Ultra Beatdown

Infobox Album |
Name = Ultra Beatdown
Type = Album
Artist = DragonForce

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Released = ^Japan Start date|2008|8|20
^Global Start date|2008|8|26
Recorded = 2007 – 2008
Thin Ice Studios, Surrey, LamerLuser & BATMAM Studios, London.
Genre = Power metal
Length = 58:18 (76:49 for special edition)
Label = Roadrunner, Universal, JVC, Spinefarm
Producer = Karl Groom, Herman Li, Sam Totman
Reviews =
*"Allmusic" Rating|4.5|5 [http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:0ifexzrkldje link]
*"Alt Press" Rating|4.5|5
*"Billboard" [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/content_display/reviews/albums/e3if01d9e91f82d7f2901badc7754c70f6f link]
*"Kerrang!" Rating|4|5Fact|date=August 2008
*"Metal Hammer" rating-10|7 [cite journal|quotes= |first=Dave |last=Ling|date=September 2008|title=Ultra Beatdown review |issue= |pages=page 87|publisher="Metal Hammer" |location= |url= |language= |accessdate=2008-08-28]
*"NOW" Rating|4|5 [http://www.nowtoronto.com/music/discs.cfm?content=164651 link]
*PopMatters Rating-10|7 [http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/62668/dragonforce-ultra-beatdown/ link]
*"Thrash Hits" Rating|4.5|6 [http://www.thrashhits.com/2008/09/album-dragonforce-ultra-beatdown/ link]
*PiercingMetal Rating|4|5 [http://www.piercingmetal.com/cd_dragonforce_ultrabeatdown.htm link]
Last album = "Inhuman Rampage"
(2006)
This album = "Ultra Beatdown"
(2008)
Next album =
Misc =Singles
Name = Ultra Beatdown
Type = studio
single 1 = Heroes of Our Time
single 1 date = ^Web 4 July, 2008

"Ultra Beatdown" is the fourth studio album by DragonForce, released on 20 August 2008 in Japan through JVC and on 26 August 2008 worldwide through Roadrunner Records cite web |url=http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=98269 |title=DRAGONFORCE: New Album Details Revealed |accessdate=2008-06-03 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date=2008-06-03 |work= |publisher=Blabbermouth.net] and Universal Music. [cite web |url=http://dragonforce.com/discography.php |title=DragonForce - Official Discography |accessdate=2008-06-03 |publisher=DragonForce.com] It was the first studio album to feature Frédéric Leclercq on bass. On 4 July 2008 the first single from the album, "Heroes of Our Time", was posted on their MySpace profile. [cite web |url=http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=100261 |title=DRAGONFORCE: New Song Available For Streaming |accessdate=2008-07-05 |date=2008-07-04 |work= |publisher=Blabbermouth.net] On 8 July 2008, the music video for "Heroes of Our Time" was released onto their MySpace profile. The songs "Heartbreak Armageddon", "The Fire Still Burns" and "A Flame for Freedom" were all played on 106.1 Rock Radio during a interview with ZP Theart on 15 July 2008. [cite web |url=http://www.rockradiomanchester.co.uk/listen_live/?36 |title=106.1 Rock Radio - Manchester's "First" Classic Rock Station |accessdate=2008-07-29 |publisher=106.1 Rock Radio] On 14 August 2008 "Ultra Beatdown" was made available for pre-order in the DragonForce official web store. On 18 August 2008 the album became available for streaming on the band's MySpace page.

Prior to the album's release, the shortest song (excluding "Invocation of Apocalyptic Evil", the 14-second intro on "Valley of the Damned") was the track "Dawn Over a New World", from the second album, "Sonic Firestorm". This honour now goes to the special edition track "Strike of the Ninja". This song also holds the honour of being the first and, so far, only unedited song recorded by DragonForce with a length of less than five minutes, albeit due to it being a re-recorded version of "Feel the Fire" by Sam Totman's side project Shadow Warriors.

ound

Release history

The album was set for release first in Japan on 20 August 2008cite web |url=http://www.dragonforce.com/df/albums/ultra-beatdown |title=Ultra Beatdown at DragonForce.com |accessdate=2008-08-21 |publisher=DragonForce.com] then on 22 August in Germany [cite journal| date = August 2008| title = Hear the Next Evolution of Metal| journal = Blast! | issue = Sommer/Herbst 2008 | pages = page 39 | publisher = Nuclear Blast | language = German | accessdate = 2008-08-21] and the day after, on 23 August, in AustraliaFact|date=August 2008 before being released to the United Kingdom on 25 August and globally the following day.clear-left

Touring and support

The first round of DragonForce's "Ultra Beatdown World tour" starts on 25 September 2008 in the The Zodiac, Oxford with Turisas.The US/Canada tour will also include Powerglove.

