FRENZY FIRE
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No More Hollywood Endings
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No More Hollywood Endings |
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| Battle Beast are a female fronted heavy metal band from Finland formed in 2008 who released their debut album in 2011. A change of lead singer occurred in 2012 and their second, self titled album 'Battle Beast', was released in 2013. The bands third album 'Unholy Savior' was released in 2015 with fourth album 'Bringer Of Pain' a 2017 release. 2019 will see the release of the bands fifth album 'No More Hollywood Endings'. | ||||||
| Battle Beast are back with their fourth album in a little over five years, and this time around have adopted a more American power metal style than previously heard, although no real need to worry, as most of the eleven songs on offer are still firmly planted in the European heavy metal soundscape, it's just a couple of them do sound very Americanised... Anyway, more about that later, for now the new album opens in typically bombastic Battle Beast style with the thundering 'Unbroken'. Immediately into its stride, 'Unbroken' is European style power metal at its most infectious, with the unique voice of singer Noora Louhimo as feisty and fiery as ever. Title song 'No More Hollywood Endings' is a majestic march of symphonic edged atmospheric heavy metal. Anthemic and hymn like, 'No More Hollywood Endings' is a heavy mid tempo stomp. A sparkling opening double gets more sparkly with the superb 'Eden', a full on rampage of foot on the monitor style heavy metal. Catchy and infectious with a sing a long style chorus for everyone to join in, 'Eden' is a top notch example of the Battle Beast signature sound. | ||||||
| The mid tempo foot stomping style makes an emphatic return to the album, as the mighty 'Unfairy Tales' thunders into view and swaggers on, Tall, proud and very loud, 'Unfairy Tales' has touches of menace, and may petrify a few listeners as it bustles on by. Okay listeners, strap yourselves in tight for a quick flight to the land of America, and the AOR tinged, hard rock sounding 'Endless Summer'. Imagine a concoction of American hard rockers Vixen, Bon Jovi and Journey...and you have the exact sound that 'Endless Summer' offers. And the Americanisation doesn't stop there either, 'The Hero' evokes the same similarities that 'Endless Summer' did, albeit at a higher tempo, with a lot more energy. These two songs showcase a number of things, the bands willingness to expand their musical boundaries, the song writing diversity of a mature band, and an attempt to make themselves more attractive to the American market, a notoriously difficult thing to do... And then suddenly, without warning, Battle Beast hit the aggression button very hard with the mighty 'Piece Of Me'. A screeching and attitude laden vocal performance by Noora, voraciously delivering lines such as "we're gonna go and fuck shit up" and "dream on you crazy fool, who the fuck do you think you are", literally spitting venom with every breath. 'Piece Of Me' is a bludgeoning and brutal romp, with guitar riffs so savage "twisting your head, ripping it to shreds". Three and a half minutes of sheer brilliance that turns the album away from the land of America, plummeting it back to the bands European heavy metal home. | ||||||
| Lighters in the air time as the highly atmospheric power ballad 'I Wish' proudly struts its stuff. A staggering example of how to meld the epic, glory, anthemic and hymn-like styles of heavy metal to create a stunning power ballad. Just wow, no more need be said. With the album now heading into its final quarter, the romp home is three songs of the best power metal you may hear all year. The six minutes plus 'Raise Your Fists' is a rabble rousing call to arms romp. With its chorus line "hear the call, raise your fist in to the sky" a chant that is gonna echo all around the world, Battle Beast deliver a feeling of all come together and fight as one. A feeling that icons Manowar delivered many times, in many of their songs. Scorching pace lights up the album with the blistering 'The Golden Horde' setting a new land speed record as it flies by in a flash. Running along the border of the thrash metal genre, 'The Golden Horde' is a breathless romp of head bang able heavy metal, and a superb speed/power/thrash combination. Battle Beast have delivered their most varied album to date, bringing it to a breath taking end with the foot on the monitor, one hundred percent European power metal sounding 'World On Fire'. Catchy and infectious, 'World On Fire' is a great end to a very good album. | ||||||
| Overall, a thundering and exciting romp of heavy metal, Battle Beast spread their wings and fly to other genres of music, creating a varied listening experience. | ||||||
| Review by Iron Mathew Collins | ||||||
| Reviewed for Metal Gods TV | ||||||
| Other Reviews | ||||||
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| Battle Beast | ||||||
| "an excellent array of powerful power metal that is exciting and will exhilarate metal fans everywhere. Look out for Battle Beast, they are gonna be big" Read Review | ||||||
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| Unholy Savior | ||||||
| "hard hitting and punchy melodic heavy metal from a band that are on the rise and on the verge of making a huge impact in the world of heavy metal" Read Review | ||||||
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| Bringer Of Pain | ||||||
| "a superb album of hard hitting, punchy and sharp edged heavy hard rock with a stunning vocal performance, Battle Beast continue to make a huge impact on the world stage" Read Review | ||||||
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| Circus Of Doom | ||||||
| "a barn storming album from start to finish, Battle Beast simply get better and better, reinforcing their position as one of the worlds best bands" Read Review | ||||||
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