Power metal is my favorite music. I'd rather have Dio or Edguy over Dragonforce though. Dragonforce is like..."babies first power metal band".

Corrin

@Kyattsuai: lmao! That's the first thing I thought when I watched one of their music videos.
REALLY wishing I still had my copy of GH3...first the virtuoso pack, and now this? I never thought Activision/Neversoft would release any good dlc for the game.

arazzor

@Arttemis: Oh man, I saw them at the Mayhem Festival a little while back. It was wonderful. They introduced the band using Donkey Kong Country as background music. Besides the Lyricist's mic volume being way to low for most of the songs, there was plenty of flare and awesome playing going on. I strongly agree they are more than good for live shows :)

My 2nd favorite performance of the night... :D What can I say, Disturbed has gotta be the best live band I've seen.

Aex

Glad to see more dragonforce, wish it had Heart of a Dragon though.

Sir_Crocidile

I liked them.. Have seen them in concert.. Continue to like them. Though I'm not extreme metal hardcore educated, so most of ya's would probably say I just don't know any better. Still it's music, their own type of audio art. Let's not be too judgmental. AND, It's enough to get some adrenaline pumpin' for me anyway. Sorry.

chesterhybridz

We will fly and fight for freedom beyond the dawn.

Hardest metal known the man.

Johnny_Under

YuSuzuki's comment: Case and point.

QualityJeverage

Say what you will about Dragonforce, but their lead singer looks more like Weird Al than that of any other band you can name.

Kyattsuai

Studioforce

YuSuzuki

@Arttemis: @Chewbenator: Maybe "suck" was the wrong choice of word. It's just the argument usually levelled against me is "Oh, you haven't seen them in concert. That's why you like them."

Maybe they're good, maybe they're bad. My point is just that a band's concert performance shouldn't effect whether I like their recorded music or not.

QualityJeverage

@QualityJeverage: Really? I saw them with three of my friends on their first American tour in 06...
Herman Lee was throwing his guitar up in the air and biting down on strings to hit notes and Vadim Pruzhanov was playing the keytar insanely.

@HigglyPiggly: Again, subjective. Their 5 minute solos and retro 8-bit sound effect recreations count as immeasurable pluses in my book.

@Pattypie: I prefer the complexity and speed.

Arttemis

@Arttemis: Herman Lee isn't the greatest guitarist, he's a very sloppy guitarist. IMO I wish his 'riffs' were more simple, I prefer simple over too fast.

Pattypie

That's cool, I've had feeling in my wrists for far too long

JimElNino

@QualityJeverage: Me too! But, I didn't think they sucked in concert. I dunno. I got Sam's autograph. I think Herman Lee was in the van playing Xbox or something :P

Chewbenator

I got their album and
could only listen to
three songs before my
head exploded.

Sullyville

@Arttemis: Herman Lee is good, it's too bad he's in a shitty band.

HigglyPiggly

im looking forward to it, though i'll never beat TTFAF on expert and probably never beat these songs on expert i still find them amusing.

demonknightinuyasha

@Niflheim: And you're trying to suggest that Herman Lee isn't a good guitarist..?

@Jeff Paine: Subjective - I consider it more enjoyable than Yngwie Malmsteen.

Arttemis

I'm a Dragonforce fan, so kill me. I know they suck in concert, but I don't care. When it's playing on my iPod, I like it, so why should I care if it's them playing it or a machine?

Either way, I enjoyed the challenge of TTFAF, so I'll be looking forward to this pack.

QualityJeverage

Y'know these songs probably wouldn't be nearly as ridiculous as they will be had the Harmonix guys worked on the notecharts.

Gantz: Your Trusted Friend in Science.

@Arttemis: So do I, but I prefer listening to good insanely paced neo-classical arpeggios and scales that require mind numbing skill with the guitar to play.

Jeff Paine

@Arttemis:
Because Dragonforce has such good guitarists, right?

Niflheim

And for the record, I enjoy listening to insanely paced neo-classical arpeggios and scales that require mind numbing skill with the guitar to play.

