Ultra Beatdown (W/Dvd) (Spec) | 
| Artist: Dragonforce
Label: Roadrunner Records
List Price: $21.98
Buy New: $11.70
You Save: $10.28 (47%)
New (44) Used (10) from $11.70
Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 4658
Format: Special Edition
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 2
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 179378
UPC: 016861793784
EAN: 0016861793784
ASIN: B001BEX4S4
Release Date: August 26, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
Disc 1
| • | Heroes of Our Time | | • | The Fire Still Burns | | • | Reasons to Live | | • | Heartbreak Armageddon | | • | The Last Journey Home | | • | A Flame for Freedom | | • | Inside the Winter Storm | | • | The Warrior Inside | | • | Strike Of The Ninja | | • | Scars Of Yesterday |
Disc 2
| • | Making of Ultra Beatdown | | • | Making of E-Gen - The Herman Lis signature Ibanez Guitar |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
On the way to selling over 300,000 albums and spawning a gold digital
single, DragonForce went from being one of metal s fastest bands to
a cultural phenomenon thanks to constant touring and a little game
called Guitar Hero. The song Through The Fire And Flames was
included in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and helped spread the
name and music of the band. Now, the band is back to deliver an
Special edition contains three bonus tracks as well as a making of the
album and a special behind the scenes making of Herman Li s guitar. Ultra Beatdown to the unsuspecting public. This album takes off where
Inhuman Rampage left off, with soaring, epic vocals and lightning fast
guitar solos. Led by the single and incredible video, Heroes Of Our
Time, the album will continue to spread the name DragonForce from
message boards to schoolyards and beyond.
Album Description
As Dragonforce, the multi-national Power Metallers based in London, prepare to release their fourth album, nobody who understands the world of Metal can have any doubt that 'Ultra Beatdown' will propel the band into becoming a Major Global phenomenon'. If 'Valley Of The Damned' established the sextet's fearless credentials in 2003, then 'Sonic Firestorm' ('04) and 'Inhuman Rampage' ('06) each took them further forward. In fact, the last named has now sold in excess of 300,000 copies in America alone (certified Silver in the UK), with the inclusion of the manic shred-fest of 'Through The Fire And Flames' in the 'Guitar Hero' game powering Dragonforce into being the most successful new British metal act in America for two decades! The process in creating the new album began an amazing 18 months ago with a brief break at the 2007 for the 'Black Crusade' European Tour."We didn't ever feel as if there was a time scale involved here. We just did whatever it took to make this the best album of our career to date," insists guitarist Herman Li. "Our songs develop, evolve and change as we go along. It makes the studio an interesting place, because we'll come up with new ideas all the time.Lyrically, we're taking a look at life and what goes on in the world, but doing this in the usual Dragonforce way!"
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 DragonForce - Ultra Beatdown August 28, 2008
Gandhi the Vile (Tulsa, OK)
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
"Ultra Beatdown" (2008) is the fourth album from epic power metal band DragonForce. By and large, it's more of the usual for DragonForce - super-fast songs and the most guitar solos for your dollar. "Ultra Beatdown" is about as good as their previous releases, and slightly more ambitious.
"Ultra Beatdown" is plagued by the same problems DragonForce has had before: when every song has the same blistering tempo, they all tend to run together. There is a little more musical variety here than on "Inhuman Rampage" (2006), although the lyrics and themes continue to be repetitive, making the songs all the more interchangeable.
The special edition of "Ultra Beatdown" contains two extra tracks, both of which are slightly different from the standard DragonForce fare, and good in their own right. It also has a DVD featuring "The Making of `Ultra Beatdown'" and "The Making of E-Gen Guitars with Herman Li". Neither is particularly compelling.
Ultimately, DragonForce is unique in that no one else is doing what they're doing as fast as they're doing it. If you like DragonForce's previous work, you'll like "Ultra Beatdown".
 Addicting CD. Best to date. October 1, 2008
Noddy Holder (Sunny FLA United States)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is by far Dragonforce's best CD to date. Insane musicianship, great production and catchy choruses (YES, they're cheesey as hell, but they ARE catchy!)
I read a lot of negative stuff on these guys saying that they can't write decent songs (which I totally disagree with) and that the guitarists enhance their parts in the studio with multiple layering and Pro Tools gimmicks, but I have never seen any discussions on the drumming. How in the hell can a drummer play that fast and precise??? I used to be a thrash metal drummer (albeit not a very good one), and I simply cannot fathom the thought of any human being able to play a double kick that fast and handling intricate fills that quickly and perfectly. If anything, I think that the drumming is mostly computer programmed (even more so than the guitar parts)!
I also read a lot that they cannot pull this stuff off live. That may or may not be the case, but also remember that the Beatles stopped touring in '66 because they new that they couldn't re-create their studio stuff in a live atmosphere as well and no one held that against them. I have tix to see them live in November, so I guess I'll find out then.
