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The Power Within (album)

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The Power Within
Studio album by
DragonForce
Released15 April 2012 (2012-04-15)
RecordedOctober – December 2011
StudioThin Ice Studios, Virginia Water, England
GenrePower metal
Length50:11
62:05 (digital and vinyl editions)
65:41 (Japanese edition)
LabelElectric Generation (UK)
Roadrunner (US)
3Wise (Australia)
Victor (Japan)
ProducerHerman Li, Sam Totman, Frédéric Leclercq
DragonForce chronology
Twilight Dementia
(2010) 		The Power Within
(2012) 		Maximum Overload
(2014)
Re-Powered Within
Cover of the 2018 remix and remaster of the album, Re-Powered Within.
Singles from The Power Within
  1. "Fallen World"
    Released: 18 February 2012
  2. "Cry Thunder"
    Released: 29 March 2012
  3. "Seasons"
    Released: 10 July 2012

The Power Within is the fifth studio album by British power metal band DragonForce, released in April 2012.[1] It is the first DragonForce album to feature vocalist Marc Hudson.[2] "Cry Thunder" was released as downloadable content for Rock Band 3.

DragonForce announced a complete remix and remaster of the album in April 2018 titled Re-Powered Within which was released on 4 May 2018.[3]

Overview

[edit]

DragonForce revealed details about the album on their Facebook page on 2 February 2012 and later on the official website. They released the album cover, track listing, and release date and also announced four different editions that would be released: CD, digital download, LP and a limited edition box set. As of September 2014 the album is unavailable for digital download with no explanation given by any member of the band.

Herman Li stated:

"The last two years have been the most fun we ever had making an album. Through writing, jamming and touring together, we have built this incredible energy and it has been fully captured on the new album. This time around we've really brought our metal-side to the surface and made some of the best music of our career. From the fastest song we've ever recorded to the slower songs, and some things you would never expect from us, this is by far the most diverse DragonForce album yet. This is an exciting new era for DragonForce with Marc joining the band-- so we figured this was an ideal time to take full control of our own destiny and establish our own record label for Europe. It's all hands on deck running it, but a great buzz!"

The Power Within also marks a turning point for DragonForce lyrics: being less related to fantasy and exploring other subjects.[4]

"Fallen World" was streamed for free on Metal Hammer's website on 18 February 2012. The song later became a free downloadable track on 8 March 2012.[5][6] At 220 beats per minute (bpm)[7] it was the fastest song ever released by DragonForce[8] and it held this title until 18 August 2014 when the band's sixth album Maximum Overload was released with the track "The Game" which is even faster (240 bpm).[7]

"Cry Thunder" was streamed for free on RCRDLBL's website via SoundCloud on 30 March 2012 by the band's North American label Roadrunner Records.[9] However, the download function of SoundCloud was disabled.

The music video for "Cry Thunder" was released on DragonForce's YouTube account on 29 March 2012 and was shown on www.noisecreep.com and made available to download via iTunes on 3 April 2012.[10]

A music video for the song "Seasons" was released on 14 September 2012. It featured scenes from the album recording, live and backstage performances and behind the scenes footage of the "Cry Thunder" video shoot.[citation needed]

Reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic74/100
Review scores
SourceRating
About.com[11]
AllMusic[2]
Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles8/10[12]
Classic Rock[13]
The Guardian[14]
Rock Hard8.5/10[15]
Spin6/10[16]
Ultimate Guitar Archive8/10[17]

The Power Within has received positive reviews.[18] At Metacritic (which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics) the album received an average score of 74, based on 5 reviews.[18] It sold 5,800 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at No. 74 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Their previous album Ultra Beatdown opened at No. 18 with first week sales of 24,000 back in September 2008.[19]

Track listing

[edit]

Original release

[edit]
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Holding On"Sam Totman, Herman LiTotman4:56
2."Fallen World"TotmanTotman4:08
3."Cry Thunder"Totman, LiTotman5:16
4."Give Me the Night"Totman, Frédéric Leclercq, LiTotman, Leclercq4:28
5."Wings of Liberty"Totman, LiTotman7:20
6."Seasons"Leclercq, Totman, LiLeclercq5:03
7."Heart of the Storm"Totman, LiTotman4:42
8."Die by the Sword"Totman, LiTotman4:36
9."Last Man Stands"Totman, Li, LeclercqTotman5:07
10."Seasons" (Acoustic Version)Leclercq, Totman, LiLeclercq4:26
Total length:50:18
Japanese bonus track [20]
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
11."Power of the Ninja Sword"TotmanTotman3:36
Total length:53:54
Digital bonus tracks
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
12."Cry Thunder" (Live rehearsal)Totman, LiTotman5:13
13."Heart of the Storm" (Alternative chorus version)Totman, LiTotman4:41
14."Avant La Tempête" (Instrumental)InstrumentalLeclercq2:00
Total length:1:05:48

Notes

[edit]
  • "Power of the Ninja Sword" is a re-recording of a song recorded by Totman and ZP Theart under the name Shadow Warriors.