Arttemis

about time

TonX

@bigman88zz: Maybe to some people... except the obligatory ballads on each record.

Arttemis

Sweet, Heroes of Our Time is straight off their new album - Ultra Beatdown!!!

Arttemis

After I beat TTFATF on expert they give us this? Time to start practicing again...

thegame4ever

OMFG it feels so good to see kotaku thanks your sorry ass :) ... and for the record i hate dragonforce

Silenced

valley of the damned is pretty good.

feartheraven

Ugh..

Sublime50lbc

how does the joke go? ahhh, i remember. all dragonforce songs sound the same. :p

bigman88zz

There is no God

Jeff Paine

Well ,that's too bad.

kingdong6

+ One whoever mentioned Maiden's 08 Tour. I was at the chicago one and it totally kicked ass. I was like 5 feet away from catching Bruce's Hat that he threw in the crowd.

Bobman32x

Dragonforce... is a great challenge and a way to test your skills. If you want to be the best, go for it. Personally, I just play for fun and worry less about the challenge than I do about rocking out. If the note chart is so ridiculous I need laser-precision focus on that... I'm probably not enjoying myself.

No doubt plenty of people will love this pack. I'll stick to practising Doolittle with friends.

TheBrianIsAstonishing

Ugh, studiofarce. Can't even play their own songs live.

Yofu

Dragonforce is full of fail.

What a lame freakin song pack.

SnakesSolids

@ColtBrennan: YES! We cetainly do!

I'm thinking for a three song pack:

Selkies: The Endless Obsession
Ants of the Sky
Prequel to the Sequel

kingdong6

Yeah I'm sorry to say that I have seen Dragonforce live before, and never EVER! have I seen a lead singer pretend to suck off his guitarists using his microphone as their crotch monsters, as soon as he started doing that, everyone in the place just kind of sat there and was like, what the fuck is going on. for a metal show it was most definitely the gayest one I have ever seen. But I do kind of like their songs, something about being able to move your fingers that fast on a guitar and still make it sound good is like, mesmerizing.

Foglight55

@Corrin: That, and because Bruce Dickinson is a God.

Arttemis

Couldn't we atleast get Fury of the Storm?

Krimmson

NEED SOME "BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME" SONG PACKS!!!

please?

ColtBrennan

@Aex:
See Iron Maiden. Nothing can beat a giant mummy exploding out of a golden King Tut head.

Corrin

@Faradin: I used to enjoy Dragonforce until I saw a video of them in concert... complete joke. Really killed their music for me.

And GH3 made me really wish Harmonix was still at the helm... It just seems like Neversoft enjoys adding notes for the sake of adding notes.

cravy

Studioforce? Will not buy.

Murderdolls

Is that John Romero?

weasl

theres alot of hate towards dragonforce. Mostly from 25-90 year old men who cant say anything but "Iron Maiden" and "Metallica"

I dont know about you guys, but i enjoy metal with high-pitched lyrics. its better than a black metal band whos vocalist just growls into a microphone for 5 minutes.

I enjoy it for the guitar, yet the vocals dont destroy it.

it must take alot of bravery to get on a interblog and say "dragonforce sucks"

i dont protest whenever theres a thread about Linkin Park, ICP, Coldplay, ect. (mainly because their so shitty they dont get mentioned)

So go ahead, clown at Dragonforce. Because ill be here, sitting happily, listening to "Storm the Burning Fields" while Dragonforce sits on piles and piles of money, while you argue back at me.

its win win lose.

Faradin

Loved StudioForce until I went to one of their concerts. It is true that they can't play their songs live (at a concert for a god sakes, you know, the ones you pay for.) Erg. If you are curious, just google dragonforce live or something.

PS: only person who was trying his hardest was the drummer :(

rbleader

I saw them live in concert last year and I think I'm still orgasming. And deaf.

elevenoverzero

@cravy: OMG! Thank you! Finally someone else who noticed their are non-existent notes in GH3 expert!

