Dragonforce – Reaching into Infinity

The year is 2014. The new £1 coins were announced in the March budget, England crashed out of the World Cup in the opening round and the Church of England allowed women to be ordained as bishops. It also marked the first time that power metal titans Dragonforce recorded an album with the same lineup as the previous one, with all six members present for 2012’s The Power Within appearing on Maximum Overload. It couldn’t last, could it?  Before the album had even seen the light of day drummer Dave Mackintosh departed and Reaching Into Infinity, the band’s seventh studio effort out later this month, is the first to feature current sticksman Gee Anzalone and produced by the legendary Jens Bogren (Opeth, Amon Amarth, Devin Townsend).

It would be fair to say that, thanks to their overtly fantastical lyrics and the Guitar Hero franchise, Dragonforce have somewhat become a novelty over the year in the eyes of a lot of metal fans, which really does them a massive disservice; truth is, they’re all serious musicians who love what they do and every single album they’ve done is crafted with a hell of a lot of fun. True, six albums in and the formula hasn’t changed much sans the songs getting progressively shorter since Marc Hudson became singer, but on Reaching Into Infinity Dragonforce are pushing the boat out with their overall sound in a number of different ways. There’s still a lot of what we already know: the symphonic metal intro to ‘Ashes of the Dawn’ developing into classic Dragonforce with a massive chorus, the soaring power ballad of ‘Silence’, the straight up power and assault of ‘Midnight Madness’ and the Maiden-esque tones of ‘Curse of Darkness’ and ‘Land of Shattered Dreams’, but elsewhere there are indications of the band’s true prowess and proof they are far from a one-trick pony. Take ‘WAR!’, which is an all-out thrash song and contains some of the heaviest riffs Dragonforce have ever produced. The high-pitched vocals are a little jarring in the middle but otherwise it’s an excellent song to snap your neck to. Then there’s ‘Astral Empire’ which has Anzalone’s stamp all over it, a drumming masterpiece in every respect and the curious, trance-like introduction of ‘Judgement Day’ which develops into another huge song with electronic keyboards subtly giving it texture and depth. Oh, and then there’s ‘The Edge of the World’, the longest song the band have ever written at just over eleven minutes at length; it builds slowly, develops into a trad metal epic before descending into death metal beautifully and finishing as it begins. If you get the special edition, you’re also treated to a surprisingly good cover of Death’s ‘Evil Dead’, which despite its strange, sci-fi outro is a nice alternative to what Dragonforce are usually used to – and a damn sight better than their attempt at ‘Ring of Fire’…

All that’s left to say is listen and admire – rumours of Dragonforce’s demise have been greatly exaggerated, and whilst there is still a hefty dose of bombastic power metal to enjoy, the little quirks that pop up across Reaching Into Infinity suggest a band who are about to break free from their shackles and go off in a completely different – and brilliant – direction.

Band lineup
Marc Hudson – lead vocals
Herman Li – guitars
Sam Totman – guitars
Frederic Leclerq – bass, backing vocals
Vadim Pruhzanov – keyboards
Gee Anzalone – drums

Track Listing
Reaching Into Infinity
Ashed of the Dawn
Judgement Day
Astral Empire
Curse of Darkness
Silence
Midnight Madness
WAR!
Land of Shattered Dreams
The Edge of the World
Our Final Stand
—–Bonus Tracks—–
Hatred and Revenge
Evil Dead

Links
http://www.dragonforce.com
http://www.facebook.com/Dragonforce
http://www.twitter.com/DragonForce