2018 remixed and remastered release (Re-Powered Within)

[edit]
Re-Powered Within
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Holding On"Totman, LiTotman4:55
2."Fallen World"TotmanTotman4:08
3."Cry Thunder"Totman, LiTotman5:14
4."Give Me the Night"Totman, Leclercq, LiTotman, Leclercq4:27
5."Wings of Liberty"Totman, LiTotman7:23
6."Seasons"Leclercq, Totman, LiLeclercq5:07
7."Heart of the Storm"Totman, LiTotman4:43
8."Die by the Sword"Totman, LiTotman4:36
9."Last Man Stands"Totman, Li, LeclercqTotman5:09
10."Seasons" (Acoustic Version)Leclercq, Totman, LiLeclercq4:26
11."Power of the Ninja Sword"TotmanTotman3:37
12."Heart of the Storm" (Alternative Chorus Version)Totman, LiTotman4:43
13."Avant La Tempête" (Instrumental)InstrumentalLeclercq1:59
Total length:1:00:27

Personnel

[edit]

DragonForce

[edit]
  • Marc Hudson – lead and backing vocals
  • Herman Li – guitars, backing vocals, production, engineering
  • Sam Totman – guitars, harsh vocals, backing vocals, production
  • Vadim Pruzhanov – keyboards, piano, backing vocals
  • Dave Mackintosh – drums, backing vocals
  • Frédéric Leclercq – bass guitar, guitars, harsh vocals, backing vocals, guitar solos on "Give Me the Night", "Wings of Liberty" and "Seasons", acoustic guitar and bass on "Seasons (Acoustic Version)",[21] production

Additional musicians

[edit]

Production

[edit]
  • Karl Groom – engineering, mixing with DragonForce
  • Peter van't Riet – mastering
  • Damien Rainaud – remixing, remastering (2018)

Charts

[edit]
Chart (2012) Peak
position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[22] 53
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[23] 45
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[24] 16
Scottish Albums (OCC)[25] 31
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[26] 43
UK Albums (OCC)[27] 18
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[28] 7
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[29] 1
US Billboard 200[30] 74

References

[edit]
  1. ^ DragonForce reveals details of new album DragonForce official website. 2 February 2012. Retrieved on 25 February 2012
  2. ^ a b Monger, James. "The Power Within – DragonForce". AllMusic. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
  3. ^ DragonForce to release "Re-Powered Within" earMUSIC. 4 April 2018. Retrieved on 9 April 2018
  4. ^ "Interview with Herman Li". metaltraveller.com. 3 April 2012. Retrieved 14 June 2012.
  5. ^ Dragonforce – The Power Within Archived 13 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine on Roadrunner's site. Retrieved on 15 March 2012
  6. ^ NORTH AMERICA TOUR DATES + FREE DOWNLOAD + PRE-ORDER AVAILABLE NOW blog on DragonForce's site. Retrieved on 16 March 2012
  7. ^ a b Fehl, Zach (24 July 2014). "Interview: DragonForce's Herman Li and Sam Totman talk 'Maximum Overload,' touring plans, Babymetal". Metal Insider. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
  8. ^ Kaufman, Spencer (20 February 2014). "DragonForce Stream New Song 'Fallen World'". Loudwire. Retrieved 9 August 2014.
  9. ^ Cry Thunder Premiere Archived 3 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine at RCRDLBL's website. Retrieved on 30 March 2012
  10. ^ "'Cry Thunder' Music Video Premiere". dragonforce.com. 3 April 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
  11. ^ Bowar, Chad. "Dragonforce – The Power Within Review". About.com. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
  12. ^ Gromen, Mark (23 April 2012). "DragonForce – The Power Within". Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  13. ^ Glass, Polly (July 2012). "DragonForce – The Power Within". Classic Rock. No. 172. pp. 98–99.
  14. ^ Lawson, Dom (12 April 2012). "DragonForce: The Power Within – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
  15. ^ Albrecht, Frank (2012). "Review Album:DragonForce – The Power Within". Rock Hard (in German). No. 300. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  16. ^ Grow, Kory (18 April 2012). "Dragonforce, 'The Power Within'". Spin. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
  17. ^ "The Power Within review by DragonForce". Ultimate Guitar Archive. 17 April 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  18. ^ a b "The Power Within Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More". Metacritic. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  19. ^ "DRAGONFORCE: Tilburg Footage Available". Blabbermouth.net. 10 October 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  20. ^ The Power Within at CDJapan.co.jp
  21. ^ DragonForce (15 April 2012). The Power Within (liner notes).
  22. ^ "Austriancharts.at – DragonForce – The Power Within" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 31, 2024.
  23. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – DragonForce – The Power Within" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved May 31, 2024.
  24. ^ "ザ・パワー・ウィズイン". Oricon.co.jp. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  25. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 31, 2024.
  26. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – DragonForce – The Power Within". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 31, 2024.
  27. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 31, 2024.
  28. ^ "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 31, 2024.
  29. ^ "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 31, 2024.
  30. ^ "DragonForce Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved May 31, 2024.
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