Yofu

@Arttemis: If he's only suggesting Herman Lee isn't a good Guitarist, he is dancing around the issue. If he is admitting it, then we have a winner!
Dragonforce is bleh. I'll listen to it, but thats in a contest versus generic pop X.
If anyone wants to say Herman Lee isn't a bad guitarist, GIVE ME PROOF.

toejam316

OH MY GOD I MAY BUY AN XBOX JUST SO I HAVE A SYSTEM THAT I CAN PLAY THIS ON

Spyke72

Honestly, with Dragonforce, I start and stop listening with the lead track. The rest always feels like filler.

I would be kind of pissed that this leaves out My Spirit Will Go On, but now that I think about it they're probably saving that for World Tour. So, it'll work out for the best.

BananaKid

@otimus:
Dragonforce is a parody of itself, and they're well aware of it. Don't stress.

elevenoverzero

@kingdong6:

heck yes. epic songs for everyone to enjoy!

or on rock band... either way we need Between the buried and me somewhere!!!

ColtBrennan

OK, so dragonforce is popular. BUT what about other power metal(ish) bands?! I'd like to see some blind guardian, Kamelot, Iced Earth, Rhapsody of Fire, Symphony X, Nightwish, etc! They have great guitar parts!

pcgecko85

@Faradin:
"theres alot of hate towards dragonforce. Mostly from 25-90 year old men who cant say anything but "Iron Maiden" and "Metallica""

I hate Dragon Force because it's false 'tard metal. Which is in an entirely different realm from normal 'tard metal, and in it's own little escalated, terrible realm of safe metal. (Safe/baby metal being... Metallica, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, etc).

REALLY good metal? Really good metal WITH synths like Dragon Force? REALLY good stuff? You people need to listen to Falkenbach.

Falkenbach in any of this music games would be great. But it's too powerful!

Viking Metal >:O

otimus

I wonder how many new servers youtube bought for this event.

chuffhoncho

Erm, no thanks.

Benguin

@cravy:
i choose to look the other way from live concerts.

@otimus:
I listen to Jap Metal (Galernyus) more. The only other metal i really listen to is rhapsody of fire. Theres just something about metallica and iron maiden that pisses me off. Megadeth is okay tho. I checked out Falkenbach. Couldnt find anything but slideshows of mountains. Any music videos?

@pcgecko85:
Rhapsody of Fire is the shit.

Faradin

Sometimes you have such little information for an article that a headline covers everything.

Also, I'll probably pick this up. I bought one of their albums the other day, and was surprised to see that Through the Fire and Through the Flames wasn't 30 minutes long. And painful to listen to.

Thorax

Operation Ground and Pound :)

I think arguments over DragonForce are silly, but I also think all legitimate discussion over fast paced metal music is silly, probably because I'm not interested in the genre and can't tell when one band is really good and one band is not, because it all sounds the same to me.

But DragonForce, I wouldn't care if it wasn't for their singer. He sings about battling over burning fields and sailing the seven seas and all kinds of totally rad stuff like that, so I think it's hilarious and catchy, and like to listen to it.

Personally I would much rather see DragonForce on Rock Band so I could sing to it.

Mit

@Faradin:

Excuse me?

Rembrandt

Dragonforce sound great on record...they SUCK live. Ask anyone that had the displeasure of seeing them on the main stage at Ozzfest....or anywhere else for that matter.

I WANT MY SLAYER SONG PACK!
*War Ensemble
*South of Heaven
*Angel of Death

bigdonthedj

Oh wowwee... A Dragonforce song pack? Through the Fire and the Flames isn't enough? When you've heard one Dragonfarce song, you've heard them all...

How about some GOOD power metal like Hammerfall, Dream Evil, Symphony X, Blind Guardian Nocturnal Rites, etc?
If people realized how much dragonforce sucked compared to the bands listed, they would be nobodies.

FrogJon

Sounds like something I'd down-

Oh wait, GHIII for the Wii doesn't have DLC.

DSavior

Ive always thought of dragonforce as mainstream pop for a bunch of people to say wow, that guitarist is fast, and nothing else. They also did some things in GH to make it seem tougher to play than it is 'cause they put in notes for 3 guitars and a keytar.

