DRAGONFORCE

DragonForce is a British power metal band formed in 1999. They refer to themselves as "extreme power metal" and are known for fast guitar solos, fantasy-based lyrics, and electronic sounds in their music to add to the "video game metal" effect.

DragonForce was formed in 1998 from the remnants of the band Demoniac under the name of DragonHeart, but they changed their name to DragonForce before releasing any commercial albums due to possible issues with Brazilian band Dragonheart. Their career began with the publishing of their early songs on the first incarnation of MP3.com, claiming the top of the site's heavy metal charts. The hit song "Valley of the Damned" reached over 500,000 downloads in the first few months. Two of the original members, Steve Williams and Steve Scott, left the band to form the power metal outfit Power Quest. Sam Totman also started a side project called Shadow Warriors featuring himself and ZP Theart. Sam has confirmed many times that Herman Li was not involved with Shadow Warriors.

The band's first successful song was "Starfire" from their debut album, Valley of the Damned. It was most noted because it starts off with a piano intro, which is atypical among DragonForce songs. DragonForce have released four studio albums and toured extensively while supporting Helloween, W.A.S.P. and Iron Maiden. Their 2005 tour in support of the Sonic Firestorm album included support from Angra and Mendeed during their passage through the UK. On October 28, 2005 bassist Adrian Lambert announced his departure from the band in order to focus more time on raising his young son. Less than a month after Lambert's departure, on November 23, 2005, DragonForce were signed to Roadrunner Records in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Australia and New Zealand, who released their third studio album, Inhuman Rampage on January 9, 2006. Lambert was replaced in 2006 by Frédéric Leclercq, who was made an official member after a performance on tour.

The song "Through the Fire and Flames" is featured in the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and is generally considered to be the hardest track in the. The developers used the song to demonstrate the game at E3. After Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock was released, the band's music sales increased dramatically. Their song being featured in the game has successfully placed the band into mainstream performances.

A new DragonForce album, titled

Ultra Beatdown was released on August 26, 2008. This will be followed by an extensive North American tour through October with Turisas and then followed by a tour of Australia and the UK.
July 4th saw the release of DragonForce's first single from the new album, "Heroes of Our Time", released only on their MySpace page; however, it is also available on iTunes. The video for it was released on the band's official YouTube channel on July 9.

DragonForce's musical style includes:
Emphasis on fast, twin-guitar harmonies in speed metal styles.
Lyrics of a fantastical or epic nature, with a hopeful and optimistic attitude, often with recurring themes and lyrical phrases in multiple songs
Lyrics which emphasize comradeship and hope
Use of multi-tracked backing vocals
Use of keyboards throughout songs
Video game-influenced melodies and noises
Although the band takes their musicianship seriously, they do not embody the themes in their music. In an interview with Metal Hammer, guitarist Herman Li has stated "Oh no, it's completely serious, we have fun doing it...". DragonForce's influences are drawn from various kinds of metal such as melodic styles of rock, and in particular video games such as Wonder Boy in Monster World, and the Final Fantasy series, with lyrics comparable to themes present in fantasy games. Also, on some tour dates the band has actually come onstage to the Donkey Kong Theme.

The band have frequently referred to their style not just as power metal, but as extreme power metal. Herman Li commented on descriptions of the band's style in an interview with Guitar World: "'Nintendo metal', 'extreme power metal', 'Bon Jovi on speed', 'Journey meets Slayer', ... people are always coming up with weird labels for us." The band has often been labelled speed metal, due to the fast tempos present in their songs, but always as a supplement to other types of metal descriptors.

Current members
ZP Theart - Lead vocals (founder)
Herman Li - Lead and rhythm guitars, backing vocals (founder)
Sam Totman - Lead and rhythm guitars, backing vocals (founder)
Vadim Pruzhanov - Keyboards, backing vocals (2001-present)
Dave Mackintosh - Drums, percussion, backing vocals (2004-present)
Frédéric Leclercq - Bass guitar, backing vocals (2006-present)

Former members
Adrian Lambert - Bass guitar, backing vocals (2004-2005)
Didier Almouzni - Drums, backing vocals (1999-2003)
Diccon Harper - Bass guitar, backing vocals (2001-2003)
Steve Williams - Keyboards, backing vocals (1999-2000)
Steve Scott - Bass guitar, backing vocals (1999-2000)