Dragonforce

DragonForce, hailing from Britain as power metal practitioners, anchors its sonic identity in the blistering paired-guitar onslaught mounted by Herman Li and Sam Totman, whose technically dazzling solos routinely unfold across extended lengths. Their approach merges power and progressive metal with retro electronic textures borrowed from video games, producing songs that commonly deploy swords-and-sorcery imagery laced with intentional humor alongside concerts marked by unrelenting vigor and motion. After issuing Valley of the Damned in 2003 as a re-recording of their 2000 demo, the ensemble experienced explosive growth in audience across the United Kingdom, America, Asia, and South America. Beginning with Inhuman Rampage in 2006, each subsequent album contributed to an unbroken sequence of rising sales and chart performance. Reaching Into Infinity, the hook-driven 2017 album, finally breached mainstream radio airplay in the United States, while Warp-Speed Warriors in 2024 carried DragonForce decisively into the following decade.

Guitarists Herman Li and Sam Totman founded the group in 1999 alongside keyboardist Vadim Pruzhanov and vocalist ZP Theart; drummer David Mackintosh and bassist Adrian Lambert completed the roster at a later stage. Prior to releasing their debut album Valley of the Damned in 2003, DragonForce had already shared stages with Halford and Stratovarius. That debut’s impact secured the melodic rockers a global following and triggered a run of sold-out shows throughout Asia and Europe. Their second album, Sonic Firestorm, appeared in 2004, with Inhuman Rampage following in 2006 and Ultra Beatdown arriving in 2008.

DragonForce ended their association with Theart in 2010 and welcomed Marc Hudson as the new vocalist the next year. Although Hudson debuted on the sixth album The Power Within in 2012, Maximum Overload from 2014 marked the final recording for drummer David Mackintosh, who was succeeded by Gee Anzalone later that year. The band’s inaugural DVD, In the Line of Fire, surfaced in 2015; recorded in high definition at Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo, it combined DragonForce classics with material from Maximum Overload.

Work on the subsequent album proceeded amid worldwide touring, with sessions at Fascination Street Studios in Sweden under producer Jens Bogren supplemented by additional tracking in London and Witney in the U.K., Charleville-Mézières in France, and various California locations. In February 2017 DragonForce unveiled the forthcoming album’s artwork across nine Instagram posts that formed a three-panel illustration; Reaching Into Infinity reached stores in May while the group remained on the road. A remixed and remastered edition of The Power Within titled Re-Powered Within appeared in 2018. The following year brought Extreme Power Metal, the eighth studio album, tracked in Los Angeles by Once Human’s Damien Rainaud at Mix Unlimited and partly captured on guitarist Herman Li’s Twitch livestream with real-time fan input. The release marked the first without longtime keyboardist Pruzhanov, who departed in 2018. Bassist Frédéric Leclercq exited shortly afterward and was replaced by Alicia Vigil, who made her recorded debut on the ninth album Warp-Speed Warriors in 2024. Issued as DragonForce’s first project for Napalm Records, the confident set contained the Legend of Zelda-inspired single “Power of the Triforce” together with a high-velocity cover of Taylor Swift’s “Wildest Dreams.”