All in all, I think that these guys are great for the metal community in general. Wouldn't you all rather see a long haired teenage kid in a Dragonforce t-shirt than sporting some lame rap or Emo band nonsense? Returning and keeping the faith!!!
Dragonforce changes lives... August 26, 2008
J. Wirth (Baghdad, Iraq)
3 out of 8 found this review helpful
Good news...after so many opportunities to sell-out and conform to the norm, Dragonforce gives the odds an ultra beatdown: pun intended. Right out the celophane this album takes casual listeners and hardcore fans alike down a treacherous path of honor and glory. As always, Dragonforce delivers a powder-keg to our diminutive (in comparison) stereos. Songs like 'Heroes of our Time' are sure to be the favorites of adolescents searching for an uplifting melody, motivating rhythm, and inspiring lyrics. 'The Last Journey Home' is an ethereal mind-freak leaving listeners feeling violated by a Bowie-esque, demon-possessed space traveler on his way home from the first Death Star battle. Finally, 'Scars of Yesterday' takes us all back to the days of old school Nintendo games like 'Double Dragon,' 'Street Fighter,' and 'MegaMan.' Close your eyes and recall the days of 8-bit entertainment. Now, imagine the dark lord Sauron himself coming down from Mt. Doom and crushing your face with his giant mace of death...it's kind of like that. All in all this album is everything you'd expect from the metal gods that are Dragonforce. Soaring vocals, inspiring and evocative lyrics, deadly guitars, unnecessarily accurate drumming, and most of all an attitude of 'hey, we're not selling out, we're just getting better.' Five minutes into the album one can feel how polished these guys have become as musicians. Five stars plucked straight from the heavens!
5 STAR CD, 1 STAR FAKED DVD!! August 29, 2008
Daniel Music (Ponce,PR)
3 out of 8 found this review helpful
CD
The CD is a great follow up to Inhuman Rampage,it has all their classic elements Soaring Vocals,Warp Speed Guitar,Solid Drumming,etc.
It even has some variety in it witch is good because their other albums can get pretty exhausting.A great example of this variety is the third song "Reasons to Live" witch starts out with a very heavy intro with grinding drums,then it converts to the classic Dragonforce style,and then they break it down in the middle with some mellow guitar solo's [slightly mellow,,they do tear it up but in a different context],then it gets a little progressive for a second until it settles back down to their trademark sound.The CD has various moments like these that make the album a more enjoyable listen than their more tiresome works.
The only things that bother about the album is that the lyrics [as with some of their other work] are very similar and a little corny,for example:"We all face our fears in the world,We all hold our place in the universe...For Eternity" you get the feeling that they have a bag full of words like Eternity,and Universe,and frases like So Far Away witch we've heard a million times,and they toss it to see how the words match up.But aside from that I think it's a great album.
DVD:Mostly Faked
Here is the bad news.I had read an interview with Herman Li about how they were filming all the sessions of Ultra Beat Down to show the people who say that they speed the tape up or that they don't actually play that clean that they actually do play like that.
Well the DVD is a rip off,"The making of the album" only lasts about 15 minutes and shows a little bit of everyone recording,the truth is that it shows very little of everyone including the guitar work,some of witch is acted out as if they were playing but not so.Ok here's the exact times for you to see for your self and i'm shure you Will see it,Right at the beginning of chapter three you'l see Sam sitting at his computer,he starts the track,looks at the camera and says "Film that" pointing to the Wammy pedal then while he is not touching the guitar the solo starts and he quickly looks foward and picks the string [if you watch and listen carefully thanks to the cameras microfone you can clearly hear his late pick stroke well after the solo started]and if you are a guitar player look as the solo goes on,you'l see the inconsistency with what you are hearing and what he's doing with his left hand [his fretting hand]towards the end of the solo.There are 2 good solos on the DVD,#1 is Sam's BUT! he is recorded from behind!!! you can bearly see his right hand! so who knows if he really did it, we know he faked one for shure so we can only speculate if that one is real ,there is another solo by Herman witch is from the front and it IS real but he messes it up so you know it wasn't even the final take!.
The Keyboard player also is recorded "Pretending" to Play 3 times!, first on chapter #1 on some mellow piano parts you'l see that Exactly at 3:29 he will hit an octave that does not emit sound [as with Sam's guitar solo if you listen carefully the camera mic even pics up the thumping sound of when he hits the keys,I recomend using headphones] ,that is because he hit the octave too early ,he'l do it right on 3:32..oops!,also [a little harder to spot]check out his solo in chapter 3, it does not match his finger movements either. Even his solo with the Theremin [the one that has the music running at about 4:20 in chapter #1] is fake,you'l see this when in some parts the pitch is going down but his hand is getting closer [witch should make the pitch go up not down,as seen when he was messing around with it before]in fact at about 4:50 it will not respond at all to his hand movements.
