Dragonforce @ The Forum,Melbourne (25/1008)

Mon 27th Oct, 2008 in Gig Reviews

Melbourne metal fans were treated to a spectacular performance at the Forum on Saturday night. The near full venue was the perfect setting for the turbo charged “Nintendo” metal that characterises Dragonforce’s sound. Take light speed guitar solos and harmonies, add drums, bass and chaotic keyboards, throw in a dash of solid power metal vocals for good measure and you have the recipe for Dragonforce.

Following a mixed response to support act Universim and a relatively long wait, DF started in epic style (which is what you expect from a power metal band) with a huge guitar sound and vocals.

A few songs in, singer ZP Theart commented that thanks to the crowd, DF’s most recent offering Ultra Beatdown had debuted at 18 on the Australian charts. This is a pretty fair effort given the relatively limited fan base associated with power metal compared to other musical genres.

The set list mainly focused on their two most recent albums Inhuman Rampage and Ultra Beatdown including tracks Operation Ground Pound, Heroes of Our Time, Reasons to Live, The Warrior Inside and the awesome Through the Fire and Flames from Guitar Hero III fame. There were also a few tracks from older albums including their first single release Fury of the Storm from their debut studio album Valley of the Damned.

Undoubtedly the highlight of the night for this punter was the supercharged Revolution Deathsquad with its extraordinarily technical (and long) guitar solos. Although the same could be said for all of DF’s songs. They all have amazing guitar harmonies and solos of some kind.

Another great part of the live show was the Keyboard / Guitar battle about midway through the set. Keyboardist Vadim Pruzhanof was playing a keytar and battled guitarist Herman Li on various parts of the stage. It’s the unusual keyboard effects and great whammy bar work on the guitars that really set DF apart from the rest of the power metal genre. This battle was no exception with the crowd breaking into feverish applause at the end of it The sheer technical proficiency and uplifting nature of DFs music in a live forum left all punters looking more than happy with their night.

CHECK OUT THE PIX FROM THE GIG HERE