Travelling At Warp Speed With SAM TOTMAN From DRAGONFORCE

Interview by Kris Peters
Dragonforce are undoubtedly one of the biggest bands in the world - or at least the most recognisable.
Allowing their track Through The Fire And Flames to be used on Guitar Hero 3 proved a masterstroke for the band after the global success of that game - not to mention the fact how addictive it was - propelled Dragonforce into the lounge rooms and stereos of gamers and budding musicians in every corner of the globe.
While many bands would be content with such an achievement in itself, Dragonforce merely used it as a launching platform on which to deliver their brand of power metal, and the result has been devastatingly effective.
Their music has been used on other games, been nominated for a Grammy and generally taken on a life of its own, with Dragonforce being considered universally as the fastest band in metal. Which is not surprising given the twin guitar assault delivered by founding members Sam Totman and Herman Li, two guitarists worlds apart to look at, but brothers in arms musically.
After not delivering an album of any sort since 2019s Extreme Power Metal, Dragonforce are making an almighty return with their tenth studio album Warp Speed Warriors set for release on March 15.
It has already been labelled as their most ambitious and innovative album to date, with Dragonforce exploring a variety of musical styles and textures, expanding their existing sound while still maintaining their roots.
Guitarist Sam Totman joined HEAVY recently to chat about Warp Speed Warriors.
"Great," he enthused when we asked how he was feeling about the upcoming release of Warp Speed Warriors. "It's funny because, like every band always says, 'we're just so happy to finish it because we've been working on it for ages', but it's definitely the case. I started working on that right when lockdown started and because we had so much time I just worked on it very slowly. In the end unfortunately I started getting a bit sick of it because I'd heard it to death and I never got an end to it because it was like 'oh, I could improve this one' or 'I can improve that one' and I carried on, never stopping. Normally it's good to have a deadline where you finish the album and say right, that's that, that's what it is. But I had so much time to keep improving things and whatever - which is nice - but it was also kind of a pain in the ass. Now that it's finished I haven't listened to it for the last few months, but I put it on the other day when the first Astro Warriors song came on, and I saw the video and thought I can finally enjoy this song for what it is instead of thinking there's this little bit here that I want to change and a little bit there I want to change. Actually, the chorus of that song was different - it's a bit of a nerdy musician fact for you (laughs) - but I changed the chorus of that only two months before we finished the album. Before that it was a different chorus which I didn't think was as good. It was annoying me for three years, and I was thinking it's almost amazing but not quite. And I was like, I'm just going to have to bin it and start again because I kept trying to adjust it. But in the end it turned out good. That's a long way to say yes I do like our album, and it's more heavy and more melodic than all the other ones (laughs). I'd like to say one day it's actually lighter and less melodic, but that's not really true (laughs)."
In the full interview, Sam talks more about Warp Speed Warriors musically, how it is Dragonforce's most ambitious and innovative release, what kinds of things they did on the album that they haven't tried before, covering Taylor Swift, the bonus tracks featuring guest artists, living up to their reputation as the fastest band in the world, the early days of Dragonforce and where they fit in, when he looked around and realised that he could make a career out of music, how the bands sound has changed over the course of ten albums, touring plans and more.

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