‘Astro Warrior Anthem’ begins satisfyingly enough, Marc Hudson seeming for all the world like a rather bored Klaus Meine, but it all goes to pot less than a minute in when the noodle factory opens for business, Li and Totman clocking in for some true tweedly-dee runs that should be jaw-dropping but don’t even sound as if they were created by humans. Sure, I get it, “fastest band in the world”, blah blah blah. But there’s exactly zero emotion conjured in the entire song, a carbon copy of 95% of what DRAGONFORCE has done up until now.
‘Power Of The Triforce’ actually stands firm, the jubilant and mid-paced (for DF) fantasy theme working, the six-stringers actually reigning in their desire to walk all over everything that might draw a little more attention than they themselves. This one’s, to my ears, the best DRAGONFORCE song since ‘Through The Fire And Flames’. Replete with keys, ‘Kingdom Of Steel’ drags the tempo way, way down, practically to power ballad territory…and it’s damn good. I’m hearing maybe some TOTO / NIGHT RANGER for that AOR vibe.
After an utterly lackluster double-shot of ‘Burning Heart’ and ‘Space Marine Corp’ (which would give the U.S. Space Force’s ‘Semper Supra’, a run for its money), all the unexpected momentum I’d felt before has been dashed. Still, I soldier on. Unfortunately, ‘Killer Queen’ is more of the same, and if ‘Doomsday Party’ doesn’t make friggin’ EDGUY’s lyrics sound like Shakespeare, I’ll eat my boots. All the “Hey! Hey! Heys!” and half-arsed riffs meant to rouse the (somehow) legions of fans this band has can’t save a shit song, no matter what modernity would have us believe.
So, there we have it. Yet another cobbled together waste of my time and yours, Copy/Paste AI “metal” for the ChatGPT generation. Oh, and there’s a TAYLOR $WIFT cover. ‘Nuff said.
Review By: Lord Randall
DRAGONFORCE
Warp Speed Warriors
Napalm Records