DRAGONFORCE's Material For Upcoming Album Is 'Quite Impressive,' Says Bassist FRÉDÉRIC LECLERCQ

Kaaos TV conducted an interview with DRAGONFORCE bassist and and SINSAENUM guitarist Frédéric Leclercq prior to DRAGONFORCE's June 24 concert at the Nummirock festival in Nummijärvi, Finland. You can now watch the chat below.

Speaking about the progress of the recording sessions for DRAGONFORCE's follow-up to 2014's "Maximum Overload" album, Leclercq said: "I've been to [the recording studio in] Sweden. We're doing it with [producer] Jens Bogren [again]. It's in the making. I wrote most of the material with Sam [Totman, guitar], just like [on 2014's] 'Maximum Overload'. It's quite impressive, actually; I'm quite happy with the results so far. 'Cause I put more of myself. I started [contributing] a bit on [2012's] 'The Power Within', and then the previous one, it was more… It was a departure from the old DRAGONFORCE style, I think, and people got that as well, and that was… part of it because I put more of myself into it, which is what I'm doing again on this one. So hopefully people will dig it as well."

Asked if all the material for the new DRAGONFORCE has already been completed, Leclercq said: "The songs are written. So now it's studio time. We started [recording] some stuff. So that's where we are."

DRAGONFORCE, will release a comprehensive career-spanning "best-of" — the first time the U.K. band has presented this kind of historical "chapter & verse" collection.

"Killer Elite - The Hits, The Highs, The Vids" is scheduled for a July 23 release through Spinefarm Records. The 22-track set — two hours and 30 minutes of music, featuring both studio and live material, with promo clips added to the deluxe set — fully showcases the ambition, variety and skill of the group's musical output, now taking in six studio albums; elements of thrash, speed and power metal are spread across accelerated rockers and more measured, melodic offerings.

It encompasses everything, from their biggest hit, "Through The Fire And Flames", a staple inclusion on several best-selling video games (i.e. Guitar Hero) and recently used as the basis of a U.S. mockumentary featuring the band and Oculus Rift founder Palmer Luckey through "Dawn Over A New World", a ballad harking back to the early years.

With latest recruit, singer Marc Hudson, now having two studio albums under his belt (2012's "The Power Within" and 2014's "Maximum Overload"),"Killer Elite..." is the chance for new fans to familiarize themselves with glories past and for long-standing supporters to revel in the attention to detail of a multi-format package balancing audience faves with compositions close to the collective DRAGONFORCE heart...

Guitarist Herman Li, who started the group in 1999 with fellow shredder Sam Totman, says: "The aim of this release is to give a strong flavor of everything we've recorded so far, and I like to think it shows a lot of diversity. Certainly, we tried to make it as broad-based as possible. Since Marc joined the band (replacing original frontman ZP Theart),we've actually released some of our speediest songs and some our most melodic compositions, too. DRAGONFORCE isn't just about the relentless tempos and the flashy solos; ultimately, it'd the feel of the music that counts..."

The release will be available in the following formats:

* 2 CD package (The Hits, The Highs)
*Deluxe special digippack edition, including a DVD featuring all of the band's promo clips (The Hits, The Highs, The Vids)
*Digital download (The Hits, The Highs)

DRAGONFORCE will headline the ProgPower USA festival in Atlanta on Wednesday September 7 and a special "up close and personal" show at St. Vitus in Brooklyn on Saturday, September 10. At both shows, the band will play a "best-of" set to reflect the track listing of the "Killer Elite" album.