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Fun fact: power metal is somewhat popular in Latin America. Bands like Hammerfall, Rhapsody, Helloween and Sonata Arctica have even played in my city (Cali, Colombia) which rarely gets international shows.

Herman Li is the true face of Dragonforce, I didn't even know at the time that they changed vocalists

I cried during their cover of that Titanic song, I was high and dealing with a passing of a parent, it was cathartic

I'm seeing them twice this week. Discovering Dragonforce through Guitar Hero had a big impact on my taste in music.

I will also say this, they are super nice dudes. I have known Herman for years (although it has been a while now as he is living in the US). I met him at a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class a looong time ago, I was already a big DF fan and tried not to nerd out on him too much. He couldn't have been nicer, ended up getting me into their shows, going to other bands shows, hanging out at clubs and using me as a dummy for a martial piece in Metal Hammer. Literally 0 ego with them, which clearly shows in all aspects of the band.

Wild I'm getting misty eyed thinking about dragonforce for the first time in years. My friends and I listened to them and Sonata Arctica as freshman in HS religiously, even performed Black Fire at the talent show one year!

I remember going to see them live in about 2005/6 The place was full of plastic swords and shields, no one took it seriously, it was FANTASTIC

Power Metal is HUGE in Japan, ain’t it ?

Best things they did was when Herman and Sam were "creating other bands songs in 10 minutes." That whole series is absolute gold and really amplifies how much they treat their own music and genre as an out of hand joke.

Can't believe Herman wasn't given more credit in this video. He did most of the song writing, and his meme-worthy character is what lifted this band to its current level. Respect where it's due.

Nightfall in Middle Earth and Keepers part 1 and 2 are masterpieces of unfathomable height. Also, an important note: most power metal bands were self-aware of their goofiness, to the point of parody, since the 80s. Take a look at Rise and Fall from Helloween or Blind Guardian's covers for Surfin' USA and Mister Sandman.

Alexi Laiho and Children of Bodom! I would enjoy a video on them.

Those first 4 albums have a special place in my heart. I honestly couldn't get into them when they changed vocalists, but I'm glad they're doing well.

I saw Dragonforce open for Killswitch Engage before the whole guitar hero thing and im pretty sure I was one of the only people that was there to them and not Killswitch. Jaw dropping to see them play that shit live

You should definitely interview Herman Li. I remember him doing a cool interview with Anthony Fantano several years ago that went into some of the business/marketing side, so it would totally be within your wheelhouse.

I love dragonforce. My kids are getting into metal (they are 8 and 10) and when something like power of the triforce came out that really pushed them over the edge into the fun world of powermetal. Another powermetal band I really like, from Canada of all places, is Unleash the Archers.

Herman Li is a huge part of what makes this band what it is and his youtube/twitch streams id wager bring in a lot of new fans. hes just a great guy to listen to.

I've been watching Herman's KZfaq content for years now just because of him. He seems like a pretty cool, open-minded dude and you don't get a lot of that in metal. I'm not big on Dragon Force but they ARE undeniably talented. Anyhoo, this was unexpected! ...but I like it. 😎👊

I cannot believe that you don't think other power metal bands have hooks. Power metal is probably the catchiest metal subgenre there is and all of the genre staples are filled with catchy guitar melodies and sing along choruses.

The funniest part is Through the Fire and Flames isn't even part of the regular Guitar Hero Playlist. It's unlocked 🔓 once you've hit expert rank or the end of the game. 😅

These guys singlehandedly defined the public perception of power metal. Everyone equates power metal with long, technical, fast shredding songs specifically because of these guys, when most power metal hasn't been like that since near its inception

I was a huge power metal nerd in 2006-2012 about haha. I'm 39 now and my tastes have changed a lot over the years, but these gusy bring me back to very happy times in college and helped get me through rough times in my life including the death of my mother. Love bands like Kamelot, Sonata Arctica, Blind Guardian and Helloween still! Out of all these bands, I think Blind Guardian and Helloween have held up the best.

16:53 does Herman have a fan set up in his living room for blowing his hair while soloing?! Man, i love that guy!

This video came at a great time. I have never been a fan of power metal, but I have enjoyed some DragonForce tracks in the past. I recently did a deep dive into their full discography, and I'm actually a bigger fan than I thought. Valley of the Damned, Heroes of Our Time, Black Fire, Defenders, Cry For Eternity, are all absolute bangers.

I have an older brother who plays guitar. Hes always been a metalhead but got into Prog Rock/ Power Metal when we’re in Highschool. We shared a wall growing up. NGL it was maddening hearing him trying to learn to these complex/technical riffs like the opening to Rhapsody’s -Emerald Sword. When GH dropped a year or so later it turned up to eleven.lol.

I remember being at a bar in London with friends and a few of the band were their drinking. This was before they really blew up. I had no idea who they were but they were really friendly and were quite happy to chat with people who knew who they were and have a drink.

