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Ultra Beatdown | 
| Artist: Dragonforce
Label: Roadrunner
Category: Music
List Price: £11.99
Buy New: £6.98
You Save: £5.01 (42%)
New (41) Used (4) from £5.99
Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 6544
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.8 x 0.4
MPN: 179372
UPC: 016861793722
EAN: 0016861793722
ASIN: B001BEX4RK
Release Date: August 25, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Tracks:
| • | Heroes Of Our Time | | • | Fire Still Burns | | • | Reasons To Live | | • | Heartbreak Armageddon | | • | Last Journey Home | | • | Flame For Freedom | | • | Inside The Winter Storm | | • | Warrior Inside |
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 Refusal to innovate October 24, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
You know, i used to consider myself quite the Dragonforce fan. They were the first power metal band i ever got into. In fact, I'm really indebted to them in a way, as Sonic Firestorm was the cd that got me into the genre and led me onto some of my favourite non-aggressive metal bands such as Blind Guardian, Sonata Arctica, Heavenly, Rhapsody and Nightwish.
So whats the problem with Ultra Beatdown? Why only one star? I must agree with many of the other reviewers that Dragonforce are one of the most technically demanding bands on the planet, and the sweep picking, finger tapping and ridiculously complicated leads are some of the best guitar playing your likly to hear this century. But does technical mean good?... if you ask me, technical virtuosity does not equal brilliance on its own. You need something else to go along with it, namely songwriting and originallity. This is what Ultra Breakdown is lacking.
All the songs on here are basically rehashes of whatever Dragonforce have done on Sonic Firestorm and Inhuman Rampage (and even that was wearing thin on ideas). Yes, just about every song has fast thrashy verses, dashes of guitar wizardy, a time change in the bridge, then a cheesy chorus over some sustained chords, then some solo's and maybe a mid paced part and repeat. No innovation, no new ideas, no new creativity. Dragonforce have their blueprint and they're sticking to it, and while this cd is dazzzling in its technical performance, its sounds kinda stale and VERY predictable to me. When you listen to other great bands of this genre, like Heavenly, Blind Guardian, Ed Guy etc or even classic metal like Maiden and Priest, the thing that keeps me going back is the variety and diversity of the songs. Dragonforce on the other hand have two styles of song; very very fast and Bon Jovi style ballad. Just about any part of any song could be rippied out and placed in another without anyone noticing, and, to be honest, i was sick of Ultra Beatdown way before it ended.
As i listen to more and more music i crave diversity, and i need a little bit of creativity and originality to keep my attention. Ultra Beatdown is simply a reworking of Dragonforce's last two albums, and if you ask me their refusal to try new things is pitiful. If you're looking for Inhuman Rampage part-2 you'll get a lot out of this. If your expecting anything new or innovative prepare for disappointment.
 never thought I would October 1, 2008
Never thought I could enjoy this band after hating them for quite sometime, but this album isn't half bad...still corny, but really enjoyable.
Apparently 'The Fire Still Burns'. Sounds Painful. September 29, 2008
So... Another Dragonforce album. Another dose of The Iron Maiden and Judas Priest Songbook played ridiculously fast with surprisingly catchy melodies and twiddly video game noises.
Let's start with the cover - it is worth mentioning for its sheer awfulness. It features a pixelated robo babe with bits of machinery protruding from various limbs and orifices. She has breasts big enough to give her backache, evidently drawn by someone with only a passing acquaintance with female anatomy and the limitations of modern lingerie. You can tell that the band were aiming for H R Giger but ended up with a variation of that bizarre robot porn that was popular for about five minutes in the 80s. Now, I wasn't expecting the elegance and smooth lines of a Peter Saville record cover but *really*... On the back the band are just looking, well, goofy and rather hairy. My wife's reaction was probably typical of many a long suffering partner of DF acolytes everywhere - 'What on EARTH have you bought? That's really, really horrible.' And that's before I even took the cellophane wrapping off the CD.
The song titles; the words heroes, fires, flames, winter, storms and freedom all feature prominently. Compare these to those found on their previous three albums. Now look at the lyrics. Oh dear. Plus c'est la meme chose, plus ça change... I'm convinced that they aren't even trying anymore; they have a little computer program at DF HQ that generates them. Perhaps they should call the next album 'More Songs About Warriors, High Temperatures and Inclement Weather' and be done with it.
But what does it actually SOUND like? Well, what do you think?
There's a singer emoting like a heavy metal version of Smilin' Stan the Salesman from the Monkey Island PC games. There's two guitarists and a keyboardist trying their absolute level best to prove that Emperor Joseph II was completely wrong - you can never have too many notes - and that Mozart chap just wasn't trying hard enough. And finally there's that poor over-worked drummer and the incredible inaudible bassist. So no change there, then.
When listening to the album you get the gut feeling that you've heard most, if not all, of these songs before. I found myself recognising guitar sequences from their second album 'Sonic Firestorm' on 'Heroes Of Our Time' and 'The Fire Still Burns'. 'Inside The Winter Storm' echoes that fantastic bit on 'Soldiers of the Wasteland' when the guitars sound like they are being played on horseback. And just like on previous albums there's little let up. It just goes on and on and on. And then a bit more. Tweedle dee ad infinitum.
Fortunately the plusses do outweigh the minuses. The melodies are strong enough to carry the accompanying musical mayhem, if only they could hold off on that incessant soloing for a few seconds. The enthusiasm of the playing seen in previous albums is still very much in evidence. And the songs do eventually stick in your head just like before. There are also moments of (inadvertent?) hilarity on the album. For example, half way through 'Reasons To Live', the tempo slows after three minutes of frantic blast beating - to a slow tango. You can imagine the drummer looking a bit like Animal from the Muppets at this point, trying so hard not to play but somehow not quite managing it... Then there's the country rock interlude, complete with slide guitar, in Heartbreak Armageddon. And the lighters-aloft moment that is 'A Flame For Freedom' that the Scorpions should start investigating with the help of Messers Sue, Grabbit and Runne. I know I've heard this tune before, but I can't quite place where...
The album does improve, mature almost, upon repeated listening. Before you know it, everything does click into place and whatever sense of déjà vu you might have felt before gradually disappears. And I still stand by my statement in my 'Inhuman Rampage' review that everyone needs a Dragonforce album in their life. Sadly 'Ultra Beatdown' is not it. The law of diminishing returns has already kicked in.
Utter rubbish. September 13, 2008
0 out of 14 found this review helpful
Original? God help us. When my wife (I'm the EPC part) and I first heard Dragonforce we thought it was a joke or something. I'm not kidding, we were actually laughing at it. It sounded like a eurovision song re-done as heavy metal. Nothing I have heard since has changed this opinion. Essentially an Iron Maiden tribute band (a bit like Trivium I suppose)but with nothing new to add, just a bit faster. The lyrics mount cliche atop cliche and really could have been written by a 10 year old. To think there are people out there that think this stuff is good, it makes my heart weep. Pick up some Tool or Mastodon for God's sake and save your souls.
 Thumbs up July 19, 2008
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
J. Martins sums this album up pretty well. It's different enough for current DragonForce fans to be pleased with as there are some differences (as said before, The Last Journey is probably the "newest" type of song for them) but it doesn't stray too far from their usual style to put people off.
I was hoping for a bit of a progression from the band so this album wasn't just a re-hash of what they've already done and, while it isn't totally new stuff, the album is really good. In my opinion this is probably their best album since Valley of the Damned, but I could just be wrapped up in the excitement of it being a new DragonForce album
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