DRAGONFORCE is the biggest modern age Power Metal band out there, debuting big time in 2003 with "Valley of the Damned" and reaching the apex of their career when "Through the Fire and Flames" was unleashed upon the face of the earth with a great boost from the video game "Guitar Hero". Until 2017, they have released seven equally successful albums - although many journalists and even fans noted that they might be in the beginning of the downstream of their career when they released "Reaching Into Infinity". Despite the comments, I personally find the said album rather decent - nothing too special but not bad at all. This year, they are releasing their eighth studio album called "Extreme Power Metal". Intrigued by the title? Let me talk to you about it then.

If you have been following this band since ZP's era, you might have noticed that their sound changed as he left. He is not a major contributor when it comes to songwriting, so you might also speculate that it must have something to do with Marc's different vocal attack. Don't get this wrong though - I have nothing against Marc - in fact, he proved to have a wider range than ZP, and he is also a way better live singer. But for the record - DRAGONFORCE was pretty more extreme during ZP's stay, and that died slowly from "The Power Within" and onwards.

You might have already heard the single "Highway to Oblivion", and from that track you can judge whether the album is really extreme or not. Spoiler: No, it's not. But that doesn't make it a bad album. Like how I find the previous one, this album has nothing too special, nothing too bad - except maybe for one completely out of place track (you might guess that easily, just see the track list). Of course it has that DRAGONFORCE signature of prolonged shreddy solos and catchy choruses. Taking a closer look, this album is shorter (53 minutes) compared to the rest of their recent albums ("Sonic Firestorm" played for more than an hour with just nine tracks and "Ultra Beatdown" consumed 58 minutes through eight songs). That did not mean lesser shreds though, as it is their undisputed main ingredient - and they emphasized that in the song "Cosmic Power of the Infinite Shred Machine". Meanwhile, they tried applying small folk touches in the song "The Last Dragonborn" - which turned out to be fine. The folk tunes added flavor the song even though it's too repetitive. They also displayed a little reflection of GAMMA RAY with the opening moments of "Troopers of the Stars" - too bad it was all in the intro. The most memorable track in the album has to be "Remembrance Day". In the song, they showed that they can in fact slow down for a while. Its marching rhythm gave it an epic and atmospheric feel. But then again, that's about it.

While the album possesses an energy that can be hardly matched, it doesn't keep things interesting all the time. Maybe that's because I have already heard every DRAGONFORCE album, and the fact that it was the same formula didn't help at all. You see, there's really not a lot to say about this album because it's basically the same album like all those that they released after "Ultra Beatdown". If you have no idea about it, look up "Cry Thunder", "Tomorrow's Kings", and "Judgement Day" on YouTube - just like that, you'll already know what this album contains.

Clearly, DRAGONFORCE is on a decline. The lyrics, the riffs, and everything in between - it were all recycled from their previous releases. While the songs are in fact "good" enough, you just can't help but get tired and bored of it - and look for something fresh. "Extreme Power Metal" is a case of extreme beating of a dead horse that was once galloping mightily across the realms of Power Metal. But worry not, they are not on the way to becoming a parody of themselves (yet). Instead, they want first to become a meme. Ever heard about their new bassist?