789. DragonForce / Sonic Firestorm. 2004. 3/5.

I was expanding my mind by trawling the internet one Friday evening while listening to music and drinking scotch when I came across a link that invited me to listen to the brand new song by a band called DragonForce. As it turns out, I had never heard of them, and for interests sake duly followed the link to be greeted by song that began with fury and barely stopped for breath for the next eight minutes. It could have been the alcohol, but I was entranced, and duly played it four or five more times, each time finding more I liked about it. The song was "My Spirit Will Go On", and it was my first introduction to the band. Within a couple of weeks I had purchased not only the debut Valley of the Damned, but this release as well.

If memory serves, I was excited about Sonic Firestorm over the first days of listening to it. It was new and pristine, full of ridiculous flying guitars and keyboards, double kick drums and high pitched vocals and melodies. And it was fast, like good old fashioned European speed power metal, the kind that could easily bring a smile to your face. And it did. For a while. Because then as I moved into the many multiples of listenings, rather than becoming like the company of a best friend it became like company of a person who once seemed like a nice guy, but you've now learned is a hanger-on and becomes increasingly annoying to be around.
Let's face it, as much as there is great merit in the music on this album, it does tend to sound the same all the way through the album. There is a tendency for the double kick and guitar to blend into similarity from one song to the next, and for the vocals to begin to stay in that same register wherever you are in the song or album. And while that all works while it is new, as you move further into the relationship, you begin to think it would be nice to have something that doesn't just sound similar, no matter what point of a song or the album it is that you move to.
Despite the bawling out, I still enjoy putting this album on. "My Spirit Will Go On" is followed by the equally good "Fury of the Storm". "Soldiers of the Wasteland" and "Prepare For War" are my other favourites. There are no radio-friendly length songs on this album, with nothing under five minutes. "Dawn Over a New World" is the album power ballad, which does little to redeem anything in my eyes. Yep, this style of music must have its power ballad. It surely on day will be a crime to do so.

There is no doubt that my ratings for this album diminished over a period of time from when I first got it. I'd be willing to lay odds that during that first week of purchase I could well have had it as high as four and a half stars. As that initial joy slowly wore off, and the weight of the album brought it back from the stratosphere, I learned that although I enjoyed the album a great deal, it had a few slight flaws that brought it back to the better-than-average class. Which is where it still lies today, better than average.

Rating:  You know that sanity is not as it was meant to be.  3/5

Listen to full album here