Kev Rowland 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.

RuneWalsh2112 So how did Battle Beast manage as songwriters after firing their main songwriter Anton Kabanen after the release if their previous album? To tell you the truth, my expectations were low since I doubted that the band would be able to top their material on "Unholy Savior" and was expecting the new songwriter contributions to make this record into a weird mash-up of all the individual members styles. Luckily this is not entirely the case since "Bringer of Pain" does offer the familiar sound of Battle Beast and the compositions aren't as bad as one might expect them to be.

The opening track "Straight To The Heart" kicks things off on a right foot with strong Power Metal vibe and almost makes me forget that Kabanen is out of the band. Things continue in the right direction with the title track and the album's first single "King For A Day". "Beyond The Burning Skies" and "Familiar Hell" don't have the same punch to them, as the previous three tracks, but are still pretty solid numbers.

Unfortunately the quality of the material begins to drop halfway through the album with "Lost In Wars" which features a guest appearance of Tomi Joutsen from Amorphis. This track sound really weird and doesn't fit in at all with the rest of the material... almost as if the band wanted to collaborate with Joutsen and thus made a song that would fit his style more than that of Battle Beast.

"Bastard Son Of Odin" is another lesser track as the band is clearly trying to be tongue and cheek but this only undermines their sound. "We Will Fight" is a fine Heavy Metal number which clearly shows that Battle Beast aren't ready to completely leave their Traditional Heavy Metal roots and be labeled as a Power Metal act. "Dancing With The Beast" is a continuation of "Touch In The Night", from the previous album, but I don't find is as enjoyable this time while "Far From Heaven" is a fine ballad that closes the album.

I was surprised that two of the three bonus tracks that were released were actually really strong tracks. Both "God Of War" and especially "The Eclipse" features all the momentum I was missing on some of the album tracks. I would have easily enjoyed this album more if "Lost In Wars" and "Bastard Son Of Odin" were replaced by "God Of War" and "The Eclipse". "Rock Trash" on the other hand is another joke song and it's enough to hear it once and completely forget that it ever existed.

Overall I'm actually surprised that Battle Beast managed to make a pretty good album with "Bringer Of Pain". Granted I do enjoy their two previous albums a bit more but this release is definitely better than their debut album "Steel". Hopefully they can continue in the same direction on future releases!

***** star songs: Straight To The Heart (3:31) King For A Day (4:33)

**** star songs: Bringer Of Pain (3:04) Beyond The Burning Skies (4:39) Familiar Hell (4:04) We Will Fight (3:26) Far From Heaven (4:20) God Of War (3:56) The Eclipse (4:30)

*** star songs: Lost In Wars (4:34) Bastard Son Of Odin (3:34) Dancing With The Beast (3:42) Rock Trash (3:13)

RuneWalsh2112 With "Unholy Savior" Battle Beast continued in the same direction set by their sophomore album. The major difference this time is that the quality of the compositions have gone up a notch or maybe even two. I honestly can't find a bad track here, even the unexpected flirt with dance music on "Touch In The Night" feels somewhat charming after a few spins. This is why I feel that it was a pity that the band parted ways with guitarist Anton Kabanen right after the release of the album. Kabanen also happened to be the main songwriter in the band up to this point and his loss meant that the rest of the members had to show their songwriting chops once the have to release their next album.

This album marked the final step in the transition on the band's first three albums where they moved from Traditional Heavy Metal to pure Power Metal sound. "Unholy Savior" offers pure Power Metal bliss and I'm sure that most fans of the genre will enjoy this release.

I also enjoyed the flirt with the movie Scarface (1983) on the track "I Want The World... And Everything In It" which even features intro dialog taken directly from the movie. The band also made a cover of the song "Push It To The Limit" from the Scarface soundtrack and put it as a bonus track on "Unholy Savior".

Highly recommended album to fans of great Power Metal! It will be interesting to see how Battle Beast will manage to top this release now that Anton Kabanen is out of the band.

