DRAGONFORCE Announce U.K. Headlining Tour

London-based "extreme power metal" band DRAGONFORCE have announced the details of their headlining U.K. tour, set to take place in September 2005.

In contrast to their summer schedule, which sees the band playing several of mainland Europe's largest festivals, as well as a batch of stadium shows as special guests of IRON MAIDEN, the tour was set up with the intention of including a number of smaller, out-of-the-way towns and venues and effectively sees the band taking their music to the kids.

Commented guitarist Herman Li: "On our last headlining tour we played mostly major cities. We were aware through the Forum on our website and from speaking to the fans after we had played each show that many of them were travelling a fuck of a long way to get there, some of them even flying! We didn't think this was fair as it costs them a fortune, so we decided on this tour that as far as possible we would take the band to them."

Sponsored by Metal Hammer and incorporating three small weekly London shows at The Barfly in Camden, the full list of dates (including ticket hotline nos.) for what has been dubbed the "Meet the Sonic Firestorm" tour is as follows:

Sep. 13 – Wolverhampton, UK @ Wulfrun Hall
Sep. 14 - Cardiff, UK @ University
Sep. 15 - London, UK @ Barfly
Sep. 17 - Leeds, UK @ Cockpit
Sep. 18 - Edinburgh, UK @ Liquid Rooms
Sep. 19 - Aberdeen, UK @ Moshulu
Sep. 20 - Liverpool, UK @ Academy
Sep. 22 - London, UK @ Barfly
Sep. 24 - Oxford, UK @ Zodiac
Sep. 25 - Cambridge, UK @ Junction
Sep. 26 - Portsmouth, UK @ Wedgewood Rooms
Sep. 27 - Exeter, UK @ St. George’s Hall
Sep. 29 - London, UK @ Barfly
Sep. 30 - Leicester, UK @ Charlotte

DRAGONFORCE is powered by the twin guitar assaults of Herman Li (born in Hong Kong) and Sam Totman (English),singer Z.P. Theart (South African),Vadim Pruzhanov (Ukrainian) on keyboards, plus two more Brits in bassist Adrian Lambert and drummer David Mackintosh. The sound of the group is a rare combination of various metal and hard rock styles, although the sonic fury they conjure up in no way hides their greatest strength....songwriting ability. The release of their debut album, "Valley of the Damned", in 2003 saw the group tour Europe, South East Asia and the Far East. A swift follow-up, "Sonic Firestorm", was issued in the spring of 2004; buoyed by massive critical acclaim throughout the rock press, its release saw the band launch into a sustained period of activity that included a European tour with W.A.S.P. and a first full U.K. headlining tour that saw most venues sold out. The band will record their third album later this year for release in early 2006.