The first track on this album is the one that has probably almost single-handedly contributed to DragonForce's cult popularity via the internets. "Through The Fire And Flames" basically epitomises everything about this band – it's a seven-and-a-half minute shred-fest with lyrics that seem largely to be a drunken ramble about how amazingly cool dragons and friendship are, as well as the aforementioned silly keyboard sounds, and the infamous Pac-Man noise, in the middle of the... third solo, I think. But, damn, is it still fun to listen to. You can't help but sing along in the chorus and especially the 'whoa-oh-oh' section, you'll find yourself head-banging and tapping your feet along to the speedy rhythms and maybe even some air-guitaring. You'll be smiling, no matter what.

Sadly enough, this formula is followed almost without variation throughout the album – every song is pretty much a seven-and-a-half minute shred-fests with lyrics that seem largely to be drunken rambles about how amazingly cool dragons and friendship are. The second song, "Revolution Deathsquad", despite certainly being a contender for the 'Silliest Song Title Ever' award, fits neatly into this category. Singer ZP Theart – as far as I can tell, that IS his real name – has one of the traditional power metal voices, epic, powerful and with truly enormous range. He's also accompanied in many songs by growled and clean vocals from other members of the band, but often these aren't noticeable. "Revolution Deathsquad" also features some particular unusual synth sounds, some DJ scratching, for some bizarre reason, and one of the craziest series' of solos on the album – listed as 'Herman/Twin/Sam/Herman/Twin/Twin Blast/Herman/Sam/Herman/Sam' – yes, that's right, TEN.

Do I need to say the bit about seven-and-a-half minute shred-fests again? Well, track three, "Storming The Burning Fields" fits into the same category. It begins with the sound of a match being lit, which is then followed by the traditional keyboard, guitar and drum-pounding introduction. An interesting element in this song is a folk metal-esque vocal line near the end of each verse, where once again the growled vocals come to the fore. Well, nearer to the fore. The instrumental section before the solos shows another side to the DragonForce coin, though it still heavily features silly keyboard sounds and very loud, fast drumwork. This song's array of solos fades into another fun 'whoa-oh-oh' segment, and once again serves to be enjoyable without being mentally stimulating.

"Operation Ground And Pound", probably the second most famous track from the album, bears uncanny semblance to "Through The Fire And Flames" – compare the first line of each song's chorus.

Through The Fire And Flames: 'So far away, we wait for the day'.
Operation Ground And Pound: 'Far away will our eyes now see the day'.

Even compared to the similarities shared by the other songs on the album, these two are a bit worrisome. Once again however, it's great fun and the chorus is a particularly good singalong. The lyrics are a true classic of cheese metal and this is probably one of the most lasting songs from the album.

"Body Breakdown". Upbeat. Heavy drums. Bubblegum guitar. Silly synths. Stupidly clever lyrics. Or cleverly stupid, perhaps. Much the same as the above, though this does use a different structure, building up nicely to a climactic, solo-filled, of course, ending, instead of having a climactic ending the whole way through. It even features a 'Super bridge', according to the booklet. Awesome.

This song is probably my favourite from the album – "Cry For Eternity" begins with a crescendo of distorted guitar and drums, like many of the other songs, but somehow this one sounds better. I'm not sure why this track's so much better than the other songs that seem to follow much the same formula, but somehow it manages. Double-kick bass and ZP's voice get you head-banging and singing once again. In fact, right at this moment I'm attempting to type in time with the guitar riffs of the chorus. It's not too easy. The growls come out again at various points, and basically this cheesy shred-fest hits the spot that cheesy shred-fests are supposed to hit, for me. A highlight is the 80s keyboard interlude, which could bring a smile to almost anyone's face. No super bridge though, sadly.

The second last song on the album, "The Flame of Youth", seems formulaic to me. It's the afore-mentioned seven-minute shred-fest with lyrics that seem to be a drunken ramble about how cool dragons and friendship are, and this one doesn't seem to have the charisma and lasting value of "Through The Fire And Flames" or "Cry For Eternity". The vocal lines are cool, some of the guitar-work is well-done and it's generally happy and good, it just doesn't seem to hit the spot – though that may just be because by this point one's getting sick of the formula. I must admit, however, the end is notably awesome sounding, with some clever audio effects used.

The album's token slow (-ish) song, "Trail Of Broken Hearts", is the rough equivalent of "Dawn Over A New World" on their previous album, Sonic Firestorm, though I don't think it's nearly as good. The introductory guitar-fills and keyboards are very good and the vocal lines and lyrics are good, but voice-filters are over-used, as if the band have realised that their 80s sound and shredding is what gives them popularity, so they're not allowed to do anything else any more. It's good, it serves as a good ending to the album and exhibits that the band don't entirely just shred, but it's nowhere near as good as "Dawn" is, and I don't think it's as good as it could have been.

Inhuman Rampage, the third album by the self-proclaimed British 'extreme power metal' pioneers, DragonForce, is an interesting album to review. On one hand, it's almost scarily happy and enjoyable to listen to, fast and exhibits considerable musicianship – in some ways. On the other hand, it's repetitive, cheesy and stupid.

ZP Theart's vocals are quite brilliant, and well exhibited on the album, but sometimes they're filtered to hell and even lost in a mess of sound. The two lead guitarists, Herman Li and Sam Totman, both show that they're very good at wanking off with fast tapping solos and power chords, without showing much depth. Vadim Pruzhanov, the band's keyboardist, exhibits great skill, but as with ZP he is often obscured by the wall of sound and, to be quite honest, some of his keyboard tones are just idiotic. Dave Mackintosh, on drums, keeps the band together well and plays some brilliant fills and pounds the double-kick like few others can, but his drumming gets repetitive like the rest of the band after a few listens.

Overall, if you're new to metal, or even just to DragonForce, this album will serve as a very enjoyable introduction, but I'd say the band's second album at least is considerably better – this one just feels like they're trying too hard. For someone who already likes their metal, this should be fun for a few listens, but it does get old fast and, a warning, it is extremely cheesy.