***** star songs: Lionheart (4:53) I Want The World... And Everything In It (4:37) Sea Of Dreams (5:01) Far Far Away (3:46)

**** star songs: Unholy Savior (5:36) Madness (4:01) Speed And Danger (4:38) The Black Swordsman (1:15) Hero's Quest (2:30) Angel Cry (3:33) Push It To The Limit (3:20)

*** star songs: Touch In The Night (4:27)

RuneWalsh2112 There are quite a few changes between the band's debut and sophomore releases. The most noticeable one is the shift in the lead vocals with Noora Louhimo replacing Nitte Valo. The other major change is the switch from traditional heavy metal sound to a mix between heavy metal and power metal. I guess that this change might be attributed to the change of lead vocalist but I honestly doubt that was the only reason for the new direction. Still, my personal favorite change from the debut album is the general improvement in the song writing department!

The album kicks off with a memorable opener "Let It Roar", followed by two more strong compositions; "Out Of Control" and "Out On The Streets". The forth track, "Neuromancer", is where the band loses me but luckily "Raven" sweeps in and returns things to normal. "Into The Heart Of Danger" is slightly more pop-oriented track that still manages to make an impression while "Machine Revolution" is a bit representative but still is a fun little track.

The ninth track, "Kingdom", comes completely out of nowhere and blows me away with the sheer power of the performance. This is definitely one of the band's strongest power metal compositions on this release. I love that the track doesn't build up and instead goes straight for the punch from the first note, even if "Golden Age" does serve as an intro to it.

The rest of the material is pretty solid even if "Over The Top" feels like a somewhat unnecessary track. "Fight, Kill, Die", the single "Black Ninja" and "Rain Man" end the album on a satisfactory note and there's really no need for the bonus track "Shutdown". The bonus servers no noteworthy purpose other than prolonging the album's length.

Battle Beast's sophomore self-titled release is an excellent album that definitely shows progression from their debut release. There are still a few rough spots here and there plus I kind of wish that there were a few more highlights. Overall I'm pretty satisfied with the release that I've been given, definitely looking forward to the next one!

***** star songs: Kingdom (5:00)

**** star songs: Let It Roar (3:40) Out Of Control (3:47) Out On The Streets (2:55) Raven (2:52) Into The Heart Of Danger (5:26) Machine Revolution (4:05) Golden Age (1:57) Fight, Kill, Die (2:44) Black Ninja (3:54) Rain Man (5:12)

*** star songs: Neuromancer (4:04) Over The Top (2:37) Shutdown (3:45)

RuneWalsh2112 The debut album from the Finnish band Battle Beast is a classic heavy metal album in style of Warlock, Manowar and Accept. The original vocalist Nitte Valo had, unlike her successor Noora Louhimo, a much rawer vocal approach and thus made the music sound much heavier than what it actually was.

The opening track "Enter The Metal World" is a solid number that the band has, together with "Iron Hand", been playing live even to this day. "Armageddon Clan" kicks off with a riff reminding me of Saxon but quickly gets into its own groove and features a strong chorus. "The Band Of The Hawk" is an anthem that reminds me of something out of the Accept canon while "Justice And Metal" is a metal by numbers track that could have been released by pretty much any classic metal band. The title track starts off like an interesting track but the chorus sounds like something that Manowar have already done to death.

Things return to interesting with slightly more melodic tracks "Die-Hard Warrior" and "Cyberspace", the latter reminding me for some reason of "Deja Vu" by Iron Maiden. "Show Me How To Die" returns us back to the metal by numbers approach while "Savage And Saint" is the album's only ballad which shows that this band actually has a lot of potential in this department. "Victory" gives us another portion of speed metal that we've enjoyed of previous tracks while the bonus track, "Stay Black", features strong verses but a completely unmemorable chorus.

Battle Beast managed to release a pretty solid metal album that shows some clear signs of greatness even though they clearly have yet not found their own unique sound. The songs that work best are either the ones featuring speed metal and strong melodic hooks or the quieter moment that was featured on "Savage And Saint".

***** star songs: Cyberspace (3:59)

**** star songs: Enter The Metal World (4:38) Armageddon Clan (5:08) Die-Hard Warrior (2:56) Savage And Saint (5:40) Iron Hand (4:04) Victory (3:50)

*** star songs: The Band Of The Hawk (4:40) Justice And Metal (2:38) Steel (4:20) Show Me How To Die (4:19) Stay Black (4:05)