ISAAC76

@Jeff Paine:
Don't you want to hear their sick 80's guitar riffs OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN?

If this is Activision's idea for DLC I can't wait to laugh at GH: World Tour.

GreyFoxV1

@ISAAC76:

Mainstream pop, are you retarded? So what if people only like them cause they are fast, that's kind of the point.

Ralavik

To all the haters, please show me a band that shreds as hard and as long as these guys do in their albums. It's "epic" music and I would like to see anyone try to argue against it. It is kinda dorky with the lyrics but the music is insane.

Ralavik

@ISAAC76:
"Ive always thought of dragonforce as mainstream pop"

And that's where you lost us. You can have an opinion on music, but not what genre it is. Those are facts.

Mainstream pop is your Britney Spears music. That would be like me saying "I've always thought of Britney as speed metal" and expecting you to take me seriously.

elevenoverzero

Hell yes. The only reason I bought GH3 was for TTFAF. Now this is what Ive been dreaming about and itll finally arrive! Fuck all the haters. Now my 100 bucks towards this game is finally worth it.

slackjawed

KILL M3.

Eiger

I don't understand the DF hate. I actually kinda like them. They bring the speed back to speed metal.

LuppyLuptonium

It might help if their singer didn't sound like Bon Jovi.

Probably not, though.

You Cannot Untoast

i'd prefer dragonforce over slayer :(

i'd pretty much prefer anything in the world over slayer.

but then again i'd prefer some RATM or something more real rockish than dragonforce

Zaos

Damn it. Damn it, damn it.
I thought I had finally reached a point where I could get rid of Guitar Hero 3.

brainwav

You know theyre popular if people hate them this much.

/seen them in concert. They can most definitely play their songs live and can improv too. You just have to catch them on a night when theyre not blitzed off their asses.

TheOriginalEd

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.

People who hate DragonForce overrate Dragonforce more than the people who absolutely love DragonForce.

Incarnina

@shadow300z2: I was going to argue with this until I read what their album is called.

Len Bias Cocaine Surplus

@Incarnina: Agreed.

I can't believe there is so much hate for them. They're music is catchy, corny, fast, crazy, epic, but mostly awesome. At least they have a unique sound unlike most bands.

shadow300z2

Dragonforce is fine if I don't do things like "pay attention to lyrical content"

Len Bias Cocaine Surplus

This is where the ala carte style marketplace would work far better. Because as it is DragonForce charts would only appeal to your scorehero type players. And while there are a LOT of them, I'm guessing the majority of people will think TTFaF and run the other way.

It's no fun to buy a song pack you'll never be able to beat past Medium. But people may be more inclined to buy one song from the pack just for fun.

Does GHIII still provide preview videos for song packs? I've been trying to YouTube some of the newer song packs (ex: Guitar Virtuoso) and have yet to find any videos of the songs.

TRT-X

Ultra Beatdown.

kopakauk

@bigman88zz: Shhh... You're not supposed to notice!

This news is nice...Even if I haven't had a Live Connection and I'm lacking in the points area. I'd rather have a demo for World Tour, but that probably won't be due out for a while...or ever.

Lainface

Scolars maintain that fans of Dragonforce also enjoy collecting swords, although it is not yet clear which interest sparks fascination with the other. Curious...

cheeseboybeans

@Yofu: Uh...except that they can? And with ridiculous effectiveness.

I saw them live last year, and I have to say that it was one of the most amazing live performances I've ever seen. How people can claim that they don't play their songs live is really beyond me.

GlazedDonut2186

@pcgecko85: If you were/are a girl, I would/wanna make love to you. Just for the simple idea you know of those bands. And Khan's of my favourite singers ever.

Dragonforce Dragonforce....where do I begin? I'll admit that I was a fan when I first heard Through the Fire and Flames and I went out and checked out their CD that day. I was HIGHLY impressed. Then I heard youtube clips and lost all hope with the band.

I enjoy guitar solos and I enjoy hearing bands play fast. BUT, music and quality is better for me than hearing a band do edits in the studio and can't play them live. That's what annoys me so much about Dragonforce.

