All the insane glory we have come to know and love from Britain’s best Power Metal band.

The main criticism aimed at AC/DC is that for thirty years they have put out the same album. While this is not exactly true, it does show that Acca Dacca stick to what they’re good at and their die-hard fan base wouldn’t have it any other way. In many ways this could be aimed at DragonForce too, whom have seldom strayed at all from their brand of scorching fury with Herman Li and Sam Totman’s duelling lead guitars and blasting drums over their six album career.

But like the Aussie Hard Rock heroes, the style works perfectly and you would frankly be mad to expect anything different. So it comes as no surprise that DragonForce come out charging on new album ‘Maximum Overload’ with all the insane glory we have come to know and love from Britain’s best Power Metal band.

Marc Hudson has well and truly settled in and with that DragonForce sound like their own band, not one that is trying to escape from their larger-than-life former front-man. Hudson’s powerful and emotive voice shines just as brightly as ZP Theart ever did. First single ‘The Game’ opens things up with a huge hook (and guest vocals by Trivium’s Matt Heafy) while ‘Symphony Of The Night’ and ‘Defenders’ ramp up the gloriously fast guitar playing and would fit easily among the very best of DragonForce’s enviable canon.

The only venture away from their comfort zone is a cover of the immortal ‘Ring Of Fire’ by Johnny Cash. It speaks volumes that it was tacked on to the end; it’s a step too far for both parties and leaves the record on a novelty low point. Shame because even if the album stayed at nine tracks rather than an even ten it would have benefitted. More than that, the ‘Force proved they don’t need to cover anybody, their superb song-writing doesn’t need any help.

Dan Bond