Mormon theatre kids at my high school introduced me to Dragonforce (prior to Guitar Hero)... I guess it was the only 'extreme' music they were allowed to listen to. No idea how they discovered them.

"ZP-Thirt" sounds like a Star Wars droid model.

I first discovered Dragonforce from the old RedvsBlue website on their forum section. I was pretty active in the metal community there and one member who I chatted with frequently sent me the KZfaq link and said “you are gonna love this” And I did! I still listen to them regularly. One of my favorite bands of my late teenage years.

im generally more into technical and melodic death metal now but dragonforce will always have a special place in my heart. i remember back in like 2011 i was 19/20, not working and with infinite free time and id just be stoned out of my mind playing wow and having all of their albums on a big loop playing in the background

Great video dude. I needed this

Seeing them live in a few weeks, thanks for the history lesson 🤟🏽

I'd argue Herman Li's social media presence is the main reason they are still relevant today.

Great content as always.

i've been saying it for 20 years. Sam Totman is a melodic genius. Underneath all the shred and sweep tapping are solid chords and solid melodies and that's why Dragonforce stands out

Yes! Been waiting for a video I see them in a week!

I still remember Herman's stint in UK grindcore band labrat best known for their hit "Clint Eastwood is very hard innit". Labrat back then played shows with million dead which featured Frank Turner, and where we are now 20 years later 😂

I was at Dragonforce gig a few weeks ago in the uk. There were guys in their mid 30s, like me, older metal fans, kids were there, WOMEN! It's probably the most diverse metal crowd I've been in. They killed it.

I’ve loved dragonforce for over a decade now, and I’m so so excited to finally have the chance to see them live! They’ve been a huge musical inspiration to me, and were one of my earliest motivators to learn to play guitar. Though I’ve loved their music, I didn’t really follow them as people, so it’s cool to see their history summed up here! Cool video

Thank you for bringing the OG intro back, Finn.

Being 63 years old, powermetal was what we called Iron Maiden and Metallica back in the 80's because it was different from Hair bands, like Motley Crue and Judas Priest. I have vaugely heard of Dragonforce, but couldn't tell you who they were or what they did. I think they are BabyMetal's touring band right now, as the West Kami Band. Listening to the stuff in this video reminds me a bit of BabyMetal, which I like, especially the early stuff with Mikio Fujiota. I guess I will go back and check some of this stuff out.

I remember back in like 2004 I tried downloading Dragonforce but came across Dragon Heart with their album Throne of the Alliance. I loved playing that record while playing Golden Axe.

Saw em live in 2021 for the first time and they hold a spot in my Mount Rushmore of live performances. Between Hermin Li dropping the solo for TtFatF then looking at the crowd then shrugging it off and the "Fuck Detroit" chant it was a good time. They where wholesome and great fun the entire night.

My local radio station plays Through the Fire and Flames every so often.

They were my gateway to power metal and I fell in love with the genre

I have seen this Dragonforce 5 times in the last 3 years. They are truly great and with tons of talent, and to see them embrace the camp and become even more successful has been amazing. Been following for over ten years now, and while I hate that some of their discography with marc will go overlooked which I think is their best work (Information overload, reaching into infinite, etc., ) I take catharsis knowing they are having fun and making legitimately epic music.

As someone who doesn’t listen to Power Metal, I’m still really glad it exists, and it sounds like Dragonforce has a lot of heart. I really dig that

Saw them live with Between the Buried and Me. I was there for DragonForce, most of the crowd was there for BTBAM. it was a very strange mix of people. Fun show though! DragonForce was having a blast and you could feel their good vibes coming off the stage. Great live show!

Hearing "obscure genre power metal" made me cry Glad Dragonforce is doing great to this day!

My late roommate who was a fantastic guitar player went from playing some stupid complex stuff to one day practicing some Dragonforce riffs. I once called him out like 'what really, Dream Theater to Dragonforce?' and he was like "what about them?" I said "they're good but they're really cheesy" and he said "everything after 'but' doesn't matter, this is a challenge." Then he went and grabbed another Bud Ice 40oz cuz it was either that or water in our place. I appreciate Taylor Swift now. She's good. Can't say anything else.

Crazy, just saw them open for Dethklok Sunday

This band got me into metal. Sabaton, Epica and DragonForce are my holy trinity of metal.

I saw them with Between the Buried and Me in 2006, and I'm pretty sure it was the most guitar notes ever played at a two band show.

Valley of the damned is such a good album I remember my friend and I listening to that and sonic firestorm back in the day playing this weird online rpg called well of souls. When they got a track on guitar hero it blew our minds how popular the band became after that

Besides that one song, I think Blind Guardian and Helloween are bigger bands

Maaan... I thought you wouldn't mention Brutal Legend, that part is simply amazing... what a game! ❤

I first discovered DragonForce in 2007 on my friend Alex’s MySpace page. Fury of the Storm was playing on his page as his song and I always paused it. One day I couldn’t pause it and heard the whole thing and was like YOOOOOO they became my favorite band and I got every album after on my iPod.