The making of Hermans guitar is ok but of course he does not play one note on it and lasts about 9:35.
Conclusion:Great CD ,but the DVD raises more questions than it answered.I recomend you don't get the DVD version because it simply is not worth it,borrow it and see for your self,or check out their "Betcha can't play this" on americas favorite video site to see their inconsistency first hand [I don't know how they even let that vid be released!].
I am a Dragonforce fan and I think they are awesome players but I don't think they are as perfect as they seem in the studio.
Dragonforce is like drugs August 26, 2008
Micah Killian
2 out of 13 found this review helpful
First, if you haven't already bought this album (HEATHEN!), go to Dragonforce's Myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/dragonforce and listen to Heroes of Our Time and other past Dragonforce songs.
Now, onto the review.
I'm not a "frothing at the mouth" Dragonforce fan, nor would I consider myself one that "kinda digs" them, nor one that "likes guys". I'm out of froth, I am frothless, FROTHLESS!, without FROTH. I've grown beyond "kinda dig" and moved up to "HOPELESSLY AND ABSOLUTELY WITHOUT A DOUBT ADDICTED". I'm a Dragonforce junky, JUNKY!
So begins my story...
"So I've been popping Inhumane Rampage pills and injecting myself regularly with Sonic Firestorm, but it just isn't enough any more. I need more, man, I need more. I need some of the good stuff. Give me some more of that good stuff you got, man. DUDE! Where's the good stuff?" I ramble before putting my headphones back on. Far in the distance there was one that heard my cries. He replied, "We're on it, buddy!" and then like two years later he gets back to me and says, "Hey, it's almost here, pal," but I've got my headphones on still so I can't hear him.
Moments later I collapse from my chair, an empty shell of a man. My body can't take the wait any more, it's had it. I cry out to my mom from the basement, "NEED...MORE...CUPCAKES!" She comes flying down the stairs with a platter full of those homemade bit-sized delights and slowly piles them inside my mouth until I nod my head, signaling that I am satisfied. She wipes a tear of relief from her weary eyes and then she ascends back into the other world until her services are needed once again.
I lie there, spread-eagle and perfectly okay with that, chewing the previously mentioned cupcakes. I ask myself, "Is this what I am here for? Is this all there is to it?", but before I can answer, I hear a bell ring on my computer and jump up to investigate it. It's a message from the outside world,
ULTRA BEATDOWN AVAILABLE FOR STREAMING IN ITS ENTIRETY
Immediately I piss my pants and start screaming, SCREAMING, screaming like a those monkeys you see in the zoos that don't know what's in the food but don't care because it's GREAT. I rip off my clothes and start bouncing around my underground domain, spreading creamy brown cupcake-poo all over everything and flinging boogers at imaginary on-lookers. After my initial high dies down and I return to my computer chair (still fantastically nude and perfectly okay with that), I go to Dragonforce's Myspace page and start playing Heroes of Our Time.
It's too much for me, though, and I lose control and start screaming at my computer, then I run over and scream at my bed, then at my torn clothes on the piss-stained floor, then at myself in my mirror, then back at my computer again.
After coming to my senses, I sit back in my chair (still deliciously naked and loving every minute of it) and start the song over again. I control myself for the rest of the album and listen to the whole thing perhaps five times non-stop. And by controlling myself, I mean I jumped onto my desk and danced around with my you-know-whats swinging all over the place with my violent pelvic gyrations, but fearing shaken baby syndrome, I refrained.
Now I am here, listening to The Fire Still Burns from Ultra Beatdown for the fifth (or five-hundredth?) time, sedate and still sporting my birthday suit. "Now this, THIS, is the good stuff!" I exclaim. "I'm glad you like it, friend," says a voice from afar.
FIN
This album is way better than that incorrectly labeled Dramatic Chipmunk and a thousand times better than Russian mail-order brides. If you don't buy this album, it will find where you live and beat up your dad, burn your house down, and do perverted things to your dog and cat. Buy it now before it's too late.
By the way, for around a week Dragonforce had this entire album on their Myspace page free to listen to (although it was lower quality than the CD), but shortly before releasing the album they took most of the songs down. Personally, I think that was a dumb move, but music industry executives are notoriously stupid and more behind the times than your average caveman, so it's not unexpected. I'm sure the humble reader will have no trouble finding 8,720 sites on the internet using the Google search "download ultra beatdown torrent" to download the songs and evaluate them, since Roadrunner Records took your legal alternative away.
One other thing, the DVD that comes with this special edition is alright. The guitar commercial was boring for a layman such as myself, but I suppose a musician might appreciate it. However, the 'Making of Ultra Beatdown' was quite entertaining. I especially liked Vadim's part in it. Dragonforce fans should enjoy it.
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