DRAGONFORCE – Inhuman Rampage

There are not many bands that get a whole subgenre of Metal Music all to themselves; Dragonforce achieved this after their first album, Valley Of The Damned. They confirmed that their style of music earned and was aptly entitled “Extreme Power Metal” with their second album Sonic Firestorm. Now, with their third offering — Inhuman Rampage — ready to hit the shops on January 9, 2006, Extreme Power Metal just doesn’t seem adequate anymore.

Inhuman Rampage has really pushed the envelope this time. The warp factor eleventeen drumming of Dave Mackintosh has allowed the dual guitaring of Herman Li and Sam Totman to reach speeds that go beyond the ability of mere mortal Axesmiths. Keyboarder Vadim Pruzhanov, who played a rather subdued role in the previous albums, has definitely stamped his mark on Inhuman Rampage with some mind-blowing solos and incredible synth sounds. Adrian Lambert has also shown a few moments of brilliance with that beast of a six-stringed bass of his. The track “Body Breakdown” is probably a fine example of how the keyboards and bass has taken Inhuman Rampage to that new level of Power Metal that needs to be renamed. Adrian has recently left the band to spend more time with his family, and his presence will be sorely missed. ZP Theart’s vocals are about the only part of Dragonforce that has stayed pretty constant; but then why change something that’s so obviously perfect for the job; though they have experimented with a few vocal FX, some that worked, and some that didn’t. The wobbly Cher vocal on the chorus of “Revolution Deathsquad” springs to mind, but at least they only used it once. One thing that most definitely works is the harmonics of the backing vocals, provided by the rest of the band, and the inclusion of the “Evil Backing Vocals” sung by Lyndsay Dawson is absolute genius with Lyndsay’s and ZP’s vocal scales being at complete opposite ends of the sonic spectrum.

Being Power Metal, Extreme or otherwise, the lyrical content of Inhuman Rampage is fantasy and escapism at its finest. Songs of crossing rivers, seas, dark mountains, and wide plains under a starlit sky, all to fight the good fight, slay the fiery dragon, free the oppressed citizens from the evil tyrant, and accomplish all this with only your sword, shield, and trusty steed. Play this album through your headphones, dim the lights, light a few candles, lie back, relax and you’re there in the midst of that entire epic fantasia. Of course, you’re going to have to use all your self control to lie there all relaxed when listening to Inhuman Rampage when every nerve in your body is screaming to get up and mosh like a loony.

“Trail Of Broken Hearts” is this album’s ballad, and perfectly placed as the last track to give your screaming neural synapses a little bit of peace and tranquillity that will allow them the time to adjust back to the less ferocious input of the real world. Dragonforce may not be so renowned for their ballads, but you can feel that just as much thought, effort, body, and soul goes into their ballads as the rest of their songs. Like Valley Of The Damned’s “Starfire” and Sonic Firestorm’s “Dawn Over A New World” that have gone before it, “Trail Of Broken Hearts” will no doubt be a big hit at Dragonforce gigs with the crowd waving their lighters, mobile phones, and any other light source over their heads, singing along fit to bust a lung.

With Inhuman Rampage the old and current Power Metal stalwarts have by now no hope of creating anything close to its speed and ferocity. After becoming familiar with Dragonforce’s first two releases, the thought that the band had put too much effort in their initial efforts and may have peaked too early couldn’t be more wrong … and if Inhuman Rampage is anything to go by, that same thought process is going to wrong for some time!

Inhuman Rampage Tracklist:

01 “Through The Fire And The Flames”
02 “Revolution Deathsquad”
03 “Storming The Burning Fields”
04 “Operation Ground And Pound”
05 “Body Breakdown”
06 “Cry For Eternity”
07 “The Flame Of Youth”
08 “Trail Of Broken Hearts

With a running time of just over an hour, you definitely get your money’s worth. Plus, there is also an Enhanced Section with “Behind the Scenes” footage of their 2005 tour, and a Windows Theme package.