Dragonforce, Universum @ TheTivoli, Brisbane (27/10/08)

Thu 30th Oct, 2008 in Local News

Check out our full gallery of pics here

Adelaide death metal band Universum open the show with good guitars, dynamic drums and a screaming lead vocalist Adam Soininen delivering some angry, yet powerful music. Keyboard player Rachael Madden gives the band a sense of passion and melody, often sounding ambient in amongst the guitar solos. They played a diverse range of songs from their debut album Leto Destinatus, sounding almost European in their delivery.

Dragonforce are a hard drinking, extreme power metal band from the UK, and if you haven’t heard of them you may have been living under a rock. They have two of the fastest guitarists in the world Herman Li and Sam Totman, and when they go at it, its like watching Malmsteen on steroids. They are excellent when it comes to technique and surprisingly quite humorous and entertaining too. Playing each others guitars and performing dual acrobatic jumps on stage, they have incredible presence. Having toured extensively with WASP and Iron Maiden early in their career, they have really mastered showmanship.

Meanwhile, not only is lead singer ZP Theart highly charismatic, he has a counter tenor vocal range to boot, meaning he can sing with great power and volume at unbelievably high registers. French bass player Frederic Leclercq is phenomenal and apparently he can swear in almost every language too, which is a skill all on its own. They also have a very 80’s theme happening, especially keyboard player Vadim Pruzhanov, performing solos on a keytar, wearing stove pipe jeans and a tie. He played frantic and fast, often with this tongue, rocking ands shaking the keyboards. Dragonforce do not take themselves too seriously, constantly mucking around with each other and almost come across as geeky, especially guitarist Sam, who made bad jokes to the crowd all night, but it is a loud and fun ride. Highlights included Soldiers of the Wasteland and the encore Through the Fire & Flames, which holds the Guinness World Record title of being the hardest song to play in Guitar Hero III. A smashing good night for fans of rock that shreds your face off.