Oh man, I was at that show. Even at age 16 I knew this was too silly for words.

Dragonforce seems to be competing with Hammerfall to see which power metal band can release the same CD over and over with a different name the most times before anyone catches on.

I like how every time they release an album the thread is filled with the same comments. For instance always the comments about how all their material is the same, they are too cheesy, Some people have a soft spot for them and can like them once in a while etc.

I keep reading this. What happened to their old vocalist? Did he move SOOOO FAAAAAR AWAAAAYYYYY?

It always puzzles me when a band dosen't evolve one bit through the years.

Sometimes that's not exactly bad, as there's a difference between "having a consistent sound" and "getting stale". Vader are an example of the first group, while DragonForce belong to the second one.

I don't think so. Ultra Beatdown was a ton of fun. Ridiculous, over the top and silly fun, at that, with some great epic moments that tied it all together.

Well, then again, I don't like DragonForce at all beyond the debut, so take my opinion on them with a pinch of salt.

I know what you mean, but even Vader evolved a bit. These guys are just playing the exact same thing. I guess what I'm wondering is why people still buy their records, not why people like them. If they want to listen to Dragonforce, they just have to put on any one of the albums they already have out and they'll get the same results.

The album leaked, for anyone that cares

Listened to the first few tracks, got bored. Typical DragonForce. If you like that sort of thing you'll probably dig the new album. I don't like their new vocalist. His voice hasn't got any power and it sounds like it's been tampered with in the studio. I guess they'd still be crap regardless of who their vocalist is. Their music is just so generic. Power metal for tweens.

I was well prepared for major meh for the new album but my first attempt started with Cry Thunder and... wow, this song is actually good. I should still be skeptical of the album as a whole, though but if you had told me last year that DragonForce would write a good song for their new album, I would have been laughing. I'll give the leak a listen just so I know whether the rest is good or not and stop myself from being fooled over one song.

I'm shocked to see Dragonforce fans here. To my ears they hit every bad stereotype, cheezy lyrics, generic melodies, hugely overproduced, with laughable and ridiculous guitar thrown in for good measure.

The new vocalist sounds a bit weaker but hey, it's DragonForce, no doubt.

I like the shorter songs.

Ugh. I hate this band so much.

I gave the album a spin and so far I'm actually having a hard time hating it. I want to be critical when it comes to DragonForce but with less padding on the solos and interludes, actually finding some diversity and toning it down on the unnecessary long tracks, this album feels much less cluttered than their other works. Sure, the song titles are still as lame as ever (I could have sworn they had use the title Heart of the Storm already ) but for the songs themselves, they have provided some good stuff with Cry Thunder, Give Me The Night and Die By the Sword. While some might fall under typical DragonForce songs, those are no doubt some of the best they've done yet!

When a band never changes, neither do the attitudes towards it.

I just listened to Cry Thunder and that was definitely better than what I was expecting. I don't know if I'll really be buying this one but it's great to see a song that's actually different!

I'm about to check this out, but my god, what a terrible album cover.

Uh, Sam, Herman? Shred solos are not riffs. DO NOT USE THEM AS SUCH. In fact, riffs in general seem just about absent here, and the rhythm guitar tone is extremely thin.

The new singer is really dull, he sounds like a pop/rock singer who decided to take a stab at power metal. No range, hardly any power. And considering that they're DragonForce, that's probably what they wanted. A power metal singer who can actually project his voice and inject some POWER into the power metal would scare away the mainstream kids and distract from the instrumental circlejerk.