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DragonForce – Britain’s primary purveyors of crazy-ass power metal and tales of night falling, warriors wandering and titans titan-ing. Why they haven’t soundtracked their own mental anime-meets-Warhammer series is beyond us.

However, after 2008’s Ultra Beatdown they appear to have turned a corner, aided by new vocalist Marc Hudson. A young man with the pipes of Bruce Dickinson, Justin Hawkins and Satan amalgamated, he’s an impressive addition, and with him come some (whisper it) actually pretty good tunes.

Where previous albums – including the riotous Inhuman Rampage – felt a tad like beat-the-metronome exercises, The Power Within encompasses mid-tempo tracks, classy solos (Wings Of Liberty) and well-written melodies (Seasons). Naturally, the super-twiddly schpeels, blastbeats and ridiculous lyrics remain, but now there’s an intrigue that elevates the whole thing.

If you didn’t like DragonForce before, chances are you won’t now. For those of the alternative persuasion, however, good things await.

Polly is deputy editor at Classic Rock magazine, where she writes and commissions regular pieces and longer reads (including new band coverage), and has interviewed rock's biggest and newest names. She also contributes to Louder, Prog and Metal Hammer and talks about songs on the 20 Minute Club podcast. Elsewhere she's had work published in The Musician, delicious. magazine and others, and written biographies for various album campaigns. In a previous life as a women's magazine junior she interviewed Tracey Emin and Lily James – and wangled Rival Sons into the arts pages. In her spare time she writes fiction and cooks.