh''s and 'Ahh''s in the backing vocals. A different song by Dragonforce, and the solo is different.

Inhuman Rampage is one of four amazing albums by Dragonforce. On the special edition version it also includes:

- Bonus Track - Lost Souls In Endless Time
- Through The Fire And Flames Video
- Operation Ground And Pound Video
- Behind The Scenes Rockumentary
- My Spirit Will Go On - Live at Golden Gods Awards

Overall, another amazing album. Inhuman Rampage has left the press with high expectations for the next album. Inhuman Rampage is one of my favourite Dragonforce albums. The album is truly epic. The vocals - the high notes, the low notes, the fast verses, the epic choruses-. The guitars - the deafening intros, the fast rhythm playing, the video game noises, and of course, the phenomenal solos-. The bass - the epic backing vocals, the epic bass parts, the fast solo playing and the low riffs-. The keyboards - all the special effects, the two or three second quick fills, the keytar solos, and the sliding-. Drums - the fast and furious fills, the epic beats, even the slow parts and those effective cymbal chokes.

So amazing work from all band members. Again. The rating for the Inhuman Rampage album by Dragonforce:

5/5 - Epic. Well done Dragonforce.

looking forward to the rest of it

completed it now.

I think Ultra Beatdown is better but nice review anyway. I should really write mine too...

that must have been tiring. good job

GREAT REVIEW DUDE :\m/:

so many dragonforce reviews >.<

balrog wrote:

GREAT REVIEW DUDE :\m/:

so many dragonforce reviews >.<

thanks man. yeah there are loads of dragonforce reviews. quoting the dragonforce website here:

'every year there are albums highly anticipated - whether it be from young stars, well known legends, or the most intriguing - those bands that you know are on the verge of greatness.'

i definitely agree with that. every time a dragonforce album is released, everyone wants to buy it. it's probably because of all the stick dragonforce have been given that all the songs sound the same, that everyone wants to see if theyve changed anything. that sometimes makes even the haters want to buy their albums.

Rokai wrote:

I think Ultra Beatdown is better but nice review anyway. I should really write mine too...

yeah ultra beatdown is better. some of the songs and solos on this album are awesome though.

its hard to compare IR to UB because theyre both their own unique albums with totally different sounds. i love them both. TTFAF, OG&P, Flame of Youth and Body Breakdown are my faves on this album

I like Revoulution Deathsquad. Body Breakdown, not as much as Rev. Dethsquad.

body breakdown, operation ground and pound, and cry for eternity are my favourites off the album

PowerMetalLivesOn wrote:

body breakdown, operation ground and pound, and cry for eternity are my favourites off the album

operation ground and pound is my favorite song! :fakeguitar: (not only on the album!)

It's a really good song and surprisingly the cut version is good too.

Great review

Heres my review.

It wasnt a really big change of their other songs. But, man, this was, by far, the most powerful, legendary, and Fastest ALBUM they've made soo far....

my favorite songs of this album:

1-TTFA
2-OGAP
3-Body breakdown
3-Trail of broken hearts
4-cry for eternity
5-storming the urning fields

see ya guys.

Body Breakdown for me. Love that track but the cd as a whole is one of the best I've ever heard.