Reaching into Infinity

Reaching into Infinity
Studio album by DragonForce
Released 19 May 2017 (2017-05-19)
Genre Power metal, speed metal, thrash metal[1]
Length 60:46[2]
Label earMUSIC (Europe)[3]
Metal Blade Records (North America)[4]
3Wise (Australia)
JVC Victor (Japan)
Shinigami Records (Brazil)[5]
Producer Jens Bogren
DragonForce chronology
In the Line of Fire... Larger Than Live
(2015)In the Line of Fire... Larger Than Live2015		 Reaching into Infinity
(2017)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Metalfans.be [6]

Reaching into Infinity is the seventh studio album by British power metal band DragonForce, released on 19 May 2017. It is the first studio album to feature Gee Anzalone on drums[7][8] and the second produced by Jens Bogren.

A music video for "Ashes of the Dawn" was released on 15 May 2017. Keyboardist Vadim Pruzhanov was not featured in the clip, nor in any of the shows happening by the time of the album's recording. In a video published in his official YouTube channel, he explained he wanted to have more time for his daughter and that due to contractual limitations, he had to choose between performing in all or none of the shows. He chose the second option and will be absent from the album's promotional tour as well.[9]

Songwriting and concept

The album was written by bassist Frédéric Leclercq (mostly[10]) and guitarist Sam Totman, with one song being written by Pruzhanov and most of the lyrics being handled by vocalist Marc Hudson.[11]

Leclercq stated he is more into traditional heavy metal, thrash metal, death metal, black metal and progressive metal than he is into power metal, which is why the album sounds different from DragonForce's previous efforts.[12] When asked about Leclercq's songwriting work and the possible influence of his extreme metal side project Sinsaenum, guitarist Herman Li replied: "We try to make use of everyone's skills, which is something we didn’t do much at the beginning of the band. I don't think Sinsaenum made too much of a difference, because there are still so many ideas we haven't been able to put into Dragonforce yet, and if you introduce too many new ideas you lose focus. [...]"[1] The band at first wanted to have a guest for the harsh vocals, but they eventually had Hudson give it a try and they were happy with the result.[12]

Li describes the album as their "most diverse" one[1] and also as "escapist", saying people are supposed to listen to it to temporarily get away from the craziness of the World.[13] Indeed, the album title was conceived to be a reference to how the band wish their music to take people from anywhere to any time.[14]

This is the band's longest standard edition studio album at 60 minutes and 46 seconds, thus beating Ultra Beatdown by over two minutes. The album also features the song "The Edge of the World", which is DragonForce's longest song to date at 11 minutes and 3 seconds. When asked about the inspiration for writing that song, Totman explained they had the idea from the title track of Iron Maiden's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.[14] "Silence" was written after a friend of Leclercq who committed suicide.[1]

Album cover

According to Li, the portal in the middle of the cover is a wormhole. It symbolizes the timeless energy of DragonForce's music, since a considerable amount of energy would be required to open one wormhole, if it is ever possible. Also, it symbolizes how people from anywhere in the world can reach different times through it, strengthening the album's escapist vibe. The dragon in the cover represents the band's spirit.[14]

Recording

The album was recorded at a number of locations, including Fascination Street Studios, in Sweden; Lamerluser Studios, in London, United Kingdom; Dark Lane Studios, in Witney, United Kingdom; Evil1 Studios, in Charleville-Mézières, France; and Shredforce One Studios, in California, United States.[15] Instead of reserving some time to work exclusively on the album from beginning to end, the band intercalated studio commitments with their touring legs.[13] Leclercq commented:[10]

“ We were flying out, playing a festival, then back into the studio, then back out again. It was very intense and very tiring... [I] lost my temper a few times – I think we all did at some point, because we wanted to deliver nothing but the best. I think we have proven that playing fast was something we were good at, so this time I wanted to bring even more diversity into our music. It's great to challenge ourselves instead of staying in a comfort zone. ”

