I was into DragonForce before it was cool.
Okay, I just sounded like a hipster, but it's true. I discovered DragonForce in a "Guitar Hero" article about young guitar heroes. I couldn't help but feel pretty interested in it. It was my freshman year of college and I was interested in this new form of Metal called "Power Metal", so I downloaded "Inhuman Rampage" and in my 19-year-old musical naivete, I was blown away by how fast they and epic they played.
But it became clear that they were pretty divisive within the Metal community. A concert at Graspop Metal Festival showed that their sound was terrible, which led to accusations that they're not just horrible live, but that they speed up their music in the studio. Okay, that accusation aside, other criticisms included how every song they did sounded the same. That's a heck of a low for a band that set the metal underground ablaze in 2002.
Around the time of the release of "Ultra Beatdown", which had songs that actually varied, the band became big yet again, this time in the mainstream when "Through the Fire and Flames" was featured in "Guitar Hero 3". Now a whole bunch of people got into the band and, believe it or not accusations of selling out followed the London-based international Power Metallers. Okay, that's pretty ridiculous.
But in 2010, singer ZP Theart left the band, citing the usual spiel about creative differences. Needing a singer, DF (as I'll refer to them on occasion in here) did something different: A YouTube audition. They asked singers to record a video of them performing their songs. When it was over, Englishman Marc Hudson was announced as the new singer.
So now that there's been a little background info shed, we might as well get into the details of "The Power Within". Released in 2012, there's one thing I can certainly say about this album: It's different.
Whereas DragonForce is known for 7-minute long songs with long dueling guitar solos by wizards Herman Li and Sam Totman, only one song goes over 5:30 on this album, "Wings of Liberty", which runs 7:20. All the songs are short and condensed, which upon listening, provides a refreshing change from the usual DragonForce.
I have to admit, DF was getting rather bland by "Inhuman Rampage". Unlike AC/DC, where people expect them to stay the same, DF had to be different. We see that in singer Marc Hudson. ZP was a solid singer, but his range is a different from Marc Hudson, whose youthfulness shines here. He sounds like former Helloween singer Michael Kiske in a way, but his voice does not grate on anyone here. He can reach the high heavens or he can growl like a dog. There's a reason DF hired him (although part of it might be due to relocation issues. Since they're based in London, it made sense to hire another English guy, but I think hiring an American would have been a good idea).
As for Li and Totman, they're still Li and Totman. They just condensed and shortened their solos. They're still shredding and weaving their solos in and out, just shorter. I think their best solo work is during "Cry Thunder", especially near the end of the solo during their harmony part, which has a triumphant air about it. "Wings of Liberty" also has an excellent solo section, since it's the typical DF song.
The rest of the band also shines here. Freddy Leclerq's bass is solid and he even gets a chance at a bass solo in "Give Me the Night". Vadim Prushnev's keyboards are mainly backing and used for atmospheric reasons, though. And there's drummer Dave MacIntosh, whose thundering, pounding drums are the backbone for DF's thundering sound and he really shines here, going from super-fast to mid-paced when he needs to be. He is one of the most underrated drummers in Metal today.
As for the sound, this is DF's most diverse album to date. While the first two songs, "Holding On" and "Fallen World" are DF's typical fast, epic Power Metal, "Cry Thunder" changes things up, and another midpaced song, "Seasons", also graces the album. These two have been released as music videos.
Listening to the album, you can definitely tell that DF is trying to prove something. Indeed, when you've been hearing the same criticism over and over again for years, it will get to you at some point. This band is trying to prove a point, showing that they can be shorter, they can be slow and they can be deep, not just high fantasy-inspired lyrics and video game solos.
Indeed, there are only a couple songs, "Cry Thunder", "Wings of Liberty", "Heart of the Storm" and "Die By the Sword" go with DF's stereotypical fantasy lyrics. Drug addiction is tackled in "Give Me the Night" and personal issues are dealt with in "Seasons". The atmosphere also varies, with hopeful-yet downtrodden on "Holding On", triumphant on "Cry Thunder", despair on "Give Me the Night" and "Seasons" to aggressive on "Die By the Sword", which helps the album succeed here.
This is one of DF's best albums. It's not their absolute best, but they are definitely headed in the right direction. I think their next album might be their best if they really work for it. These guys are good, and there's a reason they're a power metal band that's actually popular in the United States, something that can't be said about other groups like Gamma Ray.
I give "The Power Within" an 8.5 out of 10.
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