Dragonforce is a band about which it's impossible to make an untrue statement. Yes, you could say that their relentless optimism is totally gay, you could say that their guitar shredding is nothing but studio tricks, you could say that their lyrics are utterly abysmal, so on and so forth..... but this band's melodies and songwriting is damn near flawless.
Rycona
Moderator
Title: The Maestro
Joined: Nov 01 2005
Location: Away from Emerald Weapon
Posts: 2815
Posted:
Nov 20 2008 04:40 am
Their writing and studio recordings are great and I love them in that respect, but they generally suck tits live. Herman Li (sp) is good, but he's not very good live generally, which is very disheartened in terms of judging a performer.
Any live video I've seen of them has been full of errors, especially during solos. v_v
RIP Hacker.
Dr. Jeebus
Moderator
Title: SLF Harbinger of Death
Joined: Sep 03 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
Posts: 5228
Posted:
Nov 20 2008 09:14 am
No wonder no human has gotten 100% on Through Fire and Flames on expert in Guitar Hero 3; not even the fucking guy who wrote it can play it!
The three greatest heels in history...Andy Kaufman, Triple H, and Dr. Jeebus
Syd Lexia
Site Admin
Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
Posts: 24869
Posted:
Nov 20 2008 09:45 am
Sig is too big. Please resize or change. It is damn funny though.
There are a few live videos out there where they play the songs very well, but the general rumor is that they like alcohol and other various substances a little too much, and constantly fuck up live because of it. Anyway, regardless of whether or not a song sounds good live has no bearing on whether or not it's a good song. In the post-Industrial age, you have no reasonable expectation that a song will sound anywhere near as good live as it does on an album. They add in all sorts of polish, double tracking, triple tracking, ambient sounds, and all sorts of other stuff that can't be recreated live. If you want a song to sound the same live as it does in the studio, either go see AC/DC or any number of blues or jazz musicians.
Go see AC/DC. If you expect jazz musicians to play songs the same live as they did on the album, you're higher than they are. I can't imagine any real jazz musician plays the same solo twice.
The three greatest heels in history...Andy Kaufman, Triple H, and Dr. Jeebus
AncientAtBirth
Joined: Apr 01 2008
Posts: 67
Posted:
Nov 20 2008 12:32 pm
I don't believe the alcohol rumors. If they were drinking so much that they fuck up at every show they every play and start developing a reputation as the world's sloppiest band, I would assume their label would start busting their balls about it.
What they do is they record the songs much, much slower in the studio and then speed them up. Lots of pro bands do this, but they only reduce the speed by about 10 to 15 BPM, and they do it to cut down on studio time and make the recording process go smoother. Dragonforce reduces the speed by probably around 50 BPM, and they do it because they can't play the material tight at the speed that the albums are at. When they do artificial harmonics, you can REALLY tell that it's been sped up.
That said, if that's what they need to do to get an excellent sounding album, I say go for it! There are no studio tricks for excellent phrasing and overall creativity.
Greg the White
Joined: Apr 09 2008
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 3112
Posted:
Nov 20 2008 03:48 pm
I like the idea of just plain old ungodly fast metal guitar solos, but I can't fucking stand anything that involves vocals. If Luca Turilli can listen to a song, and say "Wow, these lyrics are fucking cheesy" then you've got a problem.
So here's to you Mrs. Robinson. People love you more- oh, nevermind.
"If you will not tell me, I will hurt people!!!" -Nuclear Man
"Do you hear? The alpha and the omega. Death and rebirth. And as you die, so will I be reborn!" - Skeletor
8341 unread forum updates since I left (2/7/14)... Uh-oh.
Syd Lexia
Site Admin
Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
Posts: 24869
Posted:
Nov 20 2008 04:01 pm
Instrumentals remind me of jazz, and jazz reminds me of the WFNX Sunday Jazz Brunch, which reminds me of falling asleep on car rides to my grandmother's house because jazz is so goddamned boring.
If Luca Turilli can listen to a song, and say "Wow, these lyrics are fucking cheesy" then you've got a problem.
Did Luca Turilli really say that? I will definitely never defend Dragonforce's lyrics, but ol' Mulletor is in no position to speak - I'll take Dragonforce's crap over ANY spoken word section from Rhapsody. As much as I love Rhapsody, their spoken word seriously makes me want to have an anal evacuation.
Worth mentioning: any metal song with Christopher Lee on vocals = epic win.
Greg the White
Joined: Apr 09 2008
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 3112
Posted:
Nov 20 2008 06:34 pm
Syd Lexia wrote:
I can't stand instrumentals. I need lyrics.
Sorry, I meant their lyrics.
And no, Luca didn't say that, I was making a joke.
So here's to you Mrs. Robinson. People love you more- oh, nevermind.
mjl1783
Joined: Aug 13 2008
Location: Watertown, NY
Posts: 131
Posted:
Nov 20 2008 10:05 pm
Meh. It's great to see the cheese is coming back to hard rock music, but Dragonforce bore me. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for show-off-y techincal music, but there's only so much of that quarter-quater-triplet rhythm and those tremolo picked scales I can listen to. Oh, and that harmonized tapping they do with the sides of their picks is fucking obnoxious.
As far as their live slop goes, who cares? I don't go to live shows to hear note-for-note recreations of studio tracks, I go to see a show.
Rycona
Moderator
Title: The Maestro
Joined: Nov 01 2005
Location: Away from Emerald Weapon
Posts: 2815
Posted:
Nov 20 2008 10:57 pm
mjl1783 wrote:
As far as their live slop goes, who cares? I don't go to live shows to hear note-for-note recreations of studio tracks, I go to see a show.