If they actually play that in one take, good for them. But they have to realize that if you can't perform it live, then you shouldn't play the song live or you should simplfy it a little bit because your live show SHOULD ALWAYS be better than the studio album. If it's not, what's the point of seeing them live? Then, the band loses money while the record company gains thousands of USD on album sales while the band recieves less than 5 percent of the album sale.

This is why we have the KISS method in music - Keep It Simple, Stupid. If you can't play insanely fast stuff for 8 minutes, THEN DON'T DO IT! You usually get one chance to play the song live, and the times you don't is when you get a technical error or when the song IS SO RELIABLE ON THE ENTIRE ENSEMBLE that one person getting out of time can mess up the entire song.

Dragonforce is a fad because speed metal is the thing right now. That's why so many people enjoy Avanged Sevenfold and not bands like Rush, Kamelot, Epica, Symphony X, Dream Theater, etc that rely on complicated time signitures and lyrical compositoins and good hooks in songs. Trust me, real musicians might like Dragonforce, but they understand that the band is a fad and have already moved on to the new thing.

Dragoona

@Dragoona: And I'm also a HUGE Dream Theater and Kamelot fan. So I'm not exactly a complete n00b when it comes to metal. Yet I love the sound that Dragonforce brings. I don't know what concerts some other people saw, but the live show I saw last year was simply excellence. They played their songs EVEN BETTER than the studio albums. And some of the other things they did were just ridiculously awesome.

GlazedDonut2186

Dammit, wish they did some songs from valley of the damned. The songs on that wern't stupid as hell and sounded quite different.

DanteIX

Too bad their only semi-meh song was already in the game.

kid6488

Crazy idea: DragonForce Guitar Controllers - basically a normal one, but there's a bottle holder on the tip.

Zero_Beat

@Ralavik:

Dream Theater. Youtube "Constant Motion", but remember to dispose of your Dragonforce CDs in an environmentally-friendly manner. :)

"The Dark Eternal Night" (as you can tell from the name) is their most Dragonforce-y song, but their albums actually sound different from one another. Compare "Constant Motion", "This Dying Soul", and "Panic Attack", from their three most recent albums, respectively (the first is the newest).

I'll always side with Harmonix, since they're comprised of actual musicians. Also note that Panic Attack is on Rock Band 2.

man in gauze is king ramses II, silly.

I used to like Dragonforce, but then I grew up and realized how shitty their music is.

Listen to better music. Herman Li is not talented. John Petrucci? He's talented. Michael Romeo? He's talented.

Sparden

Great another slew of shitty youtube vids of people trying to get 100% these songs on expert. I remembered when i first got into DF when Valley Of The Damned came out after that and GH3 i lost all hope for them. Does anyone know if the new album is going to be the same shit over and over again?

MURDERFACE

And here goes the "your music sucks shit, mine is better" arguments

Xanto5824

Plunkett has no taste. Dragonforce are awesome, and more GH Dragonforce is more win in my book.

Overlord44

get a haircut you damn hippies

superjap

It is hereby decided that anyone who dislikes Dragonforce is evidently a Fox News viewer. There's your "Fair & Balanced". The same goes for the anime Code Geass.

Tye-The-Czar

wow just what everybody needs more gh3 dlc songs that won't work in gh:wt...gg suckers

CHRoNIC_Matt

Bleh... Thankfully they'll be recognizing real guitar heroes in the near future; Joe Satch an' Vai. Get Paul Gilbert in there an' they've done the brand justice.

Madriker

All Inhuman Rampage Songs(beside the Balled) sound the same. Sonic Firestorm actually has some varying sounds. I never heard Valley of the Damned so I don't know if the songs sound the same. Hermann Li is a good guitarest, just not the best like a lot of Rabid Dragonforce Fans claim.

Kaname14

Dragonforce: the hardest metal known to man.

Roshamboned

I never understood the appeal of this band. I guess if I could play scales at 160 bpm I'd be pretty popular too. Unoriginal, repetitive and forgettable.

orcus116

I am LOLing at all of the Rhapsody of Fire love I see here. I like me some euro nerd metal but come on guys. They are, at best, a novelty like Dragonforce.

