Formed in 2008, Battle Beast won the Wacken Metal Battle back in 2010 from when they signed with NB and released ‘Steel’ in 2012, after which they toured with Nightwish. New frontwoman Noora Louhimo joined the same year, and they released their second album the year afterwards, touring with the likes of Sonata Arctica. With their third studio album, ‘Unholy Savior’, the band hit the charts in several European countries (#1 Finland, #23 UK Rock, #39 Germany…), after which they toured with the likes of Sabaton. During that period, they parted company with guitarist and main songwriter Anton Kabanen, but soon revealed Joona Björkroth as a new fulltime member, and feel they have continued in the same vein as previously so there is nothing for fans to worry about.
It is not surprising that they have toured with Nightwish and Sabaton as in many ways their sound is a good mix of both these bands, although with some Lana Lane thrown in for good measure. Noora has a great voice, more Floor Jansen than Tarja Turunen or Anette Olzon, and if they are to be compared to Nightwish then Battle Beast have far more balls. Many of the songs could be lifted as singles, with metallic/hard rock riffs, hooks aplenty and Noora at the forefront of everything. Some of the songs are quite commercial, as if they were written for radio, and it is the others that work best. But, given they lost their main songwriter this is a good effort, and one that I can see myself returning to. This is very much a band I would like to see in concert, as these songs should be that much heavier and raw in a live environment and I do wish that they hadn’t been sanitised quite so much.