I showed my 8 and 5 year old guitar recently and showed them the hardest song on there legends of rock - through the fire and flames. My kids fell in love with the sound and now listen to dragonforce on spotify daily on shuffle. Its so weird to me but I think its because it sounds like video game music to them. They listen to it while playing roblox

I think I discovered the song Through the Fires and Flames through a Guitar Hero-ish online game named Jam Guitar that can be played with a keyboard and a mouse. Love this song ever since

Wow this was a great trip down memory lane! I have always been more into metalcore but my highschool metal posse was big into power metal (Europe indeed..), the likes of Hammerfall, Blind Guardian, Sonata Arctica and the likes. I did join them to Dragonforce just for the event and really, really liked the show! 2nd shows I went they had a new supporting act called Sabaton that I also didnt know till that day.. times have changed since!

been listening to rock and metal since high school in the 90s but when I first heard Dragonforce on guitar hero it BLEW MY MIND. I bought the album immediately, then bought the rest of their albums. I love the genre and highly recommend Sonata Artica, Manowar, Helloween, Blind Guardian, Gloryhammer and Avantasia to anyone who likes rock or metal. Good for chilling, gaming, as a background for reading fantasy/manga or lifting. Its a fun upbeat change from our normal stuff.

I remember that time: "Through The Fire And Flames" wasn't even playable in the "story"-mode of guitar hero III, but the first song of the outro (not before, but AFTER you beat the devil 😁). Herman Lee is an impressive guitar player! "Nintendo-core" is a beautiful expression. Oh, and I started playing guitar some years before and played guitar hero on the PC-keyboard.

I go to a lot of shows, and man did Dragonforce deliver last year when I saw them in NYC. Showmanship, crowd energy and pulling off all their technical playing live. Would see them again in a heartbeat. Just lean into the campiness and enjoy yourself. And loved the Intervals shoutout at the end. Just saw them last week; easily top 3 favorite bands for years, even if it's just Aaron writing.

These vids are so well done I’m surprised a network like MTV or VH1 haven’t tried contacting you to host these on their networks as an hour long show/series. Keep up the great content 🙌🏻

I love how Hermann was was part of one my favourite metal songs ever, Road of Resistance But, lbr, DragonForce is just amazing

Not enough emphasis on how Herman's twitch live streams brought in new fans. In 2015, Dragonforce was playing small clubs as an opener still (I saw them in the basement of Webster Hall that year, as an opener) and then after covid, they were headlining 1-2k capacity ballrooms (headlined Palladium Times Square in 2023). This was all well after in the fire and flames was popular.

I remember them since the first demo as Dragonheart. I was listening to power metal back then at the end of the `90s. My friends and I were quite amazed by their speed. And I was even more impressed when I saw them a decade later live on the Masters of Rock festival - still technical, yet a great and funny show.

Dragonforce was THE band that introduced me to metal. I first heard TTFAF when I was 12 funnily enough from a game on roblox (back when dmca wasn't as bad). I was instantly hooked and became a huge fan, went out and bought a guitar and gh3 which then introduced me to One by Metallica which became the band that truly made me fall in love and fully dive into metal so DragonForce and Herman Li as a guitarist will always hold a special place in my heart.

The reason maximum overload and reaching into infinity are so different and darker from the rest of the catalog is because of then bassist Frédéric Leclercq (now with Kreator). Sam gave him way more writing freedom and though those albums were incredible, I am pleased to see them come full circle back to the fun Dragonforce

The best live performances I've ever seen are power metal, like blind guardian, Helloween, and stratovarius

Playing TTFAF in GH3 made me want to pick up the guitar and figure out how to play this. I even bought Herman Li's signature guitar model and had it signed by him after a show. I am still a huge DF 17 years later, although I never managed to play TTFAF hahah.

Dragonforce got their name from a sega Saturn strategy rpg so there has always been an element of video game culture in their music. That’s probably why they embraced getting popular through guitar hero.

I remember listening to Dragonforce for the first time by looking for Stratovarius songs. I went to Windows Media player and found the Valley of the damn instantly hooked. 20 years later and still love listening to them

As a long time fan of DragonForce and Power Metal, I did see one other thing back in the day that set them apart. Most power metal bands only toured with other power metal bands, and I understand why. DragonForce was on Ozzfest before Guitar Hero 3 even came out. They also toured with bands like Killswitch Engage, Chimaira, Trivium, Machine Head, and later would also play main stage at one of the first Mayhem Festival tours. If you watch videos from those tours some people in the audience were booing. DragonForce took a risk and went outside of their power metal comfort zone to earn new fans.

