Sonic Firestorm / DragonForce (2004)

1. My Spirit Will Go On

2. Fury of the Storm

3. Fields of Despair

4. Dawn Over a New World

5. Above the Winter Moonlight

6. Soldiers of the Wastelands

7. Prepare for War

8. Once In A Lifetime

9. Cry of the Brave

The debut album was very sensational yet also rough and unrefined ore. With this album, they basically continued the same music direction. As they did with the last album, they still stuck with speed except the ballad track 4. However, there was a lot of improvement in this album. First, the sound production was much improved from the last album. Second, the song arrangements and melody lines were better deliberated. Some of the songs in the last album sounded redundant, but the songs in this album is well arranged.

I listened to this album at CD store. From the beginning of track 1, the dramatic metal journey had begun. DragonForce world goes quick with speed. My personal highlights are tracks 1 and 6. They still shows strong obsession to speed, yet they also brought more variety in rhythm and riffs. Because of that new attempt with arrangement, it makes the fast parts stand out even more. Melody lines have better hook, and each song became more distinguishable from other songs. This album was a big step-up for the band and made me looking forward to the next one.

☆☆☆☆

Unbreakable / Scorpions (2004)

1. New Generation

2. Love 'em Or Leave 'em

3. Deep And Dark

4. Borderline

5. Blood Too Hot

6. Maybe I Maybe You

7. Someday Is Now

8. My City My Town

9. Through My Eyes

10. Can You Feel It

11. This Time

12. She Said

13. Remember The Good Times

14. Dreamers (Japanese Release Only)

15. Too Far (Japanese Release Only)

This is my favorite Scorpions album in last 20 years. This album reminds me of them in 70's. For some reasons, this album really makes me emotional. Sound wise, the album is very heavy, but the melody reminds me of Uli Jon Roth era.

In 70's they were not big in the U.S. yet. Nevertheless, they were already pretty popular in Europe and Japan. I believe that the reason why they became famous in Japan at that time was beautiful minor melody they created. The songs were not so commercial yet had vibe that matched with Japanese people's senses. It was not so pop as they were in 80's, but it grabbed Japanese people's heart. This album has the same vibe that they used to have.

"Love 'em Or Leave 'em", "Deep and Dark", "Maybe I Maybe You", "Through My Eyes", these songs have good feeling of 70's. They, of course, have awesome ballads such as "She Said" and "Dreamer". "Dreamer is a bonus track in Japanese version of the album, but this song immediately became one of my favorite Scorpions song. This is one the best pieces that they ever wrote, and I don't understand why this song is not in the worldwide release. This album was a hit of this band for me for the longest time.

☆☆☆☆☆