Profile: DragonForce

Origin: London

Genres: Power metal

Years active: 1999–present

Labels
: Roadrunner, Universal,
Sanctuary, Spinefarm,
Noise

Members:
Herman Li
Sam Totman
Vadim Pruzhanov
Dave Mackintosh
Frédéric Leclercq
Former members
ZP Theart
Adrian Lambert
Didier Almouzni
Diccon Harper
Steve Williams
Steve Scott

DragonForce are an English power metal band from London, formed in 1999. They are known for fast guitar solos, fantasy- based lyrics, and electronic sounds in their music to add to their retro video game- influenced sound. History Formation (1999-2002) DragonForce was founded in 1999 by guitarists Herman Li and Sam Totman under the name of DragonHeart.
The two later found singer ZP Theart through an advert, and soon after acquired drummer Matej Setinc, bassist Steve Scott and keyboardist Steve Williams. Totman and Li had a former musical ensemble experience in the band, Demoniac.
DragonHeart then released a demo, toured with Halford, Stratovarius and headlined their own shows under that name. The band later found that another metal band with this same name already existed and renamed to DragonForce in 2002. Drummer Matej Setinc left the band in December 1999 to continue his studies in Slovenia, he was replaced by Didier Almouzni.
The band parted ways with Steve Scott in November 2000 and Steve Williams in early 2000. Steve later rejoined and left once again in December 2000, days ahead of the band's tour with Halford and Stratovarius. Steve Scott went on to join Shadowkeep, then Power Quest. Bassist Diccon Harper joined the band in November 2000 with keyboardist Vadim Pruzhanov joining in February 2001 to complete the lineup for recording their first album. Harper performed on DragonForce's debut album, Valley of the Damned in its completion, but left the band in 2002 because of a tendon problem that required surgery.

Valley of the Damned (2000– 2003)
DragonForce recorded their first demo in 2000. It was an independent release, however it was enough to make them one of the most popular independent power metal bands in the UK at that time. Their song "Valley of the Damned" was released as their first single shortly after they changed their name permanently to DragonForce. A promotional video featuring live footage from their tour around Europe was released along with the song. The song was also a huge success on MP3.com where it charted at #1 for 2 weeks as the most downloaded song. Shortly after the demo was released keyboardist Steve Williams and bassist Steve Scott both left the band and were replaced with Ukrainian born Vadim Pruzhanov on keyboard and British born Diccon Harper on bass. Steve Williams later went on to form power metal band Power Quest. In 2003, the band signed to Noise Records and began recording their debut full-length album, Valley of the Damned. The title track, re-released in promotion of the album, it is one of the most known DragonForce songs to date and is a staple of their live performance to this day.
The band's tour for Valley of the Damned lasted until 2004, with the tour ending in Tokyo, Japan.

Sonic Firestorm (2004–2005) The band's follow-up album, Sonic Firestorm, proved to be even more successful with the lead single "Fury of the Storm". Sonic Firestorm was the first DragonForce album featuring Adrian Lambert on bass and Dave Mackintosh on drums. When Mackintosh entered the band in 2004, they began referring to their style of music as "extreme power metal" due to his fast blastbeats and double bass rhythms. It was around this time that the band began becoming popular internationally and adopted nicknames such as "Bon Jovi on speed" and " Journey meets Slayer." The tour was much longer than the band's recent tour for "Valley of the Damned" and featured many more headline shows than the previous. The band toured with many well-known metal bands such as W.A.S.P. and Iron Maiden.

Inhuman Rampage (2006–2007)
The band underwent various lineup changes before settling with the six current members. The band was introduced to the mainstream with their third album Inhuman Rampage, released in 2006 after signing with Roadrunner Records in UK, USA, Canada, France and Australia. The song " Through the Fire and Flames" is one of their most famous songs and is featured on the games Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Guitar Hero: Smash Hits. Lindsay Dawson of Herman Li and Sam Totman's former band, Demoniac, appeared as backup vocalist for this album. Before the release of the album, bassist, Adrian Lambert, left the group to raise his newborn son in November 2005. He was replaced with Frédéric Leclercq for the remaining of the Sonic Firestorm Tour. Frederic later became an official member of the band in January 2006. He was also featured in the band's music video for their second single off Inhuman Rampage, Operation Ground and Pound. Inhuman Rampage is a common favourite among DragonForce fans due to its heaviness and complexity. The 'Through the Fire and Flames' single reached gold disc status in USA and Canada.
Ultra Beatdown (2008-2009)The band toured with Disturbed and Slipknot throughout the summer of 2008 on the Rockstar Energy Metal Mayhem Festival.

