Musical extremes have always been part of the DragonForce experience. And while de facto leader and guitarist Herman Li is working to expand his horizons musically and via social media, the band’s five-years-in-the-making studio record, Warp Speed Warriors, is brimming with guitar heroics.
Still, Li is the tinkering sort who loves gear and — despite his monster chops and ability to outright shred — refuses to fully adhere to DragonForce’s extreme-meets-Nintendo metal past.
“At the beginning of our career, I was just trying to show my unique style,” he says. “But now I’ve grown that same style into something beyond only playing fast.”
But not to worry, DragonForce aren’t about to unleash a new wave record, nor does represent an unexpected journey akin to Metallica’s . Songs like “Burning Heart” and “The Killer Queen” are not-so-gentle reminders to those who grew up with fake guitars in hand while pretending to shred “Through the Fire and Flames” that, as Li puts it, “DragonForce will continue to do whatever the fuck it wants. The shredding is still there, but with guitar solos, I’ve got to mix it up. I don’t want to have just one style over another because you lose originality. But I’m not trying to be someone else. And so, when I do a solo, the mindset is never, ‘I’ve got no new ideas,’ or ‘This
