When you hear Dragonforce, it's almost always either going to suck (live) or sound ridiculously clean (studio wizardry). I've heard they pull it off live once in a while, but that obviously doesn't make up for their generic songwriting. Seriously, these guys would be nothing without Guitar Hero.
They can pull it off live when:
A. They aren't drinking
B. They aren't jumping around like maniacs all over the stage
C. They are
actually trying to play and not just making crazy faces and laughing like lunatics while pretty much ignoring their fretboards.
D. They give a shit.
I've mentioned this before, but I saw them live at a festival and they sucked really really bad for the first half of the show, jumping around, going crazy, and just bat-shit-off-the-walls. But eventually they got tired and stopped and when they actually stood still and played, they actually could play well. Before that point: the tempo was too fast, they were slightly off time, and the solos and rhythm guitar was really sloppy. Afterwards, it was a lot better. The tempo went more normal, they were on time, and the guitars were a lot less sloppy. The singer and keyboard player were the only two members of the band who seemed to actually be doing a decent job the whole time.
So I assume, if they really wanted to make a decent live album (forget the songwriting. We're talking about performance here), they could do it.