Rhapsody of Fire is what you get when Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons starts a metal band and somehow gets Christopher Lee to do voice overs.

FWIW I enjoy both bands in moderation. In my collection they are filed on the gener "Nerd Metal" because that's what it is.

I wholeheartedly agree with a review of Dragonforce I read a while ago that stated that this is the music to have on your mp3 player when the zombie apocalypse comes upon us. A shotgun, lots of ammo and Dragonforce is all you would need to prevail.

olafson

People still like Dragonforce?

akumaserge

Sick pack of songs, ground and pound and deathsquad will be fun and challenging, I'm excited about the new song though. It's a pretty sweet song.

Xerosnake90

Sweet more songs to get frustrated at. :D

Your-Face-Has-To-Be-A-Lie

iamchris4life better tell his girlfriend about this now, so she doesn't act all surprised when he stops calling her (again)...

Oggy

@olafson: Nah, don't be so harsh. From a musical standpoint Rhapsody of Fire is brilliant--it actually requires talent and skill to do what they do, unlike all the crud-filled mainstream music that everyone else listens to these days.

That said, I can't deny that Rhapsody's lyrics are a bit...cheesy, with all the elves and dwarves and stuff, but that is ok because the music is otherwise damn good.

Also, Dragonforce is essentially the worst of power metal, in my opinion at least, so don't put all music in that category as "nerd metal".

fenderfuel08

Its nice to see that there is some power metal available for Guitar Hero--power metal is perfect for the game--but Dragonforce may have been a bad call.

At Vance and Falconer would have been far better choices as far as power metal is concerned, and fun as hell to play too.

fenderfuel08

Operation Ground And Pound is awesome.

Nosignalinput

@cravy:
And real guitar chords have two notes maximum? I'm sorry, but you have an entire generation of players who've played every guitar-playing game and need the complexity. It's not like they add 100+ notes to every single song. And I personally think it is better than leaving them out.

Anyway, not a bad pack. The new single isn't bad, and the other songs are pretty good. But I can never listen to them for very long. Dragonforce doesn't get stuck in my head like AC/DC, Maiden, or Metallica. :)

Benjammn

I knew that reading this thread would be at least 70% Dragonforce bashing, and yet I read it anyways. I hate when I'm right.

To all those who are talking shit about Dragonforce and their "inability to play live", I'm not going to argue that, because I've seen good and bad from them. Agreed, amount of alcohol imbibed does play at least a good portion of the cause of that, but I'm not going to argue that one way or another. Everyone's got their opinions.

More DF songs though, I'm stoked for. It's a lot of fun to play TTFaF, and is a lot more fun to play after a couple shots of tequila (or your beverage of choice). I'll be getting this pack, for sure, even though it's just going to piss me off more. Good times. :)

tf5_bassist

See, all the discussion around whether or not Dragonforce is as good as (Maiden, Symphony X, Dream Theater, Hanson, etc) or whether Herman Li is or is not a bad live guitarist (largely depends on how much he's had today)... it doesn't matter. This is not a CD, this is an expansion for a video game. You don't have to buy it. The points you get come from playing the notes, not from acting too cool to enjoy whatever gets put out there. It will be a challenge, and for me, that's all that's important. If they put out an expansion for a game that took place in an environment that wasn't your first choice, you wouldn't hate on it if it were still fun. The backdrop is all but irrelevant.

That said, they should start putting out live versions of these songs when Herman's at about .030. That would be some difficult stuff.

supershroom

@supershroom: So does the Ballmer peak ( [xkcd.com] ) apply to guitar playing then? Maybe Herman Li's just not very good at getting the balance right all the time. :)

Overlord44

I was at the Matchbox360 event this weekend and saw some kid playing TFAF on Expert with hyper speed on. His Dad was there and I started chatting to him. Apparently he's 2nd best in the world behind that chris guy.

It was pretty damn amazing to watch. Best thing he did was right at the start when got out a big pot of Vaseline and greased up the buttons, I kid you not!

TeaBean