Dragonforce – “Sonic Firestorm”
The previous “Valley of the Damned” made Dragonforce well known among power metal fans and critics. It was overwhelming in speed, power, catchiness and talent. It sounded fresh and they automatically were put in the same category as the heavy hitters of the genre, such as Helloween, Gamma Ray, Sonata Arctica, Edguy, Lost Horizon and Kamelot. Is this second album great? Yes, absolutely. The tightness of the band is awesome and the sheer speed of their brand of glorious power metal is a pure listening pleasure. The super-fast soloing, the metal singing, the riffing and the drumming is all here again. This time around the band relies on all-out beat-blasting in certain sections and it works very well. Of course, Dragonforce is more than just speed, as the album has lots of melody all over the place, as on “Dawn over a New World”. I wish this album were 24-hours long, instead of just one. Power metal haters and metal-corers need stay far away!