Dragonforce are truly an international band with members of the six piece hailing from places as far flung as Hong Kong, Ukraine, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK, although they now base themselves out of London. The tagline on the CD case claim that Dragonforce play "Extreme Power Metal, breaking the boundaries of melodic/speed/power metal". So does it do exactly what is says on the tin. The answer is probably not, but they do a pretty good job in trying...

Album opener 'My Spirit Will Go On' starts, as with many songs within the power metal genre, disturbingly softly before the ubiquitous double kick drum fusillade and machine gun guitars. The melody is extremely upbeat for a song that deals primarily with death, unfortunately the chorus does not provide a distinctive break from the chorus in terms of vocal delivery. harmony vocals litter the song and the keyboards wash over the song subtly. It is the guitar solo's where all hell really breaks loose as both Li & Totman hammer their respective fretboards for all they are worth. 'Fury of The Storm' kicks off like one of those Maiden duelling epics on Powerslave, with twin guitars fencing back and forth. The song is slightly quicker than the opening track, and if possible the guitar histrionics are even greater. In a song that is a smidgeon short of seven minutes in length the lead breaks take up almost 50% of the track as the two protagonists trade and share solos at lightning speed. There is only just time for a chorus refrain before the song ends...

'Fields Of Despair' follows exactly the same path as the previous two songs. Alas the melody does not seem quite as natural as in the opening efforts and there is the added benefit of a keyboard solo to split the two guitarists up.  Then comes 'Dawn Over A New World', and oh dear it's a power ballad. The song drains the energy and tempo that had been built up and in all honesty Theart does not sound as convincing in his vocals at the slower pace. I almost expected to hear this song in a future Eurovision.....

'Above The Winter Moonlight' takes us back in the right direction with some tasty harmony guitars opening the song, although the song could do with losing the keyboard bit that occurs between the first chorus and the second verse. Plenty of mood and time changes litter this little ditty and once again the two axemen swap solos at a million miles an hour. 'Soldiers Of The Wasteland' coming in at almost ten minutes, is by far the longest track on the album. The song opens with a nice acapella vocal harmony, before a long instrumental passage leads into the first verse. The song has a Celtic feel to it, at times reminiscent of Thin Lizzy, albeit at a greater speed with some perfect galloping rhythms and  powerhouse drumming. As with the majority of the album the guitars rip it up in the solo section aided again by the introduction of keyboard passages.

The penultimate track on the CD is 'Prepare For War', yet another galloping feast of guitar and drums, with a surprisingly mellow middle section (at least for this album!!) before we get yet another insane set of solos... The album finishes with 'Once In A Lifetime', yet another turbo charged effort, unfortunately the chorus is slightly cheesy for my taste. Yet again the guitar solos head for orbit with solid fuel boosters strapped to their  backs.. talk about shred!!

Overall the album may be ultra fast but it is certainly not ultra heavy. The melodies and harmonies are at times well above average, if at times the vocals sound a little weak. The overall impression of this album is "Jolly", which is surprising given that most of the songs deal with death and battles and the end of humanity as we know it. The band can certainly play and credit must be given for the production which is pretty damn good allowing the clarity of the almost continuous shredding to come through crystal clear. At times the songs could do with some form of editing to highlight the wheat and maybe cut out a little bit of chaff that at times seeps in, but overall a very acceptable album, albeit not one that will grace my player every day.

Let us know your views on 'Sonic Firestorm'

Track List

My Spirit Will Go On
Fury Of The Storm
Fields Of Despair
Dawn Over A New World
Above The Winter Moonlight
Soldiers Of The Wasteland
Prepare For War
Once In A Lifetime

Line Up

ZP Theart - Lead Vocals
Herman Li - Guitar
Sam Totman - Guitars
Adrian Lambert - Bass
Dave Mackintosh - Drums
Vadim Pruzhanov - Keyboards