Review Summary: DragonForce has given us the absolute epitome of emotionless, soulless, worthless 'songwriting.' It's enough to make you wonder if this album was made by humans, or robots.
I know this album isn't really that relevant anymore, but as probably any critic will tell you, bad reviews are fun to both write, and read. Don't get the wrong idea, though. I'm not writing a bad review just for the sake of it. This really is a terrible album.
I don't know if I completely believe that humans are to blame for the creation of this awful excuse for an album. It's beyond my comprehension how humans could compose music so emotionless, so...robotic. But if robots did write this album, and if robots are scheming to one day turn against their human masters and take over the world, then this album is the first step. Yes, the unleashing of DragonForce's Inhuman Rampage on the unsuspecting public is the first phase of the robot apocalypse.
But let's suppose, just for a different perspective, that humans are responsible for this pile of rusty bolts and stripped screws. (In other words, garbage.) At the time of this album's writing, these humans must've been under the impression that the more pointless *** you cram into an album, the more interesting it becomes. And how wrong they were is evident in the blood seeping out of the listener's ears.
The musicianship, for which I hear this album so often praised, is nothing but a worthless, computer-enhanced compilation of annoying sounds. During the countless displays of pretentious wankery...whoops, I mean 'solos,' all I hear between the obnoxious whammying are bajillions of notes clashing against one another, much like the sounds produced when a group of toddlers aimlessly bang on pots and pans.
But while the solos are as unstructured as they come, the rest of the songs are quite the opposite. There's much structure. Too much ***ing structure. This is the formula for every single song on this album: Intro, Verse, Bridge/Chorus, Verse, Bridge/Chorus, Solos, Different Verse, Bridge/Chorus. Every damn time. It's mainly why this album is such a chore to listen to, and definitely contributes to the fact that this is one of the most uninteresting albums I've ever had the displeasure of hearing.
And not only are the song titles (and the album title, as well) random 'cool' and/or 'badass' words ungracefully mashed together, that's exactly what the lyrics are, too. Literally. While every line on the album is an example, here are some that really stuck out to me. From 'Revolution Deathsquad;' "Ride the wind and fight the demon steel shining bright/Standing together forever onwards flames burning strong/Hot wind in hell of pain and sorrow now and ever onwards/We stare into the dawn of a new world." What the hell is he talking about? Nothing humans can relate to, that's for sure.
And...well, ***, I already said every line on the album is an example. Listing more 'lyrics' would just be a waste of my time, and yours. Every song seems to be about riding towards the steel over a sea of wasted lives, and then fighting something in the red dawn with fire. And not only do they use those same words over and over, but they actually use entire phrases in more than one song, too. (I counted "through the fire and the flames" three times.) It's just another aspect of the album that points to it being made by robots.
Even with its 5 to 8-minute long songs, the bajillions of notes, and the never-ending blast beats, Inhuman Rampage is still unfathomably lazy. Not one ounce of real emotion is shown throughout the entire hour it lasts. (An hour I'll never get back.) So with no real emotion, how are humans supposed to relate to it or get emotionally involved in it? They can't. This album was written by robots, for robots.
