Battle Beast – Bringer of Pain

Finnish band Battle Beast are a tricky one to describe.  On a first listen, depending on which songs you listened to, you might say they’re traditional heavy metal with female vocals, and that’s certainly a large part of their sound, but then you come across some of their other songs such as “Touch in the night” and they throw you a curve-ball.  Those songs take cheesy 80s pop music and blend it with their traditional heavy metal.  It sounds crazy (and maybe it is), but it works amazingly well.

The new album, “Bringer of pain” opens with “Straight to the heart”.  It’s got powerful vocals from Noora Louhimo, plenty of guitar work, a solid driving drum beat…and pop-style synths.  The synths are used quite sparingly in this track, so it’s still proper heavy metal.

Next up is the title track, Brigner of Pain. Check it out here and see what you think of it…

“King for a day” see’s more of the pop influence during the chorus, while the verses still keep the metal power with the guitars and the powerful almost snarling vocals.

For a real change, “Dancing with the beast” see’s Battle Beast truly embracing their pop side.  Noora’s vocals are smoother and softer and are more suited to an 80s pop song than a metal band.  Gone too are the snarling guitars, with the synth being the main sound here.  It’s the sort of song that almost no other metal band could get away with doing, but Battle Beast do it and do it well.

The album closes with “Far from heaven”, a lovely ballad.  Again Noora shows off the softer side of her voice and sounds fantastic.  The guitars are nicely done and the keyboards are just right too.    It’s a great song and one that shows Battle Beast are more diverse than just a traditional heavy metal band.

With so many bands these days sounding the same, and so many bands taking themselves too seriously, when a band dares to do something utterly crazy and fun it’s a refreshing change, and Battle Beast definitely stand out.  At times they’re a great metal band and at other times they embrace their inner ABBA.  It’s a fantastic album and knowing how good they are live then I’m expecting the songs on this album to sound epic played live.

Track listing:

1. Straight to the heart
2. Bringer of pain
3. King for a day
4. Beyond the burning skies
5. Familiar hell
6. Lost in wars
7. Bastard son of Odin
8. We will fight
9. Dancing with the beast
10. Far from heaven