At last some live HD video material from DragonForce, this crazy and extremely talented awesome fivesome power metal band. It took bloody 12 years! And it's just 10 songs. But you know, their songs are often pretty long... Anyway, it was shot at Loud Park Festival 2014 in Japan.

'In the Line of Fire - Larger than Live' was filmed on the tour after the release of 'Maximum Overload' album, so three songs were picked from that one. The rest are classic DragonForce pieces for sure, but as always, everyone isn't totally happy with the choices. But, if it flows well, it is more than okay.

It begins without any intro, showing the guys backstage waiting to hit the lights. It is straight into action with positive ripper 'Fury of the Storm', a fine pick from ZP Theart era. 'Three Hammers' starts in a calm way, building into epic and heroic mid-paced track with warp-speed solo section (not a surprise with this band, huh?!?). the fourth track 'Seasons' is fully mid-paced by DF standards, and after it, it is full-on pedal-to-the-metal madness, breaking all the speed limits on its way (well, with some slowing down moments in the songs, for good taste)! For me, the band have their own kind of melodies, hyper-speeds, characters and show, and I'm loving it! 'Symphony of the Night' is a neo-classical piece, which should have pleased Japanese crowd; plus it's obvious that the guys love Japanese music. And "The Last Ninja" (RIP Ben Daglish)... There's some "jamming" with some lead guitar parts, adding interesting bits for DF fanatics. They could have replaced The Johnny Cash cover with their own piece (even though they made it their own in a way), but it would have been hard, as the song lasts for under 4 minutes... The live set clocks 1 hour and about 5 minutes, and is nowhere near enough for fans.

The "new" vocalist Marc Hudson handles older ZP material well, possessing vast and rather similar spectrum. He's totally clean, a bit like Michael Kiske, but with voice of his own. The guitarists Herman Li and Sam Totman show some finger-tapped madness, while the keyboardist Vadim Pruzhanov doesn't want to stay behind his instruments but picks his keytar and joins the guitarists up front. The bass player Frédéric Leclercq (nowadays in Kreator, of all bands) and drumming powerpack Gee Anzalone provide massive boom. Whole band often back Marc's vocals, reminding certain German legends (well, Blind Guardian that is!).

There's about 28 minutes of extras giving insights into the band, including backstage and off-tour footage (guys telling something about their lives (e.g. Sam with his pinball machines and... beer). Some of these are inserted between the live set, cutting it off for a few minutes. The discs are divided into scenes (oh how beautiful, this new technology!), so it's possible to hit the "next" button if not in mood for some babble. It's never a wise move to do it like this, anyway.

The picture quality is good enough. DVD I am enjoying does have some graininess, probably due to the low or flashing lighting. Several cameras, also on cranes, were utilized for shooting, and offer enough points of view. Almost, as I always want to see drummers in action, and this does not have enough shots from behind the kit. I do not have beef with the well-balanced and punchy production, which has some echo of the big venue (Saitama Super Arena). There's attendance sound when they sing and chant, so the live vibe is intact. They have simplistic yet stylish stage set-up with nice, varying lighting. The packaging also looks swell.

This live document, with all its extras, is professional stuff. Plus, it's like a huge burst of energetic euphoria. In 2003, I bought their debut album 'Valley of the Damned' for some reason, as I wasn't a big power metal fan for sure, and I've followed them since. Jolly fellows, lovely music, cool live.

Rating: 8 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
12/08/2022 10:58