Dragonforce – Warp Speed Warriors
Dragonforce – Warp Speed Warriors
Napalm Records
Release Date: 15/03/24
Running Time: 49:07
Review by Rory Bentley
8/10
The upside to being incredibly unfashionable from the get-go is that you never go out of style. Because you were never in style. This is a huge advantage for multinational Extreme Power Metal legends Dragonforce, who seem to be going as strong as ever in 2024. The Guitar Hero hype of the mid 2000s may have died down, but thanks to their willingness to adapt and become early adopters of social media platforms like YouTube, Tik Tok and Twitch, Herman Li and the gang are still delivering the goods to fans old and new while many of their peers from the early days are either splitting up or whipping out the old ‘classic’ album in full set on the nostalgia circuit.
If you’re one of DragonForce’s many haters, “Warp Speed Warriors” won’t be converting you to the cause any time soon, however despite by and large sticking to the classic DragonForce template, there are a few little surprises here and there amid the face melting licks and ball-squeezing high notes. Before ‘Astro Warrior Anthem’ DragonForces the shit out of you to get things started, there’s a cool 80s synth intro and something resembling a patient build up. After that, of course normal service is resumed and Herman Li and Sam Totman start melting their fretboards while Mark Hudson, now fully bedded in as the DragonForce lead singer belts out another soaring beast of a chorus. I particularly enjoyed the dramatic, almost Nightwish-like middle eight where things go full Symphonic Metal. An excellent start.
Gamers and nerds will rejoice at the infectiously upbeat ‘Power of the Triforce’ which has chant along gang vocals that are to subtlety what Yngwie Malmsteen is to modesty. It’s well documented now that I’m not the biggest advocate of Power Metal on this site, however even I can see this is really well-done silliness even if I wish it wasn’t stuck in my head all fucking day long. It is this strong link to gaming and nerd culture that has been a large part of the band’s longevity and fans who discovered the band through YouTube and Twitch will no doubt be lapping this one up.
Now normally I would say third track on the album would be way too soon to be putting a ballad, however the kitchen-sink yeeting maximalism of the first two tracks make ‘Kingdom of Steel’ an incredibly welcome change of pace. The band have always been great at pushing the envelope on power ballads and this represents one of their finest efforts. The shred factor may be reined in somewhat, but this is still eye-poppingly, air grabbing over the top stuff and a great showcase for Hudson’s formidable pipes.
Those who followed Herman and Sam’s Twitch antics over lockdown will probably be aware of their supreme talent for pastiche of other bands, improvising pretty darn solid takes on the likes of Sabaton, Amaranthe and Bowling For Soup. It showed that despite having a pretty rigid core sound, this was entirely by design rather than through lack of imagination or ability. It is nice, then, to see this hitherto unshowcased diversity make its way into the album, even if only in small doses. ‘Space Marine Corp’ though a little too twee for my tastes does the commendable job of combining retro video game music, cheesy EuroPop and a chorus that sounds like Blink 182’s ‘Feeling This’. I had to duck out when the military chanting bits came in but I’m sure a lot of people less miserable than me will have a good time with this one.
More successful for me is ‘Doomsday Party’ which brings all the fret-wanking goodness you’d want to a stomping Disco beat and a massive ass shaking chorus. You can practically smell the Bacardi Breezers wafting out of the speakers as the song ravages you like an out of control hen party in a provincial town Pop World. It’s a good time, I promise.
The album wraps up nicely with a million mile an hour cover of Taylor Swift’s megahit ‘Wildest Dreams’, which is delivered with enough respect to the source material not to aggravate Swifties like me and not come across as a wacky parody that cunts who like Pirate Metal would get on board with. Anyways, aside from a little bit of bloat here and there which is kind of par for the course on a Dragonforce album, “Warp Speed Warriors” is one of the strongest Dragonforce releases in a very long time and some that hints that there may be more experiments in the future.
TRACKLISTING:
01. Astro Warrior Anthem
02. Power of the Triforce
03. Kingdom of Steel
04. Burning Heart
05. Space Marine Corp
06. Prelude to Darkness
07. The Killer Queen
08. Doomsday Party
09. Pixel Prison
10. Wildest Dreams
LINE-UP:
Herman Li – Guitar, Backing Vocals
Sam Totman – Guitar, Backing Vocals
Marc Hudson – Vocals
Alicia Vigil – Bass, Backing Vocals
Gee Anzalone – Drums, Backing Vocals
LINKS:
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