DRAGONFORCE Drummer Talks Gear

February 2, 2010

Tama went backstage at a special DRAGONFORCE show for an in-depth chat with drummer Dave Mackintosh and his road technicians regarding his Starclassic Birch/Bubinga stage kit. Watch the clip below.

DRAGONFORCE will have its first two studio albums — "Valley Of The Damned" and "Sonic Firestorm" — reissued on February 22, 2010 via Spinefarm Records U.K.

Both titles will now be available with updated packaging and bonus audio/DVD content, some of it exclusive to these releases.

Formed in 1999, DRAGONFORCE issued its "Valley Of The Damned" debut in 2003 — an impressive nine-track showcase for their accomplished power metal forays. Containing a host of songs that still rank amongst the most popular of their output, the likes of "Black Fire", "Evening Star" and the title track itself, "Valley Of The Damned", has now been remixed and remastered to allow every aspect of the recordings to make maximum impact.

"Fans who have heard the original mixes many times might find that the songs sound a bit different now," observes Li, "but that's how we always wanted the original songs to sound. We just didn't have the time back then to make everything the way we wanted."

The studio track "Where Dragons Rule" has now been added to the audio side, and there is a bonus DVD featuring never-before-seen live footage ("Valley Of The Damned", filmed in Japan),behind-the-scenes material (also from Japan),video commentaries, plus in-studio interviews and clips (shot in Denmark and the U.K.),all of it lovingly assembled by Li himself.

2004 saw the release of follow-up album "Sonic Firestorm", which gave the band the chance to hone their skills and push their fast-lane tales of fantasy to a whole new level. They were happy with "Sonic…" at the time and remain so to this day, which is why the mixing and the mastering have been left just as they are; however, the packaging has been upgraded, an extra track added ("Cry Of The Brave" — a song the group felt uncomfortable taking off first time around),and — as with "Valley…" — a bonus DVD added, this one featuring live footage from Japan ("Fury Of The Storm"),video commentaries plus freshly recorded interviews with the band members themselves.

As a way of celebrating the recordings that effectively launched DRAGONFORCE's international career, both reissued albums will be included in a limited-edition box set along with exclusive band merchandise and various collectible items.

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).