10 Viral Metal Bands That Didn't Stay Popular
6. DragonForce
Icons of Guitar Hero 3, with the completion of their song “Through the Fire and Flames” being a sign of social hierarchy in schools, power/speed metal powerhouses DragonForce blew everyone away with the intricate noodling of duelling axemen Sam Totman and Herman Li.
As their legend grew, so too did their fortunes, with the band capitalising on their momentum and earning themselves a Grammy Award nomination for their 2008 album Ultra Beatdown, before going on to rerelease their first and second albums Valley of the Damned and the very brilliant Sonic Firestorm.
However, the band could never quite reclaim the same level of excitement brought by “Through the Fire...”, with the post-Ultra Beatdown years proving to be a whole new uphill battle for the band. Rumours began circulating that Li and Totman could not actually play their iconic hit (spoilers: they could), and their enigmatic frontman ZP Theart left the band in early 2010.
With their reputation bruised and a key part of their puzzle gone, the band’s recovery to get to 2023 has been its own success, with Marc Hudson joining the fray as vocalist and the group battling to become a reliable source of fun yet ludicrous power metal, in spite of the genre's popularity being in the bin in 2023.