Herman Li - DragonForce (11/08/2014)
They don't come more intense than DragonForce.
The British extreme-power-metallers have been dominating the music scene for well over a decade, bringing both technicality and melody to the heavy music scene. Their songs are long and fierce, never letting up for a single second. It's go, go, go for the band twenty-four-seven! With their sixth release Maximum Overload set to hit stores this month, DragonForce only intend on doing it harder and faster!
The 59th Sound caught up with guitarist Herman Li to talk all things Maximum Overload, of which Li was eager to speak of the album's opener, The Game is the bands fastest yet with a staggering two-hundred and forty beats per minute (BPM)!
"[The Game] is inspired by bands such as Slayer and Sepulture. We were listening to this thresh metal music and realised that it's so fast! We wondered if it was possible for us to get that fast and still keep the melody in the music noticeable and not get muddled up. Of course you can lay fast, but when you play melodic stuff, you have to sure that the melody is distinguishable. We experimented with it and it worked!" says Li.
At this rate, the idea of a two-hundred and sixty BPM track is looking likely! Li does however remain adamant about the need for melody in such intense songs.
"I have no idea if we will even do [a two-sixty BPM song]" the guitarist laughs. "Honestly, we had a two-twenty BPM song on the last album and we thought that was fast! Once again, it comes down to if we can still hold the melody. I mean seven string guitars are pretty intense and heavy so it's harder to play fast but it's still easy to be melodic!"
DragonForce are very serious when it comes to their melodies, especially for a metal band. Yet it's more than just a case of enjoying the melodic tendencies of the band, it's a matter of melody being central to the songs.
"You've got to write catchy stuff first. You have to have that aesthetic in the sound. That's the basis we always go off as it works. We write these great catchy riffs and melodies and then we see how technical we can make them to fit our sound. The aesthetic and hook is essentially the same, but we've built technicality around that."
DragonForce are often regarded as the catalyst for this extreme style of power-metal and rightfully so. The band have taken what was a staple sound of the late nighties metal scene and simply turned the intensity up to eleven.
"Before the band started, we liked this kind of music but it wasn't fast enough. Bands maybe had one or two really fast songs per album and everything else was kind of mid-tempo and the ballads weren't great. So we thought, why don't we start a band like this? The only thing is, it has to be fast! Everything has to be crazy fast and we have to have six guitar solos so we can listen to it and make the music we want to hear!" Excitement flows into Li's voice as he speaks. "We've done some slower stuff more recently actually as not many people expect us to so it kind of keeps things fresh," laughs Li.
Having been around for a number of years, the band have become a staple in the metal scene. Going from strength to strength, country to country, the band are always pressing forward. Yet the idea that the band could be considered gimmick didn't even cross Li's mind till we asked him.
"Everyone else is doing it yet we started it. We were one of the first bands to do this style and a lot of bands are taking cues from us and following us so I don't think we'll be really considered as a gimmick. Yet I do read comments like, [in mocking-deep voice]'oh every song sounds the same'. And that's because they do! It sounds similar because it is that style of music. Yet you look at metalcore and there are a lot more similarities. A lot of bands sound similar to each other yet we kind of just sound similar to ourselves I think."
One aspect of music today that is often regarded as a 'gimmick' is the cover song.
For as long as music has been around (was it ever not?) there have always been covers. As the years passed and genres were transcended, artists begun to grab the most different song style from their sound they could find and make it their own. One only needs to look at Fearless Records' Punk Goes... series to see that covers aren't just restricted by genre anymore.
And DragonForce has done the same! The closer to Maximum Overload is none other than a cover the timeless classic, Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash.
"We'd never done a cover before and we thought we never would," the guitarist stifles a laugh in retrospect, "because covers are kind of boring. If you're gonna play it the same, it's pointless. We said that if we were too one, it was gonna have to sound like us; it had t sound like a DragonForce song! We heard the song and John kind of said, 'that one! I can see that as a DragonForce song!' And when we arranged, which took like fifty minutes, it ended up working!"
With the album set to drop August 19th in Australia, the band are ready to tour the world all over again! With their lives booked up to February next year, the band are more than eager to come back down under to spread the extreme-power-metal love!
"We love Australia! It's always fun place to tour and everyone is so nice and lovely to us. We did Soundwave recently and I know that I would love to come down to that again!"
"Australia to me is a place that's a lot like home [London, England]. I feel comfortable to sit down, have a few beers and laugh away with complete strangers. That's maybe because we have very similar senses of humour. It's a bit dry and warped whereas in places like Germany, everyone's a bit more serious. Either that or our humours are just very different! But I do love Australia and as long as we're a band, DragonForce will be there every album cycle!"
