Valley of the Damned

The initial demo was recorded on 8 – 12 October and then mixed on 20 November 2000 at Thin Ice Studios with Karl Groom engineering. The rerecording for the album in 2002 mostly took place at Thin Ice Studios in Surrey, by Karl Groom, and at Lamer Luser Studios in London, by Herman Li, from May – October 2002. It was then mixed by Karl Groom, Herman Li and Sam Totman at Thin Ice Studios and mastered at Aubitt Studio by Rob Aubrey and Herman Li.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Sputnikmusic	[3]

The Allmusic review by James Christopher Monger awarded the album 4 stars stating "The debut album from U.K. power metal giants Dragonforce is a polarizing affair. Valley of the Damned could be construed as a bloated, Spinal Tap-style tribute to early-'80s fantasy-metal, and in many ways it is; however, it's so well played and so joyously executed that it could very well reignite the entire genre... From the epic title track to the fist-pumping closer, "Heart of a Dragon," the guitar pyrotechnics of Herman Li and Sam Totman light up the sky like a third world war, bending riffs into melodic submission while never overplaying. Vocalist ZP Theart has no qualms about emulating heroes like Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden) and Michael Kiske (Helloween), but his lupine howls have a character all their own... Valley of the Damned may not be groundbreaking or cathartic, and lyrics like "In the land of desire with your heart filled with fire you live for the right to be free/We will sail on forevermore to the land of the evening star" may cross the line into heavy metal parody, but it's undeniably entertaining, expertly played, and endlessly fun."[2]

When asked about his thoughts of the album in a 2015 interview, Herman Li said:[4]

Maybe 10 years ago, I would've said; 'I wish we'd done this and that.', but these days not really. I've learned and experienced a lot in life and you understand that if you get the perfect album the first time, there's no way to go. It's all about learning and experiencing and you always build on what you did before and learn from it and make better albums. I think it was the best we could come up with back then. It's got that energy, that we wouldn't be able to create if we re-recorded those songs. It wouldn't be the same.

"Black Fire" contains a sample of Kazunaka Yamane's theme from the Double Dragon video game series. The 2010 remastered edition physical copy contains a bonus DVD that includes interviews with the band members and producer Karl Groom on the making of the album, live footage of Valley of the Damned from their first Japanese tour in 2004, the backstage footage of the same show, two commentaries (one from Herman Li and Vadim Pruzhanov, and one from ZP Theart and Groom), and footage from the recording and mixing sessions for the album in Denmark.

• Valley of the Damned on the official website