Song of the moment is another Album of the Moment. The album is "Reaching Into Infinity" by DragonForce, which came out in May of this year. Reviews of this one have been mixed, but I absolutely love it. From beginning to end, every song is an absolute winner and even despite being over an hour long, the album never wears out its welcome. I haven't listened to a DragonForce album since Ultra Beatdown (which was an ultra yawnfest outside of maybe 2 songs), and this one was like a refreshing splash of cold water to my tired face. The album has plenty of classic DragonForce hallmarks, but is very experimental (I love the album's occasional forays into thrashy stuff and occasional harsh vocals), which shows that the band is branching out and not staying rigidly within their little comfortable formula. I believe their bassist did a lot of the songwriting here, which is cool.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl_p4Qqes2YI listened to it because my iPod randomly shuffled to Sonic Firestorm this past week and I thought, "This album is a lot of fun. This band is a lot of fun. I wonder what they're up to."
My epic history with DragonForce:
Valley of the Damned is one of those mindblowing albums that damn near changed my life. That album was a total gamechanger and still DragonForce's best.
Sonic Firestorm was solid, but it adhered pretty much exactly to the formula precedent set by Valley.
Inhuman Rampage was their breakout album, since it featured songs on Guitar Hero, and it had some enjoyable moments, but I found it to be a pretty mediocre album.
Ultra Beatdown had the songs "Reasons to Live" and "Heartbreak Armageddon" which showed DragonForce's capability to wrote songs in between blistering speedfests and ballads. However, those were the only two songs I liked and I found the rest of the album a formulaic yawnfest. This was when I decided that the band has gone stale, they simply rehash the same formulaic drivel over and over again, and it's time to move on.
After Ultra Beatdown, it seems they parted ways with their original singer (ZP Theart) and recruited a new one (Marc Hudson). I didn't think much of it since I was "over DragonForce." Ergo, I never listened to "The Power Within" or "Maximum Overload" albums. I'm okay with this, because sometimes a band needs time (and a few albums) to really get their sea legs with a new lineup change like this. Marc Hudson's voice is in a lower register than Theart's so the songwriting has to change in order to showcase his range and talents, and sea-legs aren't gotten right away. Takes time. I love Marc Hudson's singing on "Reaching for Infnity." He employs a wider variety of dynamic vocal styles than I've ever heard from ZP and his timbre is more my style these days. Hail Hudson!
So after being inspired to listen to "Reaching for Infinity" I was pleased to hear that bassist Frederic Leclerq had taken a lead role on the songwriting (I love the ballad "Silence" which was written about his friend who committed suicide), and I love how the music has classic DragonForce signature hallmarks, but also experiments with other styles of metal (e.g. thrash). This is the most experimental and diverse I've ever heard DragonForce and I'm glad I gave the band another chance. If songs like "War!" (with its amazing marriage of thrash and power metal) are hints of what the new DragonForce is going to be, I welcome it with open arms.
So far, "Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora" by Darkest Hour and "Reaching for Infinity" by DragonForce are my favorite albums of 2017. And I can't wait for "Psychotic Symphony" by Sons of Apollo.