I've seen them live a few times and every single time they were great. The two guitarist would flip each other off or hump each other with their guitars while the other was going

GH3 played a HUGEEE part of me getting into metal. I was 10 and my friends older brother was a metalhead and had it. Killswitch engage is what sold me on metal. Thank god I got to experience this. Man I really miss the early 2000s…. Things were just better.

Brutal Legend mentioned such a great game

As you say near the end of the video, I got GH3 for Christmas the year it came out and literally 4 months after that I was asking my parents for a real guitar. Crazy how influential that game was

Dragonforce single handedly reinvigorated the US powermetal scene. Nearly 20 years after Guitar Hero III and we've now got several festivals dedicated to Power Metal.

X 107 5 in Vegas used to have a Dragon Force moment some nights of the week before it was in guitar hero, was such a fun moment of radio when they would have people calling up to scream Dragon Force

Obscure? Maybe. It depends on who you ask and how you describe it. Sam Dunne defines the subgenre in his various documentaries and includes various well-known bands like Dio and Manowar, though maybe they're the predecessors of the modern genre.

This band is much different than many other metal bands when it comes to personality and attitude. They stay away from creating drama (hence we don't know and will never know why singer left), they don't gatekeep, they don't sue (they could sue to get royalties for Guitar Hero, right? 🤷), they share their music and love not only fans who listen to it but fans who play their songs (Herman Li reacts to musicians playing their covers, really cool). They understand modern media (games, KZfaq, music streaming). Despite their genre is stuck in the past of power metal, the band itself evolves and knows how to present it to new fans. This is skill that many bands don't have. Last but not least - these guys have lots of distance to what they do and having fun doing it. It isn't my favourite band (I'm not much into power metal) but have lots of respect for what and how they do and many bands (especially those dramatic ones) could learn a lot from them.

As you will always point out, they had hooks, but also they had infectious energy, grinningly corny but exhilaratingly triumphant, also they transcendened the trappings of power metal, Dragonforce were all about feel of an epic battle not the story of one, which is why they remain the only power metal band with universal appeal.

Great timing. Catching them tonight with deathklok

There were only two American Power Metal bands that mattered: Nevermore and Iced Earth. But both were only big in Europe.

I do remember that at beginning of 2000 (no Spotify or KZfaq around yet) I was starting searching music on internet... and a song called "Black Winter night" suddenly showed up and I got excited!... I was a heavy/power metal kid back then and I got surprised by their sound but was hard to get music from overseas back in the day.... years after that when the "Guitar Hero" was born it was easier to get music from this guys .... so cool they "made it" somehow :) Hey! power metal is a big thing in Latinoamérica BTW

DragonForce legit one of my fave bands, got the shirt

There wasn't much outcry at a change of singer because DragonForce's main focus has always been the two guitar players, not the singer.

First of, loved the 2 ends of the spectrum you used between DragonForce and Dream Theatre. I can recognise the great musicianship of that band, but never ever fell in love with their music. Had the opportunity to go to a live showof Dragonforce (edit . a month ago), and damn they are really really fun to see live, Marc Hudson is a great vocalist, and furthermore it was on an insanely small venue of 500 peeps, and a very very affordable ticket price. If you have any opportunity to go watch them live, it really worth it. You will have a chance to moshpit on a Celine Dion or Taylor Swift cover 🤣

I loved them since i was a child, all of their music was a true inspiration for me to do anything, including starting to play guitar and becoming better at it. I think you should give more credit to Sam, he is a musical genius when it comes to compose!

I once saw em and the drummer and keys guy straight up did an entire, like 20 minute edm/dubstep show in the middle of the set. It was pretty bitchin. Definitely a super fun live band.

Just a question: What song is being played at around 16:50

Good stuff real smart

I could never beat this song.

There's more outside of Europe than just the US. I'm from Argentina and I listened power metal since I was a teenager (Hellowen, Rhapsody, Blind Guardian, Stratovarius, Sonata Arctica, Angra, etc)

I remember i was walking the halls on my off hour in high school and i walked passed the choir class. They were singing through the fire and flames. I was in shock cause i thought was the only one who knew who dragon force was lol

The best thing about these guys is that being very talented musicians they don't take themselves too seriously

I love DragonForce. Guitar Hero 3 was the reason why I became a fan! Unfortunately, I think they kind of got screwed over when the developers only put a few of their songs in their Guitar hero/Rock Band franchise and just left them at that. Strange, since there were quite a few songs out there that deserved to be in those franchise, like Cry For Eternity, Black Fire and Valley of the Damned.

There's a handful of first listens that are baked into my brain. Streetlight Manifesto "Everything Goes Numb" Bad Religion "Modern Man" Dragonforce "Through the Fire and Flames" is most definitely one. Legendary stuff.