Maximum Overload

Maximum Overload
Studio album by DragonForce
Format	CD
Recorded	Thin Ice Studios, Surrey, England, and LamerLuser Studios, London, England July 2013 – March 2014
Released	18 August 2014
Genre	Power Metal, Speed Metal, Melodic Death Metal
Length	49:33 (original release) 55:01 (Japanese edition) 70:46 (Deluxe edition) 76:14 (Japanese deluxe edition)
Label	earMUSIC (Europe), Metal Blade (North America) 3Wise (Australia) JVC Victor (Japan)
Producer	Jens Bogren
DragonForce album chronology
The Power Within (2012) Maximum Overload (2014) In the Line of Fire... Larger than Live (2015)

Maximum Overload is the sixth full-length album by the English power metal band DragonForce, released on 18 August 2014. It is the last DragonForce album to feature drummer Dave Mackintosh.

Overview

The album saw guitarist Sam Totman co-writing songs with bassist Frédéric Leclercq who, due to his thrash and prog tastes, expects the album to sound "a bit more diverse".

Guitarist Herman Li explained that the album's title and artwork were inspired by "the constant bombardment of information we are subjected to during our daily lives":

We were in an airport departure lounge surrounded by TV screens, flight information screens, and advertising screens. We then looked around and no one was saying a word, they were all looking at more screens on tablets, laptops and mobile phones. There's no escaping it; it's complete information overload!

Totman said it also reflected the musical direction of the album: We were trying to come up with a title to try and describe the music, it's kind of like an overload of music, faster guitar playing and more of everything. The theme of the album is talking about our society and what it does at the moment – information on the internet and phone and absorbing a lot of this unnecessary stuff.

On 18 June 2014, the band released The Game, which is currently the fastest song ever released by DragonForce and which is 240 bpm.

On 7 August 2014, the band released a cover of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" was released.

Track listing

Original release
No.	Title	Music	Lyrics	Length
1.	"The Game"	Sam Totman, Frédéric Leclercq	Totman, Marc Hudson	4:56
2.	"Tomorrow's Kings"	Totman	Totman, Leclercq	4:08
3.	"No More"	Totman, Leclercq	Totman, Leclercq, Vadim Pruzhanov	3:50
4.	"Three Hammers"	Totman, Leclercq	Totman, Leclercq	5:50
5.	"Symphony of the Night"	Totman, Leclercq	Totman, Leclercq	5:19
6.	"The Sun Is Dead"	Leclercq	Leclercq	6:34
7.	"Defenders"	Totman, Leclercq	Totman, Leclercq	5:47
8.	"Extraction Zone"	Totman, Leclercq	Totman, Leclercq	5:06
9.	"City of Gold"	Totman, Leclercq	Totman, Leclercq	4:43
10.	"Ring of Fire" (Anita Carter cover)	June Carter, Merle Kilgore	J. Carter, Kilgore	3:15
	Total length			49:33

Japanese edition
No.	Title	Music	Lyrics	Length
11.	"Summer's End"	Leclercq	Leclercq	5:28
	Total length			55:01

Deluxe edition
No.	Title	Music	Lyrics	Length
11.	"Power and Glory"	Totman, Leclercq	Totman, Leclercq	5:06
12.	"You're Not Alone"	Totman	Totman, Hudson	4:38
13.	"Chemical Interference"	Leclercq	Leclercq	5:12
14.	"Fight to Be Free"	Totman	Totman	4:45
15.	"Galactic Astro Domination"	Li, Totman	instrumental	1:32
	Total length			70:46

Japanese deluxe edition
No.	Title	Music	Lyrics	Length
11.	"Power and Glory"	Totman, Leclercq	Totman, Leclercq	5:06
12.	"You're Not Alone"	Totman	Totman, Hudson	4:38
13.	"Chemical Interference"	Leclercq	Leclercq	5:12
14.	"Summer's End"	Leclercq	Leclercq	5:28
15.	"Fight to Be Free"	Totman	Totman	4:45
16.	"Galactic Astro Domination"	Li, Totman	instrumental	1:32
	Total length			76:14

Personnel

• Herman Li - Guitars, backing vocals, producing, mixing, engineering
• Sam Totman - Guitars, backing vocals, producing, mixing
• Vadim Pruzhanov - Keyboards, piano, theremin, Kaoss pad, backing vocals
• Dave Mackintosh - Drums, backing vocals
• Frédéric Leclercq - Bass, backing vocals, additional rhythm guitars, and Acoustic guitars
• Marc Hudson - Vocals
• Matt Heafy - Backing vocals