Critical reception

"Ultra Beatdown" was generally well received by critics. Both Allmusic and Alternative Press gave it four and a half stars out of a possible five. Allmusic gave it an "AMG Album Pick" and said in the opening sentence of their review that looking up the word "Juggernaut" in the dictionary will bring you to a picture of the band. cite web |url=http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?sql=10:0ifexzrkldje |title=((( Ultra Beatdown > Overview ))) |accessdate=2008-08-21 |last=Rivadavia |first=Eduardo|publisher=Allmusic] cite journal
title = "Ultra Beatdown" review
journal = Alternative Press
issue = issue 242
pages = page 152
publisher = Alternative Press Magazine, Inc
accessdate = 2008-07-28 ] On 28 August the album charted at #9 in Japancite web |url=http://www.oricon.co.jp/music/release/d/775479/1/ |title=ドラゴンフォース-リリース-ORICON STYLE ミュージック |accessdate=2008-09-05 |language=Japanese |publisher=Oricon] it also entered the Australian charts in the first week of September at #19 [cite web |url=http://australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?key=94322&cat=a |title=DragonForce - Ultra Beatdown |accessdate=2008-09-01 |publisher=Australian-charts.com] and in the same week at #18 in both the UK Albums Chart and the Billboard 200.cite web |url=http://www.chartstats.com/artistinfo.php?id=11611 |title=Chart Stats - DragonForce |accessdate=2008-06-19 |publisher=Chart Stats] [cite web |url=http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/esearch/chart_display.jsp?cfi=305&cfgn=Albums&cfn=The+Billboard+200&ci=3099316&cdi=9895933&cid=09%2F13%2F2008 Top Music Charts] [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.chartFormatGroupName=Albums&model.vnuArtistId=510416&model.vnuAlbumId=1156959|title=Artist Chart History - Dragonforce |accessdate=2008-09-05 |publisher="Billboard"]

Track listing

Tracklist|collapsed= |lyrics_credits=yes |music_credits=yes
title1 =Heroes of Our Time |lyrics1=Totman, Li|music1=Totman
length1 = 7:13
title2 = The Fire Still Burns |lyrics2=Totman, Theart |music2=Totman
length2 = 7:53
title3 = Reasons to Live |lyrics3=Totman, Li |music3=Pruzhanov, Totman, Leclercq
length3 = 6:26
title4 = Heartbreak Armageddon |lyrics4=Totman, Li |music4=Li, Totman, Leclercq
length4 = 7:43
title5 = The Last Journey Home |lyrics5=Totman, Theart |music5=Totman
length5 = 8:16
title6 = A Flame for Freedom |lyrics6=Totman |music6=Totman
length6 = 5:20
title7 = Inside the Winter Storm |lyrics7=Totman, Theart |music7=Totman
length7 = 8:12
title8 = The Warrior Inside |lyrics8=Pruzhanov, Totman |music8=Totman, Li, Theart
length8 = 7:15
title9 = Strike of the Ninja |lyrics9=Totman, Theart |music9=Totman
length9 = 3:18
title10 = Scars of Yesterday |lyrics10=Totman, Li, Theart |music10=Pruzhanov, Leclercq
length10 = 7:49
title11 = E.P.M.
length11 = 7:24
total_length =
note9 = Special edition bonus track
note10 = Special edition bonus track
note11 = Japanese only bonus track|tracklist
headline=Special edition DVD
title1 = The Making of Ultra Beatdown
length1 = 15:16
title2 = The Making of the E-Gen Guitar
length2 = 9:35
total_length = 24:51

Personnel

Band members

*ZP Theart – Vocals
*Herman Li – Guitars, backing vocals, producing, mixing, engineering
*Sam Totman – Guitars, backing vocals, producing, mixing
*Vadim Pruzhanov – Keyboards, Piano, Theremin, Kaoss Pad, backing vocals
*Dave Mackintosh – Drums, backing vocals
*Frédéric Leclerc – Bass, backing vocals, additional guitars

Guest musicians

*Clive Nolan – backing vocals, additional keyboards

Technical staff

*Karl Groom – producing, mixing, engineering
*Mika Jussila – mastering
*Android Jones – artwork

References

External links

* [http://www.dragonforce.com/df/albums/ultra-beatdown Page on the official site]
* [http://www.myspace.com/dragonforce Official MySpace]
*metacritic album|id=dragonforce/ultrabeatdown|title=Ultra Beatdown