For me, the music is 95% of the show. I don't expect anything to be note for note, of course, I just expect them not to play so shitty.
If it is alcohol, then they need to stop. Granted I don't play Dragonforce live, but my band plays relatively technical stuff well and we're usually drunk and/or stoned beyond belief.
If it's slowing shit down in the studio, that's cool because I still like the music, but don't play live. I think it's somewhat disrespectful or at least distasteful to attempt to play songs that you can't play live, especially when people are paying X amount for tickets. Then again, I'm more for the music itself, so this thought process is natural.
If it's both, that's just plain fucking careless.
I love instrumentals (generally) and I love jazz (generally). A lot of songs I've listened to for years I still don't know most of the lyrics too. That's just my perception. It's about the music, baby!
RIP Hacker.
JRA
Joined: Sep 17 2007
Location: The Opium Trail
Posts: 3475
Posted:
Nov 21 2008 12:03 am
Syd Lexia wrote:
I can't stand instrumentals. I need lyrics.
Funny, I rarely pay attention to lyrics anymore, especially with bands that have vocalists who aren't exactly easy to understand. For example I love Children Of Bodom, but I've never been able to figure out what the hell Alexi Laiho is saying. So I guess I kinda of regard the vocals as instrumental cadances.
and FYI, Gamma Ray is the real Dragonforce.
There are a lot of what if's in life Donny. What if I hit you really hard in the face, knocked yo shit to the back of yo skull? What if I....had you girl gargle my nuts? The fact remains, you are a fuckin mutant.
MOGHARR
Title: The Original CandyWafer
Joined: Apr 05 2007
Location: Under Jolly Roger
Posts: 2718
Posted:
Nov 21 2008 12:07 am
JRA wrote:
and FYI, Gamma Ray is the real Dragonforce.
Yes. Gamma Ray does power metal for realz. Dragonforce to me sounds like "oh look, riffs! happy sounds on guitar!"
"Well I don`t judge most things by graphics, reality has amazing graphics, and I don`t like it, that`s why I play video games." Laminated Sky on Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
JStrangiato
Title: El Hombre Strangiato
Joined: Jun 12 2007
Location: Texas
Posts: 1291
Posted:
Nov 21 2008 01:19 am
Dragonforce is good for one or two songs, but after that, it kinda gets old. I have difficulty sitting through an entire album, for some reason.
Chondra "Mrs. Claudio" Sanchez on Enshin a.k.a. Jake Strangiato wrote:
I really like this person.
Rycona
Moderator
Title: The Maestro
Joined: Nov 01 2005
Location: Away from Emerald Weapon
Posts: 2815
Posted:
Nov 21 2008 01:57 am
enshinkarateman wrote:
Dragonforce is good for one or two songs, but after that, it kinda gets old. I have difficulty sitting through an entire album, for some reason.
I can definitely see where you're coming from on that. I downloaded an album and I couldn't make it through... so I limit the Dragonforce that I hear so it doesn't kill it.
RIP Hacker.
Blackout
Title: Captain Oblivious
Joined: Sep 01 2007
Location: That Rainy State
Posts: 10376
Posted:
Nov 22 2008 11:35 am
Sounds like a faster version of Blind Guardian.
Ice2SeeYou
Title: Sexual Tyrannosaurus
Joined: Sep 28 2008
Location: South of Heaven
Posts: 1761
Posted:
Nov 25 2008 01:36 pm
Blackout wrote:
Sounds like a faster version of Blind Guardian.
Except that Hansi Kursch is a great singer, and the Dragonforce guy sucks. I think I'd like DF better if they had a more powerful singer who could match the tone of their songs.
That said, I don't listen to them much, but they have a few songs I like. Pretty much just for working out, though.
Sydlexia.com - Where miserable bastards meet to call each other retards.
Burt Reynolds
Title: Bentley Bear
Joined: Apr 07 2008
Location: California
Posts: 1399
Posted:
Nov 25 2008 02:20 pm
AncientAtBirth wrote:
Dragonforce is a band about which it's impossible to make an untrue statement. Yes, you could say that their relentless optimism is totally gay, you could say that their guitar shredding is nothing but studio tricks, you could say that their lyrics are utterly abysmal, so on and so forth..... but this band's melodies and songwriting is damn near flawless.
>
I don't really mind them, but it's funny because my reasons are pretty much opposite to yours. I see them as a novelty band, with relatively weak songwriting. They use the exact same song structure for every song, near identical key signatures and especially during the chorus, chord progression. I see their melodies as merely catalysts for their 2-4 minute guitar interludes, which is fine. Listening to somebodies amazing talent at playing an instrument can be as enjoyable as listening to a deep, complex melody with intricate song structure. Then again, I like to listen to punk sometimes and that usually has none of the above.
Dances with Wolves 2 is gonna ROCK!
AncientAtBirth
Joined: Apr 01 2008
Posts: 67
Posted:
Nov 26 2008 01:59 pm
Ice2SeeYou wrote:
Except that Hansi Kursch is a great singer, and the Dragonforce guy sucks. I think I'd like DF better if they had a more powerful singer who could match the tone of their songs. .
Hansi is fucking god! He's pretty much ruined his voice at this point in his life, but he's easily my favorite metal vocalist.
Evilwii
Joined: Oct 06 2008
Posts: 43
Posted:
Dec 03 2008 07:54 pm
Dr. Jeebus wrote:
No wonder no human has gotten 100% on Through Fire and Flames on expert in Guitar Hero 3; not even the fucking guy who wrote it can play it!
