The Valley of the Damned (CD - 2003)

Dragonforce: ZP Theart (vocals); Herman Li (acoustic & electric guitars, background vocals); Sam Totman (guitars); Vadim Pruzhanov (piano, keyboards); Didier Almouzni (drums).

Additional personnel: Diccon Harper (bass).

Take a minute to listen to VALLEY OF THE DAMNED, the debut album from power metal throwbacks Dragonforce. Now pick your jaw up off of the floor. Influenced in equal measure by Maiden and Mega Man, the band craft impossibly soaring, inspirational theme music to Dungeons and Dragons games yet to be played. Guitarists Herman Li and Sam Totman simply astound as their Nintendo-honed fingers run up and down the fretboards with impossible velocity, and singer ZP Theart's Steve Perry wailing could shatter glass. The uninitiated may find the excesses on VALLEY OF THE DAMNED to be intolerably '80, and the lyrics about warriors and fantasy worlds are certainly the stuff of the terminally girlfriend-less. There's nothing funny, however, about the album's magnificent technique and deadly pop hooks. When they cut loose on dizzying songs like "Black Winter Night," who cares if it's cheesy? It shreds.

The debut album from U.K. power metal giants Dragonforce is a polarizing affair. Valley of the Damned could be construed as a bloated, Spinal Tap-style tribute to early-'80s fantasy-metal, and in many ways it is; however, it's so well played and so joyously executed that it could very well reignite the entire genre. For a band that collectively cites video game music as one of its major influences -- the nine blistering tracks do, on occasion, conjure up images of greasy-haired teens huddled around a Commodore 64 playing King's Quest -- the multicultural sextet is a master of its craft. From the epic title track to the fist-pumping closer, "Heart of a Dragon," the guitar pyrotechnics of Herman Li and Sam Totman light up the sky like a third world war, bending riffs into melodic submission while never overplaying. Vocalist ZP Theart has no qualms about emulating heroes like Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden) and Michael Kiske (Helloween), but his lupine howls have a character all their own. Dragonforce plays faster than most bands in the genre -- this may be the first speed metal pop group -- but the production is precision-tuned and never muddy, allowing the giant Slade and Andrew W.K.-style choruses the room they need to explode. Valley of the Damned may not be groundbreaking or cathartic, and lyrics like "In the land of desire with your heart filled with fire you live for the right to be free/We will sail on forever more to the land of the evening star" may cross the line into heavy metal parody, but it's undeniably entertaining, expertly played, and endlessly fun. ~ James Christopher Monger minimize