UK Metal titans DRAGONFORCE are nearing completion of their sixth studio album entitled ‘Maximum Overload‘. Produced by Jens Bogren at Fascination Studios in Örebro and Varberg, Sweden, the new opus will be the band’s first ever album involving an outside producer, having historically opted to record themselves in association with Karl Groom.
Fans can stream a demo of a new track now on YouTube! Listen to ‘Defenders‘ now HERE.
‘Maximum Overload’ will be the band’s debut album for new label Ear Music, part of the German Edel music group, who will release the album in the UK on August 18th, and in the USA on Metal Blade Records on August 19th.
“Working with Jens gave us a different perspective on the songs and a different sound dynamic. We always previously recorded in our own studios but recording in Sweden made us focus and maybe drove us harder, Jens certainly did, he doesn’t believe in days off”! said guitar maestro Herman Li.
“The album title and album cover artwork is inspired by the constant bombardment of information we are subjected to during our daily lives” Li added. “We were in an airport departure lounge surrounded by TV screens, flight information screens and advertising screens. We then looked around and no one was saying a word, they were all looking at more screens on tablets, laptops and mobile phones, there’s no escaping it, it’s complete information overload”!
‘Maximum Overload‘ features a couple of surprises, notably a guest appearance on some of the songs from Trivium’s Matt Heafy. “We’ve always gotten on really well with the Trivium guys and it was great when Matt had a couple of days to spare and agreed to weigh in on some of the songs”! added Frederic Leclercq.
The album also features an all time first for DragonForce…..a cover version! Sam Totman explained “Just before the last Australian tour our manager suggested it might be interesting to do a cover for the next album, something we’ve always refused even to consider. Because we had all had a couple beers every band member wrote down 3 songs each and we compared them all, just for a laugh. I wrote down ‘Ring Of Fire’ by Johnny Cash, an idea which the rest of the band loved, so we’ve DragonForce-ized it”!
‘Maximum Overload‘ will be released on Standard CD, Standard Digital Version, Special Edition CD with 5 bonus tracks and a bonus DVD, Special Edition Digital Version (same bonus material as Special Edition CD), and Vinyl.
The band will embark on a massive 20 date UK & Ireland tour in September under the strapline ‘….this time it’s personal’ alluding to the fact that instead of playing a handful of larger venues the band are playing many shows geographically spread out across the country. Commenting on the nature of the tour Herman Li said “We did a tour like this in between the Sonic Firestorm and Inhuman Rampage albums and have wanted to repeat it ever since but couldn’t because of touring commitments elsewhere in the world. This time we were determined to make it happen so we’re going to some cities we haven’t visited for years and some we’ve never visited at all. One of the venues is a boat and one is a deconsecrated church! It will be great to see the fans up close and personal again, it’s going to be very hot, very sweaty and great fun!”
SEPTEMBER 2014
Wednesday 17th EDINBURGH Liquid Room
Thursday 18th ABERDEEN Lemon Tree
Friday 19th GLASGOW King Tuts
Saturday 20th BELFAST Limelight 2
Sunday 21st DUBLIN Whelan’s
Tuesday 23rd CARLISLE Brickyard
Wednesday 24th MIDDLESBRO’ Empire
Thursday 25th MANCHESTER Deaf Institute
Friday 26th STOKE Sugarmill
Saturday 27th BIRMINGHAM Institute
Tuesday 30th BRIGHTON The Haunt
OCTOBER
Wednesday 1st SOUTHAMPTON Joiners
Thursday 2nd PLYMOUTH White Rabbit
Friday 3rd BRIDGEND Hobo’s
Saturday 4th BRISTOL The Thekla
Tuesday 7th LEEDS Brundenell
Wednesday 8th NOTTINGHAM Rescue Rooms
Thursday 9th COLCHESTER Arts Centre
Friday 10th NORWICH Waterfront
Saturday 11th LONDON Bush Hall
Tickets pre-sale, sale information:
http://www.o2priority.co.uk/artists/dragonforce/1210
http://www.livenation.co.uk/artist/dragonforce-tickets
DragonForce
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