Matthew Sievers
The British extreme-power-metallers have been dominating the music scene for well over a decade, bringing both technicality and melody to the heavy music scene. Their songs are long and fierce, never letting up for a single second. It's go, go, go for the band twenty-four-seven! With their sixth release Maximum Overload set to hit stores this month, DragonForce only intend on doing it harder and faster!
The 59th Sound caught up with guitarist Herman Li to talk all things Maximum Overload, of which Li was eager to speak of the album's opener, The Game is the bands fastest yet with a staggering two-hundred and forty beats per minute (BPM)!
"[The Game] is inspired by bands such as Slayer and Sepulture. We were listening to this thresh metal music and realised that it's so fast! We wondered if it was possible for us to get that fast and still keep the melody in the music noticeable and not get muddled up. Of course you can lay fast, but when you play melodic stuff, you have to sure that the melody is distinguishable. We experimented with it and it worked!" says Li.
At this rate, the idea of a two-hundred and sixty BPM track is looking likely! Li does however remain adamant about the need for melody in such intense songs.
"I have no idea if we will even do [a two-sixty BPM song]" the guitarist laughs. "Honestly, we had a two-twenty BPM song on the last album and we thought that was fast! Once again, it comes down to if we can still hold the melody. I mean seven string guitars are pretty intense and heavy so it's harder to play fast but it's still easy to be melodic!"
DragonForce are very serious when it comes to their melodies, especially for a metal band. Yet it's more than just a case of enjoying the melodic tendencies of the band, it's a matter of melody being central to the songs.
"You've got to write catchy stuff first. You have to have that aesthetic in the sound. That's the basis we always go off as it works. We write these great catchy riffs and melodies and then we see how technical we can make them to fit our sound. The aesthetic and hook is essentially the same, but we've built technicality around that."
DragonForce are often regarded as the catalyst for this extreme style of power-metal and rightfully so. The band have taken what was a staple sound of the late nighties metal scene and simply turned the intensity up to eleven.
"Before the band started, we liked this kind of music but it wasn't fast enough. Bands maybe had one or two really fast songs per album and everything else was kind of mid-tempo and the ballads weren't great. So we thought, why don't we start a band like this? The only thing is, it has to be fast! Everything has to be crazy fast and we have to have six guitar solos so we can listen to it and make the music we want to hear!" Excitement flows into Li's voice as he speaks. "We've done some slower stuff more recently actually as not many people expect us to so it kind of keeps things fresh," laughs Li.
Having been around for a number of years, the band have become a staple in the metal scene. Going from strength to strength, country to country, the band are always pressing forward. Yet the idea that the band could be considered gimmick didn't even cross Li's mind till we asked him.
"Everyone else is doing it yet we started it. We were one of the first bands to do this style and a lot of bands are taking cues from us and following us so I don't think we'll be really considered as a gimmick. Yet I do read comments like, [in mocking-deep voice]'oh every song sounds the same'. And that's because they do! It sounds similar because it is that style of music. Yet you look at metalcore and there are a lot more similarities. A lot of bands sound similar to each other yet we kind of just sound similar to ourselves I think."
One aspect of music today that is often regarded as a 'gimmick' is the cover song.
For as long as music has been around (was it ever not?) there have always been covers. As the years passed and genres were transcended, artists begun to grab the most different song style from their sound they could find and make it their own. One only needs to look at Fearless Records' Punk Goes... series to see that covers aren't just restricted by genre anymore.
And DragonForce has done the same! The closer to Maximum Overload is none other than a cover the timeless classic, Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash.
"We'd never done a cover before and we thought we never would," the guitarist stifles a laugh in retrospect, "because covers are kind of boring. If you're gonna play it the same, it's pointless. We said that if we were too one, it was gonna have to sound like us; it had t sound like a DragonForce song! We heard the song and John kind of said, 'that one! I can see that as a DragonForce song!' And when we arranged, which took like fifty minutes, it ended up working!"
With the album set to drop August 19th in Australia, the band are ready to tour the world all over again! With their lives booked up to February next year, the band are more than eager to come back down under to spread the extreme-power-metal love!
"We love Australia! It's always fun place to tour and everyone is so nice and lovely to us. We did Soundwave recently and I know that I would love to come down to that again!"
"Australia to me is a place that's a lot like home [London, England]. I feel comfortable to sit down, have a few beers and laugh away with complete strangers. That's maybe because we have very similar senses of humour. It's a bit dry and warped whereas in places like Germany, everyone's a bit more serious. Either that or our humours are just very different! But I do love Australia and as long as we're a band, DragonForce will be there every album cycle!"
Matthew Sievers