''The Power Within'' is the fifth full-length album by the English

power metal Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contra ...

band

DragonForce DragonForce are a British power metal band from London, England. The band was formed in 1999 by guitarists Herman Li and Sam Totman, and are known for their long and fast guitar solos, fantasy-themed lyrics and retro video game-influenced ...

, released in April 2012. It is the first DragonForce album to feature vocalist

Marc Hudson Marc Hudson is a British singer, mostly known for being the current lead singer of the London based power metal-band DragonForce. On 2 March 2011, Hudson was announced as the new singer of DragonForce. His first show with DragonForce was in Augu ...

. "Cry Thunder" was released as

downloadable content Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enablin ...

for ''

Rock Band 3 ''Rock Band 3'' is a 2010 music video game developed by Harmonix. The game was initially published and distributed by MTV Games and Electronic Arts, respectively, in late October 2010. Mad Catz took over both roles and re-released the title on N ...

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

Overview

DragonForce revealed details about the album on their

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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 Herman Li (; born 3 October 1976) is a Hong Kong-born British musician who is one of two lead guitarists for the power metal band DragonForce. Li has played with the band based in England since it was formed in 1999 by Li along with Sam Totman, ...

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. "Fallen World" was streamed for free on ''

Metal Hammer ''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' features news, reviews and long-form ...

s website on 18 February 2012. The song later became a free downloadable track on 8 March 2012. At 220 beats per minute (bpm) it was the fastest song ever released by DragonForce and it held this title until 18 August 2014 when the band's sixth album ''

Maximum Overload ''Maximum Overload'' is the sixth studio album by British power metal band DragonForce, which was released in Europe on 18 August 2014, and in North America the next day. Trivium vocalist Matt Heafy contributed backing vocals on three songs, in ...

'' was released with the track "The Game" which is even faster (240 bpm). "Cry Thunder" was streamed for free on

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's website via

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on 30 March 2012 by the band's North American label

Roadrunner Records Roadrunner Records is an American record label focused on heavy metal and hard rock bands. Founded in the Netherlands in 1980, it is now a division of Warner Music Group and is based in New York City. History The label was launched in 1980 in t ...

. 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

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on 3 April 2012. 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.

Reception

''The Power Within'' has received positive reviews. At

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(which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics) the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 74, based on 5 reviews. 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.

Track listing

Original release

Notes

*"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'')

Personnel

DragonForce

* Marc Hudson – lead and backing vocals *

– guitars, backing vocals, production, engineering *

Sam Totman Ian Samuel Totman is an English-born New Zealand musician best known as guitarist and main songwriter for the power metal band DragonForce. Early life Totman was born in England and grew up mainly in New Zealand. He moved back to England arou ...

– guitars,

harsh vocals A death growl, or simply growl, is an extended vocal technique usually employed in extreme styles of music, particularly in death metal and other extreme subgenres of heavy metal music. Death growl vocals are sometimes criticized for their ...

, backing vocals, production * Vadim Pruzhanov – keyboards, piano, backing vocals *

Dave Mackintosh Dave Mackintosh is a Scottish drummer, best known as the former drummer for the power metal band DragonForce. Mackintosh also appeared on '' The Power Cosmic'' and '' Atlantis Ascendant'' albums, by the symphonic black metal band, Bal-Sagoth. ...

– drums, backing vocals *

Frédéric Leclercq Frédéric Alexandre "Fred" Leclercq (born 23 June 1978) is a French musician and producer, best known as the former longtime bassist for British power metal band DragonForce. He is currently the guitarist and main songwriter in the death metal ...

– 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)", production

Additional musicians

* Emily Ovenden,

Clive Nolan Clive Nolan (born 30 June 1961) is a British musician, composer and producer who has played a prominent role in the development of progressive rock. He has been the regular keyboard player in Pendragon (1986–present), Shadowland (1992–prese ...

– backing vocals

Production

Karl Groom Karl Groom is a British guitarist and record producer. He is best known as a founding and the only constant member of the progressive metal band Threshold. His production and mixing credits are mainly with progressive and power metal bands. M ...

– engineering, mixing with DragonForce * Peter van't Riet – mastering * Damien Rainaud – remixing, remastering (2018)

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Power Within, The 2012 albums DragonForce albums Roadrunner Records albums