DragonForce - "Warp Speed Warriors"
The undisputed masters of Speed Metal are back! Legitimately!
Not only is this the first release in five years (since 2019’s Extreme Power Metal) for Herman Li and Friends, making this the longest gap between albums; but this is the first album in recent memory where the Speed Metal aspect of Dragonforce’s signature sound is on full display.1
Now, I feel that there is likely a discussion to be had, probably many times, on whether Speed Metal truly qualifies as a legitimate (sub-)genre, as it typically needs to be paired with another genre (in this case, Power Metal) because it has no significant distinguishing characteristics beyond “play fast and kick ass”. Wikipedia’s entry for the genre breaks it down as:
It is usually considered less abrasive and more melodic than thrash metal. However, speed metal is usually faster and more aggressive than traditional heavy metal, also showing more inclination to virtuoso soloing and featuring short instrumental passages between couplets. Speed metal songs frequently make use of highly expressive vocals, but are usually less likely to employ "harsh" vocals than thrash metal songs.
In short, there is nothing to define how Speed Metal bands play aside from “FAST! LOTS OF SOLOS!”
Maybe that’s why the last several Dragonforce albums have felt like “slightly sped up, sometimes, Power Metal”: because the Speed style does become limiting at some point. At the same time, without “Through the Fire and Flames” showing up on Guitar Hero 3, Dragonforce never ends up with more than a couple hundred thousand listeners on Spotify. As of the time of this writing, they’re credited with over two million!
But Dragonforce are veterans now, having formed in 1999 and released their debut album in 2003 — and guitarists Herman Li and Sam Totman have been the band’s backbone since its inception. I believe that experience is what has given us this impeccable sense of balance on Warp Speed Warriors.
Yes, the Speed aspect is back, and those sections can be a bit repetitive, but there are songs on the album where the pace is backed down and the band leans into the Power Metal they’ve been strengthening over the last several years (such as “Kingdom of Steel” and “Doomsday Party”). There are also songs which progress from one to the other (such as “Pixel Prison”).
Balance.
And there isn’t a bad song here. The specific version I’m listening to on Spotify has 12 tracks, but only eight new, original songs. The four tracks I’m discounting here include:
“Prelude to Darkness” — a minute-long interlude that precedes “The Killer Queen”, one of the album’s best and most epic romps;
“Wildest Dreams” — a Taylor Swift cover which serves as a neat novelty track;
“Doomsday Party (feat. Elize Ryd)” — this song appears earlier on the album without the guest vocalist, but I’m really not certain why this version doesn’t serve as the ‘default’ version of the song, as she really does add to it;
Similarly, the limited edition version of the album also features bonus track versions of “Astro Warrior Anthem” and “Burning Heart” with additional featured vocalists;
And, finally, an instrumental version of “Power of the Triforce”.
The eight songs that remain still come out to 45 minutes, which is plenty of solid music, but this is still the shortest album Dragonforce has put out — after their longest gap — yet. And there are fans who have complained about it.
Even so, I have found a lot to love here. Each song draws inspiration from various video and tabletop games, such as the Zelda franchise, Bayonetta, and Warhammer. I cannot place them all, but it’s a fun concept which has been pretty well-executed. I’ll be enjoying this one for the rest of the year, I think.
Rating: Teal
I will caveat that it is possible that the last 2-3 albums have more Speed utilization than I recall, as it’s been a bit, but I really do not remember noticing Speed Metal as a prominent element on these albums by a band who I expect to hear Speed Metal from. It’s like RHCP putting out albums with no Funk elements present — it’s disconcerting and it sticks out.
Oh, wait…that’s all of RHCP’s recent albums…