| Reaching into Infinity | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||
| Studio album by DragonForce | |||||
| Format | CD | ||||
| Released | 19 May 2017 | ||||
| Genre | Power Metal, Speed Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Thrash Metal, Progressive Metal | ||||
| Length | 60:46 (original release) 69:33 (with Special edition bonus tracks) 74:34 (with all bonus tracks) | ||||
| Label | earMUSIC (Europe), Metal Blade (North America) 3Wise (Australia) JVC Victor (Japan) Shinagami | ||||
| Producer | Jens Bogren | ||||
| DragonForce album chronology | |||||
| |||||
Reaching into Infinity is the seventh full-length album by the English power metal band DragonForce, released on 18 August 2014. It is the first DragonForce album to feature drummer Gee Anzalone and last to feature keyboardist Vadim Pruzhanov.
Songwriting and concept[]
The album was written largely by Sam Totman and Frédéric Leclercq, with Vadim Pruzhanov contributing to one song and Marc Hudson contributing to some of the lyrics. Leclercq stated he listens more to traditional heavy metal, thrash metal, death metal, black metal and progressive metal than he listens to power metal, which is why the album sounds different from the band's previous efforts. When asked about Leclercq's songwriting work and the possible influence of his extreme metal side project Sinsaenum, Herman Li stated, "We try to make use of everyone's skills, which is something we didn’t do much at the beginning of the band. I don't think Sinsaenum made too much of a difference, because there are still so many ideas we haven't been able to put into Dragonforce yet, and if you introduce too many new ideas you lose focus. [...]" The band at first wanted to have a guest for the harsh vocals, but they eventually had Hudson give it a try and they were happy with the result.
Li described the album as their "most diverse" one and also as "escapist", saying people are supposed to listen to it to temporarily get away from the "craziness of the world". The album title was conceived to be a reference to how the band wish their music to take people from anywhere to any time.
Reaching into Infinity is the band's longest original release studio album at 60:46. The album also features the band's longest song, at 11 minutes and 3 seconds, in "The Edge of the World". When asked about the inspiration for writing that song, Totman explained they had the idea from the title track of Iron Maiden's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. Hudson said that the song centres around the poem Epic of Gilgamesh. Li also explained that "Silence" was written about a friend of Leclercq who committed suicide.
Track listing[]
| Original release | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Music | Lyrics | Length | |||||
| 1. | "Reaching into Infinity" | Frédéric Leclercq | instrumental | 1:25 | |||||
| 2. | "Ashes of the Dawn" | Leclercq | Leclercq | 4:33 | |||||
| 3. | "Judgement Day" | Totman, Leclercq | Totman | 6:13 | |||||
| 4. | "Astral Empire" | Leclercq | Totman, Leclercq | 5:24 | |||||
| 5. | "Curse of Darkness" | Leclercq | Leclercq | 5:35 | |||||
| 6. | "Silence" | Leclercq | Leclercq, Marc Hudson | 4:50 | |||||
| 7. | "Midnight Madness" | Totman | Totman | 6:21 | |||||
| 8. | "WAR!" | Leclercq | Leclercq, Hudson | 5:19 | |||||
| 9. | "Land of Shattered Dreams" | Totman, Leclercq | Hudson | 4:59 | |||||
| 10. | "The Edge of the World" | Totman, Leclercq | Totman, Leclercq, Hudson | 11:03 | |||||
| 11. | "Our Final Stand" | Leclercq | Totman, Leclercq | 5:03 | |||||
| Total length | 60:46 | ||||||||
| Special edition | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Music | Lyrics | Length | |||||
| 12. | "Hatred and Revenge" | Totman | Totman | 5:26 | |||||
| 13. | "Evil Dead" (Death cover) | Chuck Schuldiner | Schuldiner | 3:21 | |||||
| Total length | 69:33 | ||||||||
| Japanese edition | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Music | Lyrics | Length | |||||
| 12. | "Hatred and Revenge" | Totman | Totman | 5:26 | |||||
| 13. | "Evil Dead" (Death cover) | Chuck Schuldiner | Schuldiner | 3:21 | |||||
| 14. | "Gloria" (ZIGGY cover) | Juichi Morishige | Morishige | 5:01 | |||||
| Total length | 74:34 | ||||||||