Dragonforce - Ultra Beatdown

Dragonforce - Ultra Beatdown (Roadrunner)

DragonForce play the most extreme power metal and it’s impossible to review Ultra Beatdown without the words ‘pompous’ and ‘bombastic’. They sound like every Iron Maiden song ever written, all played at once, due to the sheer speed of delivery from the masterful double axe assault of Herman Li and Sam Totman. It’s not so much heavy as fast. Really, really stupidly fast. We’re talking a hypersonic, warp speed fret attack here. Think Extreme, Europe, Poison and Skid Row all played at quadruple, if not quintuple, speed. It’s big, ballsy, cheesy and utterly ridiculous. But it’s also a whole lotta fun.