UK Metal titans DRAGONFORCE are nearing completion of their sixth studio album, Maximum Overload. Produced by Jens Bogren at Fascination Studios in Örebro and Varberg, Sweden, the new opus will be the band’s first ever album involving an outside producer, having historically opted to record themselves in association with Karl Groom.

Fans can stream a demo of the new track 'Defenders' below:

Maximum Overload will be the band’s debut album for new label EarMusic, part of the German Edel music group, who will release the album in the UK on August 18th, and North America on Metal Blade Records on August 19th.

"Working with Jens gave us a different perspective on the songs and a different sound dynamic. We always previously recorded in our own studios but recording in Sweden made us focus and maybe drove us harder, Jens certainly did, he doesn't believe in days off"!, said guitar maestro Herman Li.

"The album title and album cover artwork is inspired by the constant bombardment of information we are subjected to during our daily lives", Li added. "We were in an airport departure lounge surrounded by TV screens, flight information screens and advertising screens. We then looked around and no one was saying a word, they were all looking at more screens on tablets, laptops and mobile phones, there's no escaping it, it's complete information overload!"

Maximum Overload features a couple of surprises, notably a guest appearance on some of the songs from TRIVIUM’s Matt Heafy. "We've always gotten on really well with the Trivium guys and it was great when Matt had a couple of days to spare and agreed to weigh in on some of the songs"! added Frederic Leclercq.

The album also features an all time first for DragonForce.... a cover version! Sam Totman explained, "Just before the last Australian tour our manager suggested it might be interesting to do a cover for the next album, something we've always refused even to consider. Because we had all had a couple beers every band member wrote down three songs each and we compared them all, just for a laugh. I wrote down 'Ring Of Fire' by JOHNNY CASH, an idea which the rest of the band loved, so we've DragonForce-ized it"!

Maximum Overload will be released on Standard CD, Standard Digital Version, Special Edition CD with five bonus tracks and a bonus DVD, Special Edition Digital Version (same bonus material as Special Edition CD), and Vinyl.

The band will embark on a massive 20 date UK and Ireland tour in September under the strapline ‘….this time it’s personal’ alluding to the fact that instead of playing a handful of larger venues the band are playing many shows geographically spread out across the country.

Commenting on the nature of the tour Herman Li said, “We did a tour like this in between the Sonic Firestorm and Inhuman Rampage albums and have wanted to repeat it ever since but couldn’t because of touring commitments elsewhere in the world. This time we were determined to make it happen so we’re going to some cities we haven’t visited for years and some we’ve never visited at all. One of the venues is a boat and one is a deconsecrated church! It will be great to see the fans up close and personal again, it’s going to be very hot, very sweaty and great fun!”

The band's live itinerary can be found at this location.