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Dragonforce: Valley Of The Damned (2010 Reissue) (Audio Only) Power Metal Noise/Sanctuary Records, Spinefarm Records (2010) January 27th, 2003
- Also comes with Bonus DVD that features a live concert from 2004, backstage footage, behind the scenes footage, commentaries, as well as interviews. Originally posted on March 7th, 2010 | |||
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Review
Valley Of The Damned, the first full-length Dragonforce album took the Metal community by storm upon it's release in 2003. The debut album seemed to usher in a new era for the Power Metal field through the usage of really epic and fast paced sounding music. While still somewhat unknown, many were sweeped up into the love of this act without knowing all the dark secrets behind it. But, regardless including, but not limited to, studio editing and inability to perform some songs live, this is still an enjoyable album that does show off some of the band's actual musical talent, as well as plagiastic ways. Valley Of The Damned is a furious Power Metal ride chock full of fast paced music that is catchy and can only be described as epic. The only track on here that doesn't seem to come at you in a blistering pace is the track "Starfire", which is a slow ballad track that really shows off the band's playing ability well outside of speedy clusters of riffs that often sound random and just thrown in. The shocking thing about the latter statement, however, is that it all works out well for the group. Tracks like the title track "Valley of the Damned", as well as "Disciples of Babylon" are both infectiously catchy tracks, as are plenty of other songs on the album. There are some issues about Valley Of The Damned though. Much of the music here moves fast, but for some of the tracks, that's about all it's good for. "Black Winter Night" is a good example of this, being a fast paced song that really doesn't have much of a bite. Another issue lies within the guitar solos. Some of them, while working with the music more times then not, will often just sound like a cluster of random notes thrown together in the studio. If the guitarist performing it can honestly pull these off in life, more power to him, but some of them even just sound inhuman and impossible, leading to it sounding like the aforementioned cluster. Another note that many who play video games will note and perhaps take offense to would be blatently plagiarising of the theme song to the old video game Double Dragon (back on the Nintendo Entertainment System) during the chorus of "Black Fire" just past the three minute mark. The band does not even give a nod that it is from the game, either, even though it's practically unchanged from the original version. 2010 Reissue: The 2010 reissue comes with a bonus DVD which was not supplied for review by Spinefarm Records, sorry guys. But the audio on this effort is top notch. If you are a fan of the album, then this is definately a copy you must have. Remixed and remastered from the original copies, much of the hollow 80's-esque sound quality of the original pressing is gone, giving a clearer sound to the album that does help the impact out greatly. It also includes the Japanese bonus track "Where Dragons Rule", which the die hard fans have probably already acquired somewhere down the road from the album's release. All of this does make for a very tempting reissue that is worth checking out by the legion of Dragonforce fans out there. While it sometimes has material that sounds like absolute overkill, the debut Dragonforce album Valley Of The Damned is an intense epic Power Metal release that falls just short of being a refreshing masterpiece. Some of the material on here will grow stale over time, but how quick will depend on the listener and their views on the band's approach to this style. Some of the tracks on here are impressive and have a real high impact on the listener, but others just seem to be rehashed from other tracks on here and can get boring pretty fast.
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