Track listing

No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Reaching into Infinity"InstrumentalFrédéric Leclercq1:25
2."Ashes of the Dawn"LeclercqLeclercq4:33
3."Judgement Day"Sam TotmanTotman, Vadim Pruzhanov6:13
4."Astral Empire"Totman, LeclercqLeclercq5:24
5."Curse of Darkness"LeclercqLeclercq5:35
6."Silence"Leclercq, Marc HudsonLeclercq4:50
7."Midnight Madness"TotmanTotman6:21
8."WAR!"Leclercq, HudsonLeclercq5:19
9."Land of Shattered Dreams"HudsonTotman, Leclercq4:59
10."The Edge of the World"Leclercq, Hudson, TotmanLeclercq11:03
11."Our Final Stand"Leclercq, HudsonLeclercq5:04

Personnel

DragonForce


Session musicians[15]

Technical personnel[15]

Charts

Chart (2017) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[17] 35
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[18] 34
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[19] 57
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[20] 88
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[21] 27
Japan International Albums (Oricon)[22] 14
New Zealand Heatseekers Albums (RMNZ)[23] 9
Scottish Albums (OCC)[24] 29
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[25] 24
UK Albums (OCC)[26] 69

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Rees, Adam (29 June 2017). "Five minutes alone with DragonForce's Herman Li". Metal Hammer. Future Publishing. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  2. ↑ "Reaching into Infinity". iTunes. Apple Inc. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  3. ↑ "Dragonforce Unveil First New Song 'Judgement Day' Alongside Bonus Video Of 'Operation Ground & Pound'". earMUSIC. 30 March 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  4. ↑ "DragonForce "Reaching into Infinity" | Metal Blade Records". Metalblade.com. 19 August 2014. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  5. ↑ "Dragonforce: Novo álbum será lançado pela Shinigami Records/Earmusic". Shinigami Records (in Portuguese). 17 February 2017. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  6. ↑ "DRAGONFORCE "Reaching into infinity Review"". metalfans.be. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  7. ↑ "Dragonforce Reveal Details Of New Album – Dragonforce". Dragonforce.com. 17 January 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  8. ↑ "Dragonforce: Complete 'Reaching Into Infinity' Album Details Revealed". Blabbermouth.net. 8 February 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  9. ↑ Pruzhanov, Vadim (3 May 2017). "Regarding my recent absence on tour with Dragonforce.". Vadim Pruzhanov's official channel. YouTube. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  10. 1 2 "DragonForce Reveal Details of New Album". DragonForce's official website. 9 February 2017. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  11. ↑ "DragonForce about "Reaching Into Infinity" - Part 2" (video). earMUSIC official channel. YouTube. 22 May 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  12. 1 2 "Interview with Frédéric Leclercq of Dragonforce 2017". The Classic Metal Show. 28 April 2017. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  13. 1 2 "DragonForce about "Reaching Into Infinity" - Part 1" (video). earMUSIC official channel. YouTube. 17 May 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  14. 1 2 3 Issler, Philipp (19 May 2017). "Dragonforce Interview mit Sam Totman und Herman Li zu drachenstarker Musik". Metal.de (in German). Retrieved 26 May 2017.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 (2017). "Reaching into Infinity liner notes (Japanese edition)". In Reaching into Infinity [CD booklet]. JVC.
  16. ↑ "CDJapan : Reaching Into Infinity [Regular Edition] [Japan Bonus Track] Dragonforce CD Album". CDJapan.
  17. ↑ "Australiancharts.com – DragonForce – Reaching into Infinity". Hung Medien. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
  18. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – DragonForce – Reaching into Infinity" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  19. ↑ "Ultratop.be – DragonForce – Reaching into Infinity" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
  20. ↑ "Ultratop.be – DragonForce – Reaching into Infinity" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
  21. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Dragonforce – Reaching into Infinity" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
  22. ↑ "ドラゴンフォース - どらごんふぉーす". Oricon. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  23. ↑ "NZ Heatseekers Albums Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 29 May 2017. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
  24. ↑ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
  25. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – DragonForce – Reaching into Infinity". Hung Medien. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  26. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
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