Ever since Battle Beast’s principal songwriter, Anton Kabanen, jumped ship in 2015, the band he left behind have, in a surprise twist, gone from strength to strength. While the early material penned by Anton – an incendiary take on 80s Euro-power metal brimming with big choruses and catchy riffs – was infectious, Battle Beast’s more recent platter of polished crowd-pleasers have guided them toward the big time. Their triumphant renaissance, coupled with the near-celebrity status of their lung-busting vocalist Noora Louhimo, is just the fuel that Battle Beast need to launch yet another album of pristine symphonic sounds in 2022.
Circus Of Doom is filled to the brim with epic metal that fires on all cylinders. The eponymous opening track is classic Battle Beast, and then some. Thundering into the spotlight with the sort of iron-clad grooves that wouldn’t be out of place on a Lamb Of God album, then topped with Turisas-esque bombast and expertly penned vocal hooks, this first taste is a tremendous start to the album.
No stranger to repurposing retro sounds, Battle Beast plunder the book of power metal tropes throughout the rest of Circus Of Doom, bolstered by plenty of showy synth courtesy of Janne Björkroth. Some tracks, like lead single Master Of Illusion, hit a home run, harnessing Battle Beast’s cinematic escapism like an Eye Of The Tiger for the power metal generation. The same vibe can be felt on The Road To Avalon, pulsating with flecks of Dragonforce and Bonnie Tyler, while Eye Of The Storm, an admittedly brazen repurposing of Nightwish, is fortified by Noora’s towering vocal brilliance. Even gratuitously cheesy moments like Russian Roulette, which drips with disco synth and fiery riffs, is so over-the-top it’s irresistible. After the years we’ve had, this is just the shot of exhilaration the world needs.
Circus Of Doom is out January 21 via Nuclear Blast
