DRAGONFORCE: 'Valley Of The Damned' Re-Release Delayed

September 26, 2007

The previously announced re-release of DRAGONFORCE's debut album, "Valley of the Damned", has been delayed. Below is a statement from the band's manager Steve McTaggart.

"Regretfully, I have to announce that the release of the 'Valley of the Damned - Remixed & Remastered' album has been postponed until further notice. Difficulties were experienced at the mastering studio in Berlin due to the illness of key people which resulted in the original release date not being achievable. Subsequent to this, Sanctuary Records, who own the bands catalogue, has been bought by Universal Music and shut down. Work on the album is ongoing and will be completed and a new release date will be set once the business situation is clarified."

"Valley of the Damned - Remixed & Remastered" was scheduled to include a bonus DVD. The remixed debut and DRAGONFORCE's second album, "Sonic Firestorm", were also going be available for the first time on picture disc vinyl.

DRAGONFORCE guitarist Herman Li previously stated: "For some time now we've been thinking about how great it would be that one day we could remix and remaster the 'Valley of the Damned' album and re-release it. I still remember the amount of time and effort we spent recording that album, and financing it myself! Ignoring all the deadlines that were set for the delivery of the master tapes, we went into a lengthy recording period only to finally run out of money which meant we didn't have the time to give the songs the mix and production sound they deserve.

"Although many people thought the original release had a great production, it is uncomparable to the massive production sound on the albums 'Sonic Firestorm' and 'Inhuman Rampage'. To tell you the truth, the original release was mixed in only 36 hours as we spent most of the time working on capturing the best performances and improving the songs as much as possible.

"Now, after 18 months on the road, three times around the world for the 'Inhuman Rampage Tour', our wish is granted with a bigger budget, better gear, more time and more experience to bring new life to 'Valley of the Damned'.

"I know many old fans still consider 'Valley of the Damned' to be our classic album. It is an album full of great songs that a lot of our new fans still haven't discovered yet unless they see us live since we have included songs from our debut album in all of our shows.

"We have spent the last three weeks with producer Karl Groom remixing all the songs and giving more attention to detail than we previously had a chance to do. The final result is exactly what we want now, and beyond what was possible when we first finished 'Valley of the Damned' four years ago. We are including a DVD in this package because we want to give you, the fans, as much as possible on this re-release. One thing is for sure, this jam-packed DVD took way longer than I initially thought and I definitely under estimated the time it takes to put so much archive footage on it. This DVD will give you a feel of what was happening before we started to spend our lives on tour buses and airplanes!"

"Valley of the Damned - Remixed & Remastered" projected track listing:

Disc 1 – CD:

01. Invocation of the Apocalyptic Evil
02. Valley of the Damned
03. Black Fire
04. Black Winter Night
05. Starfire
06. Disciples of Babylon
07. Revelations
08. Evening Star
09. Heart of a Dragon

Disc 2 – DVD:

* Interviews
- Interviews with the band members and producer reflecting on the "Valley of the Damned" period and the remix
* "Valley of the Damned" Live
- Previously unreleased professionally filmed live video recording from their first Japanese tour.
- Commentary version from Herman and Vadim
- Commentary version from ZP and Karl
* Backstage Footage
- DRAGONFORCE home videos. See through the eyes of Sam and ZP in Japan on the day of the show.
* Recording "Valley of the Damned"
- Footage from the drum recording session in Denmark
- Commentary version from Herman and Vadim
* Remixing "Valley of the Damned"
- Get technical with Herman, Vadim and producer Karl Groom. See how they remixed the album.

Watch professionally filmed video footage of DRAGONFORCE performing the song "Valley of the Damned" at the Graspop Metal Meeting in Belgium in 2006:

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