Battle Beast - Steel

We all know that the best music is coming from Finland, right? Right. Battle Beast was formed in 2008 by lead guitarist Anton Kabanen, rhythm guitarist Juuso Soinio and drummer Pyry Vikki. The original line-up was complete with bassist Eero Sipilä, keyboardist Janne Björkroth and vocalist Nitte Valo.

In 2010 Battle Beast won the Wacken Metal Battle. They returned to play at Wacken in 2011 and 2019 and I am pumped they will return again in 2023. Absolutely looking forward to seeing this band play, although with a slightly different line-up. Nitte Valo left in 2012 and has been replaced with Noora Louhimo. In 2015 founding member and lead guitarist Anton Kabanen left the band and was replaced with Janne Björkroth's brother Joona Björkroth.

Between 2011 and 2022 Battle Beast have released six studio albums and 17 singles. Their latest release Circus of Doom (2022) peaked at number 1 in Finland and number 9 in Germany. The debut album Steel was originally only released in Finland in April 2011. Nuclear Blast picked up the band afterwards and released a reissue in January 2012 to the European market. Steel is the only album with Nitte Valo as vocalist. And I love her performance so much. Her voice has an amazing range and just the right amount of grit. I am normally not a fan of female voices in metal, but when listening to Valo on this album I was just a happy camper. 

What you get when listening to Steel is a very traditional heavy metal experience. With keyboards on top. You have all the power and attitude and pomp and energy from 80s glam metal enriched with synths and insanely catchy pop choruses. Each song on this album features memorable riffs and hooks, powerful drumming, soaring dual guitars and perfect guitar solos. The sound of Battle Beast borders on pop metal, but it works! Because the heavyness is never lost. The drums and the guitars are always there, your head keeps banging, your foot keeps tapping, your fist is up in the air. This is an album to have fun with. There are no deeper meanings or concepts, it is just good old plain heavy metal, dealing lyrically with battlefields, warriors, death and steel. Battle Beast fulfill many metal clichés, but they manage to do it without being ridiculous. The only other band I can think of who manages this is Manowar. Battle Beast do it without objectivising women though, so that is a big plus. 

All 12 songs on the album follow a pretty simple formula. There is nothing groundbreaking new. And yet I loved every single one of them.

The opener Enter the Metal World is one of my favourites. Right up top. Armageddon Clan opens with that great scream from Valo that would make Rob Halford proud. The Band of the Hawk is a more story-like song with the warriors providing the background vocals "Death of the Battlefield". There are definite Manowar vibes here in this song. Justice and Metal picks up the speed again. The lyrics are really simple and repetitive, but they have you singing along in not time, fist pumping up in the air ("Justice and Metal!").

Die-Hard Warrior features very prominent keyboards and a near disco-feeling. Valo is supported well by the vocals of her male bandmembers on this one. The guitars towards the end really remind me of W.A.S.P.

Cyberspace is another really poppy song and it is probably the song I like least on this album. Show Me How to Die is a song you really have to try not to listen too closely to the lyrics ("Show me how to die / Life is not enough / I need to die"...), but apart from the mild irritation from the lyrics the song is great and features several great vocal performances by Nitte Valo. Pure power.

Iron Hand starts with this really epic, marching keyboard intro. This is power metal in its purest form. Victory was the final track in the original release from 2011 and I think we hear Anton Kabanen singing here?

This album is definitely one of my newfound favourites!