8.DRAGONFORCESONIC FIRESTORMPower Metalreleased April 19th, 2004
via Noise Records
1. My Spirit Will Go On [7:54]
2. Fury of the Storm [6:46]
3. Fields of Despair [5:25]
4. Dawn Over A New World [5:13]
5. Above the Winter Moonlight [7:31]
6. Soldiers of the Wasteland [9:45]
7. Prepare For War [6:15]
8. Once in a Lifetime [7:46]
9. Cry of the Brave [5:46]*
*Japanese bonus trackSONIC FIRESTORM is
ZP Theart (Vocals)
Vadim Pruzhanov (Keyboards / Piano / Acoustic guitars)
Herman Li (Guitars / Backing vocals)
Sam Totman (Guitars / Backing vocals)
Adrian Lambert (Bass)
Dave Mackintosh (Drums)
*not pictured: Adrian Lambert, who left after the album’s recording but before release. Only two of these studs are still in this band. Two! Crazy. At least there's no French bassist in this photo. HOORAY! But there's no ZP or Vadim or Dave anymore. BOO! Screw you, Fred.WITHClive Nolan (Backing vocals)
Non-fans of Dragonforce may skip this one. So, I’ll see all of you except twosuitsluke at #7, which I guarantee will have a lot of fans. But I’ve been waiting weeks to talk about this one, damn it.
I really can’t articulate what this album means to me. A part of me thinks it should be higher than #8, but I don’t think I can justify it with what’s to come. Still, this is one of the most important albums in my life. I dunno, man, you either ‘get it’ or you don’t, and this record changed my life, literally. I heard it when I was just getting into metal and the heaviest and fastest music I knew was 80s Metallica, Iron Maiden, and a small handful of Blind Guardian and Stratovarius tunes.
ZP Theart’s voice is one of my favorites in all of rock and metal, and there’s just something about it that every other power metal singer lacks. Maybe that’s because ZP’s wheelhouse is 80s rock, and ZP likes to smoke and drink, which doesn’t lend itself to a good power metal voice unless you’re Fabio Lione, apparently. ZP’s got a thick raspy/husky quality to his voice which gives a bit of ‘oomph’ to Dragonforce. The production on this album in particular favors ZP’s voice because the midrange melodies in the verse give some bite and aggression to the vocal parts, which is necessary to contrast with the saccharine melodies and bright nature of every chorus and choir part on this record. Maybe he wasn’t a great live singer, but he added an element to early Dragonforce that made them very special to me, and it’s been lost for about a decade now…
Sam and Herman have a spectacular chemistry as the two lead guitarists, having dueling guitar solos with one another while on-and-off again having harmonized “twin blast” solos. With the furious, 170-200 BPM riffing and double bass drumming, there is a concentrated energy to each of these songs that creates such an epic, fantastic atmosphere I’ve never gotten sick of.
Vadim Pruzhanov’s keyboard playing was very important to my development as a keyboardist and what I look for in power metal keyboards. Nobody plays like him, no one. He’s no Rick Wakeman, but Rick Wakeman is no Vadim Pruzhanov. You catch my drift? He added such a zesty flavor to Dragonforce’s music and it’s a damn shame he went into more electronic territory after this record. Sonic Firestorm has the perfect balance of ominous pads, synth strings, synth leads, and piano. “Above the Winter Moonlight” has some of my favorite power metal keyboard playing: the gorgeous melody leading the song from the synth lead, the piano in the bridges and breakdown, and a triumphant epic string melody that closes out the song. That song also has some of Dragonforce’s best solos.
Oh yeah, the solos. Dragonforce’s solos kind of went off the rails on later albums, but when they were in the pocket on the first 3 records, boy did they knock it out of the park. The solos aren’t just solos, they’re songs in themselves, bouncing back and forth between the aforementioned “twin blast” harmonized solos and individual solos, each with their own ebb and flow, seamlessly moving between shreddy passages and emotional, melodic cadences. And then the song always comes back home, generally with a “whoa-oh” transition that most people make fun of (because despite its effective nature, it is very predictable for Dragonforce to do this), or leading right back into the chorus.
Lyrics… well, okay, again, it either bothers you or it doesn’t. Lyrics are not what Dragonforce is about, but even on this album, they at least put a little thought into making some coherent imagery. Each of these songs describes some kind of epic event. Later on they try to sing about real things but they don’t change the lyricism much and it somehow manages to be even cornier than songs like, say, “Soldiers of the Wasteland,” which are corny as hell in how epic they try to be, but it’s so much more fitting for the music than later lyrical themes of relationships and society etc.:
Crossing battles savage seas towards the mountains high
Forest plains of wilderness we're striking out tonight
On towards our destiny we travel far and wide
Journey through the darkness as your hearts refuse to die
In the flames of hell we fire at will the fires of doom has come
With the forces of the blackest knights they're staring at the sun
Far across the distant plains of ice we're searching for the sword
When the time has come for battle now we follow with the horde
In Summary: Cheesy? Yes. Obnoxiously extreme in every way? Pretty much. Does it kick ass? Damn right it does. Again, you either get it or you don’t. Dragonforce is not for everyone, especially old Dragonforce like this. But this was when they were at their best, just before Fred joined the band and Herman and Sam gave up on trying. Modern Dragonforce is a shadow of its once glorious self. I miss the Sonic Firestorm days so much. I miss these long, intricate solos with melodic momentum and glorious cadences transitioning back into some thicc, husky vocal harmonies singing about wild fantasy nonsense. GIVE ME BACK MY FUN DRAGONFORCE, FRED!
Katt’s Favorites: My Spirit Will Go On,
Above the Winter Moonlight,
Soldiers of the Wasteland,
Once in a Lifetime,
Cry of the BraveListen to “Sonic Firestorm” by Dragonforce on Spotify