The band returned in the Fall with the release of their 4th studio album, Ultra Beatdown. The first track and first single, " Heroes of Our Time", was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance on December 3, 2008

Check out DragonForce new album

Via: Wiki

Profile: Scary Kids, Scaring Kids

Its OCTOBER!! whoo hoo. Haha - clearly this year is speeding past us & its almost Summer! I hope y'all having a fantastic weekend thus far, as i am having one before the HARD work for my matric finals start.

Anyway, i've mentioned a few days ago that i would be posting a profile on a band I have recently discovered, and which you probably have already. Sooo this is it. I have adapted it from quite a few sources.

Taking their name from a Cap'n Jazz song,
Phoenix sextet Scary Kids Scaring Kids began
spewing impassioned post-hardcore that
could be both shriekingly spastic and
soothingly melodic in the early 2000s. Known
for a reckless, incendiary live show, the band
originally comprised Tyson Stevens (vocals/
bass), DJ Wilson (guitar), Peter Costa (drums),
and Chad Crawford (guitar). Wilson later
picked up the bass following the addition of
guitarist Steve Kirby and keyboardist Pouyan
Afkary to the band's ranks. While still seniors
in high school, the guys recorded their debut
EP, After Dark, with Bob Hoag (Recover, the
Format), independently releasing it that June
before putting the band on the back burner.
As members locally enrolled in college for the
fall of 2003 -- and Costa returned to his first
dream of working to be a concert pianist -- an
escalating buzz around the band really began
to take off, especially after the popular
website absolutepunk.net posted their EP
online. Next thing bandmembers knew, Scary
Kids was back as their first priority with a
new deal on Immortal Records. The label
reissued After Dark in 2004. Recorded in five
weeks under the production skills of Brian
McTernan (Snapcase, Thrice), The City Sleeps in
Flames appeared in June 2005. In spring
2006, Justin Salter officially took over
drumming duties, replacing Costa in the band.
Summer was spent on both the Warped Tour
and separate dates with Haste the Day. Corey
Apar, Rovi

Discography: Scary Kids Scaring Kids

Album: Scary Kids Scaring Kids Release Date: 2007 09 24
Label: Immortal

1 Prelude :40
2 Degenerates 3:42
3 Holding On 4:21
4 Deep End 4:12
5 Faces 3:25
6 Pistol to My Temple 3:57
7 Star Crossed 3:41
8 Derailed 1:43
9 Breathe 1:19
10 Set Sail 3:25
11 Free Again 3:49
12 Snake Devil 3:30
13 Watch Me Bleed 3:56
14 Goes Without Saying 4:00 15 Blood Runs Forever 3:21
16 Power of Resolution 2:06

Album: City Sleeps in Flames Release Date: 2005 06 28 Label: Immortal
Rating: ****

The Phoenix-based sextet Scary Kids Scaring Kids manage better than most of their aggro- melodic peers to balance gracefully the aggro and the melodic. Don't look for much melody from vocalist Tyson Stevens -- he sings in tune and he's got a strong, clear voice, but he spends as much time yelling as he does actually singing. Sometimes the transition back and forth between the two is highly effective in and of itself, as on the impressive title track and &"My Darkest Hour." And sometimes the yelling comes across as kind of rote and half-hearted, as if he's realizing that he hasn't screamed for a few choruses and it's time to do it again before the mosh kids get restless. Most of the melodic interest comes with the formidable twin guitar attack of Steve Kirby and Chad Crawford and the tasteful contributions of keyboardist Pouyan Afkary. Lyrically, these guys are far from embarrassing -- and in this genre, that's relatively high praise. The songs often have a fairly clear referent (such as the World Trade Center, which is referred to unambiguously in &"City Sleeps in Flames") and are generally pretty low on tired cliché. Overall, this is an impressive full-length debut from a band that is likely to make even more and better noise in the near future. Rick Anderson, Rovi

1 City Sleeps in Flames 4:01
2 Only Medicine 2:51
3 World as We Know It 3:01
4 What's Said Is Done 3:45
5 Just a Taste 3:52
6 My Darkest Hour 3:29
7 Drowning You in Fear 3:12
8 Bright Side of Suffering 4:02 9 Empty Glasses 2:50
10 Faith in the Knife 3:27
11 Breath of Sunshine 5:44

And the band had one Singles Album... Something like that.

Album: After Dark [EP]
Release Date: 2005 02 08
Label: Immortal

1 What's Up Now 4:46
2 Bulletproof 3:35
3 Locked In 4:38
4 Sink and Die 4:03
5 Changing Priorities 3:01
6 My Knife, Your Throat 8:42

I must say a real pleasure to listen to these guys. They great.

Information Sourced: [www.starpulse.com]