Dragonforce – Sonic Firestorm (2004)
Lineup:
ZP Theart – Lead vocals
Herman Li – Lead/rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Sam Totman – Lead/rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Adrian Lambert – bass guitar, backing vocals
Dave Mackintosh – Drums
Vadim Pruzhanov – Keyboards
Sonic Firestorm is Dragonforce's second album, after their debut album Valley of the Damned (2003). In this album, the musical style is similar, but with subtle differences, to their sound on their previous releases. Keyboards now play a larger role in the music, evident particularly on Fields of Dispair and Soldiers of the Wasteland. Every song on the album is loaded with creative and epic vocal melodies that often form the focus point of the songs. No song on this album goes without multiple guitar solos, and many tracks also feature keyboard solos in addition to the shredwork. On this album, bassist Adrian Lambert and drummer Dave Mackintosh replace Didier Almouzni and Diccon Harper from the Valley of the Damned lineup. This album retains their speed/power metal mixture from their previous releases, and adds video game influences to the guitar and keyboard work. Many Dragonforce fans claim Sonic Firestorm to be their best release, but this is easily debatable and their best release in the ears of a listener depends mainly on musical preference.
The average song length has increased from Valley of the Damned, the shortest tracks weighing in the five minute range, and Soldiers of the Wasteland dragging on for nearly ten minutes, the rest remaining 6-7 minutes long. Sonic Firestorm has eight tracks, along with a bonus track on the Japanese release. With this album, Dragonforce started a trend in having a "featured" track start off the album, as witnessed on Valley of the Damned and continued with Inhuman Rampage. The band almost always plays these featured tracks in their live set.
Sonic Firestorm is a very solid release, maintaining a level of quality throughout the entire album that is bound to amaze. I reccomend it to any fan of metal, especially those who enjoy speed, thrash, power metal, or any other Dragonforce releases.
