Dragonforce - Maximum Overload

This is the second release to feature vocalist Marc Hudson and in summary, this guy is the focal point and main aspect that takes hold of you when you listen to the release, as the rest of the musicians are simply performing business as usual. Now I am not going to jump on the bandwagon and bad mouth this band, because everyone has their own musical taste. But admittedly, I fell out of favour with this band around their second album, and that was some time ago. I was one of the fans who watched these when they were known as Dragonheart, played in small pub venue to a handful of people and was then immensely proud when they appeared on the true metal stage at Wacken 2005. However, an obsession with computer gamed styled music wasn’t my forte.

So, back to the album in question, has time served them well? Hudson’s vocal range is stunning, I was apprehensive when their previous singer was no longer with them based on the bands material, but wow, listen to the range on ‘The Sun is Dead’, this is where the money is. The songs themselves are all very catchy with tremendous melodies but you will most likely be put off by the ridiculous opening tune ‘The Game’, which has unfathomable guitar work, insane drumming tempo’s, overall a clean form of extremity, it doesn’t sound right, too plastic. But, the rest of the release, this is more in tune with what the band is about, strong effortless melodies.

Melody is key here, tracks to take note include ‘No More’ with a great sing along section, ‘Three Hammers’ and ‘Symphony of the Night’. All of which show real class in terms of song writing and melody. There is a Dragonforce version of the Johnny Cash tune ‘Ring of Fire’, meh, its ok, I don’t see this guy as an influence in this band, so hopefully it’s not included for a cool factor thing, but hey, it rocks, it moves and in general I love this release as it is extremely catchy, homely and simply sits right. I don’t care for the guitar solos or the keyboard work, but that’s just my opinion. But all in all, this is a cracking melody driven release.