[5/10] United Kingdom power metal/guitar rock heroes Dragonforce started in 1999, but did not become a metal fixture until the last couple years. Roadrunner Records signed the group and reissued their 2006 effort Inhuman Rampage in 2007, resulting in a main stage slot on Ozzfest and their song “Through the Fire and Flames” receiving expert status on Guitar Hero III. Exposure such as the above led to the group claiming a guitar god-like status. Their newest release Ultra Beatdown, returns with an album based on the complex instrumental work fans have come to associate with the band and a few elements that may come as an unwanted surprise.

Characterized by epic hooks and mesmerizing guitar work, “Heroes of our Time” sets a strong early precedence for the album. This track’s opening offers a magic hat full of guitar tricks such as Sci-Fi-laden guitar notes, a barrage of finger-tip-tearing guitar scales, and dive bombing drum beats, which will surely appease the legions of eagerly awaiting fans. Although the rest of the album consists of one long musical highlight reel, the aspect that kept would-be fans away from past efforts—the exhilarating happiness that persists throughout their music—becomes a bit oppressive.

One could argue the scoffing projected upon recognizable tunes like “Through the Fire and Flames” came as a mere response to the group’s choice of style, i.e. power metal. The cheeriness of this track was not beyond the realms of power metal figure heads such as Helloween or Hammerfall, but Dragonforce gets a bit carried away throughout Ultra Beatdown. Tracks such as “A Flame for Freedom” and “The Fire Still Burns” feature metal that not only looks cliché’ on paper, but offers plenty of cliché’ lyrics in musical form. The ‘70s arena rock beginning of “A Flame for Freedom” combined with cheese ball lyrics such as “One dream in all of us still shining” become quite difficult to swallow.

Something about Ultra Beatdown just doesn’t sit well. Possibly it’s the 1970s big arena rock sound underlined by synthesizers and pop vocal segments. Because Dragonforce makes so much use of modern effects, yet incorporates ideas that ran their course decades ago, Ultra Beatdown approaches a contradictory dilemma of sounding both modern and out dated. Dragonforce is great during speedy, shredding power metal parts, and terrible when attempting ridiculous mullet rock. Is this the ultra beat down or the ultra let down? It depends on what part of the album you’re playing.

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