Band:	DragonForce
Album:	Warp Speed Warriors
Style:	Power metal
Release date:	March 2024

01. Astro Warrior Anthem
02. Power Of The Triforce
03. Kingdom Of Steel
04. Burning Heart
05. Space Marine Corp
06. Prelude To Darkness
07. The Killer Queen
08. Doomsday Party
09. Pixel Prison
10. Wildest Dreams [Taylor Swift cover] [bonus]
11. Doomsday Party [feat. Elize Ryd] [bonus]
12. Power Of The Triforce [instrumental version] [bonus]

The Warp Speed Warriors of DragonForce bring all of their warped silliness and high-octane speed to the party in this latest instalment.

Since forming back in 1999, the UK power metal act have developed quite some reputation for themselves. Whether you find them good or bad, you simply can't deny the cheesy, catchy, light-hearted fun this lively, energetic group bring to the party. Whilst some may cringe at the thought of DragonForce offering up a new release, others will jump for joy, and you don't need to be a fantasy role-playing, comic book-loving fanatical nerd to appreciate what this band does, despite their outrageous silly themes. I'm, however, on the border, and will be writing this review as someone who has not been excited by the group, but nor do they overly make me cringe.

From this perspective, the band's 9th full-length release to date, titled Warp Speed Warriors, has an apt name (despite its corniness) when considering what DragonForce have presented here. The songwriting may be a bit on the warped side, which we've come to expect by now, but one thing this album definitely has going for it is speed, real breakneck, ferocious speed. The crazy shredding solos and surging power metal riffs provided by founding guitar duo Herman Li and Sam Totman, are supported by the insanely fast rhythm section of drummer Gee Anzalone and new bassist Alicia Vigil. On top of this instrumentation are epically orchestrated symphonic arrangements, and, of course, the powerful, eccentric lead vocals of Marc Hudson.

The album's fairly hefty 58 minutes may by itself feel like an overkill of silliness to many, although this runtime includes three bonus tracks: a Taylor Swift cover in "Wildest Dreams", a rendition of "Doomsday Party" featuring Amaranthe's Elize Ryd, and finally an instrumental rendition of "Power Of The Triforce". As far as the main part of the album is concerned, it begins with the reasonably good opener, "Astro Warrior Anthem"; it is joyously melodic, containing an insanely catchy chorus supported by enthusiastic backing vocals. The 'main' version of "Power Of The Triforce" immediately follows and maintains this solid start; however, as Warp Speed Warriors progresses, the consistency of the songwriting is sadly not maintained.

As far as the relative highlights are concerned, "Burning Heart" borders on the extreme end of power metal, with super melodic high-octane riffs and exhilarating shredding leads, but it's the mid-song tempo change and epic build-up that's the highlight of the track. Unfortunately, the instrumentation is slightly spoiled by quite a daft chorus, with a rather silly voice over that's used on more than one occasion. The other standout track on the album, "The Killer Queen", is an excellently performed, energetic, catchy track that avoids being too cheesy, and shows the band's true quality when they really put their minds to it.

Overall, DragonForce have offered yet more light-hearted fun power metal to enjoy if not taken too seriously, only this time they've added some extra speed to the occasion. Performance-wise, you can't fault them, and minus a few minor hiccups in the songwriting department (particularly the major hiccups that are "Doomsday Party" and "Space Marine Corp"), Warp Speed Warriors is actually not a bad effort entirely. It has some enjoyable headbanging moments, even if it's a far cry from what the band have delivered in the past.