DragonForce: Inhuman Rampage
Blazing power metal based on fantasy themes is an acquired taste, but DragonForce creates an art form out of it by turning up all their instruments and ripping your heart out with super-catchy melodies, riffs and solos. Their newest album, Inhuman Rampage raises the bar for instrumental talent like never before. The CD kicks off with “Through the Fire and the Flames,” an adventure which vocally soars and drops in the rollercoaster that is ZP Theart’s high soprano voice. Add a guitar duel between virtuosos Sam Totman and Herman Li, who clash and then play the solo as a duet.
The next song is even longer and faster than the first, “Revolution Deathsquad” is a rollicking 8-minute blast. And so the album goes, with “Storming the Burning Fields” and “Operation Ground and Pound” continuing in the same speedy, wild pattern. After that it takes a dive and culminates with the ballad “Trail of Broken Hearts.”
There’s no wasted space when it comes to Inhuman Rampage. Each song tears into you until DragonForce has left you breathless and hearing solos in your head. It’s an expansion on a formula that has been used many times before in power metal, but this band brings it together in a way nobody has been able to accomplish before.
