CD: "Ultra Beatdown" by DragonForce

Release: Aug. 26; Roadrunner Records

Style: Rock

If there's any band out there reaping the benefits of 21st-century living, it's DragonForce.

A longtime underground favorite, the U.K.-born metal band became an instant mainstream name after its song "Through the Fire and Flames" appeared on last year's "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" and, subsequently, numerous YouTube videos.

DragonForce follows up that success with "Ultra Beatdown," its newest studio effort on Roadrunner Records. It's a treat for new fans and those pretentious Hot Topic types who brag about knowing bands before they became famous.

The newest 10-track serving of DragonForce brings more of the same guitar-laden rock its fans love. And every song fits into the same almost-mathematical formula: two verses, chorus, almost-too-long guitar solo, repeat. That may seem odd, as Top 40 musicians constantly get ripped on for their formulaic songwriting, yet there's one huge factor the band's critics always overlook.

If there were three words to describe DragonForce, it would be "Super Nintendo Rock." The first time I heard "My Spirit Will Go On," I thought "Man, if I were still 12 years old, I would really dig this." Every song is packed with Herman Li and Sam Totman's how-does-he-do-that guitar solos, ZP Thearts' hair-metal vocals and lyrics that sound like a J.R.R. Tolkien book on drugs.

For example, a verse in "A Long Journey Home" starts off with the lines "Sever the soul from the forgotten sickness, escape this life / Challenge the dream before the long departed a mindless rhyme." Basically, every DragonForce song sounds like a .midi file produced in 1984.

All that considered, it's almost impossible to not compare DragonForce to the similar act Wolfmother. Both bands are foreign, have massive appeal with younger crowds and have a hefty number of obvious influences. The difference is Wolfmother grew up on bands such as AC/DC and Black Sabbath; DragonForce obviously listened to way too much Journey and Foreigner.

Queens of the Stone Age can brag all they want about how it's bringing back legitimate rock to the mainstream. DragonForce has a much more noble cause: saving the lost art of the guilty pleasure.