Battle Beast - Circus of Doom (2022)^{Release ID: 33656}

The Beast Of Manchego

Modern Power Metal has come a long way since it separated itself from classic Speed Metal, becoming one of the more accessible and dangerously cheesy subgenres of Metal. Although Power Metal has always been rooted in more nerdy cultures thanks to the likes of Helloween and Blind Guardian, the modern trends of the genre have showcased just how bombastically pop-centric things have gotten even without the normal fantasy references. Even then, there’s still a ton of that kind of stuff floating around if it’s your thing. For now, though, Battle Beast and Beast In Black entered the field as two Finnish bands that are heavily related and pushed the gouda level to the absolute maximum with their poppy songwriting and blaring synths. When Battle Beast guitarist Anton Kabanen defected and went onto create Beast In Black’s debut album Berserker in 2015, it seemed like they were going to be the ones to run with Battle Beast’s initial momentum they garnered from their self-titled 2013 album. Beast In Black’s formula was all but identical to Battle Beast but with harder hitting riffs and all the hooks you could ask for despite losing Noora Louhimo’s powerful vocal performance, but it feels like the scales are shifting as both bands trek further into the cheddar-laden land of synthwave and chorus key changes.

Just to be clear, I don’t think that this Finnish brand of Electro-Metal is the next big wave of anything, but damn it’s fun sometimes. Circus Of Doom is able to recapture the element of fun that their self-titled album had but their previous 3 albums lacked, give or take a few songs like the hilarious “Dancing With the Beast” from Bringer of Pain. All ten tracks follow the formula that you’d expect out of Battle Beast, consisting of driving guitar riffs with simple but effective 4/4 drums beats that are augmented and supported by the addition of bubbly synths leads and backing orchestration. Louhimo is the wild card in this formula, with her performance being as integral as the songwriting itself, and she absolutely stepped it up in this album to great effect. Her vocals have more life and power in Circus of Doom and tracks like “Eye of the Storm” and “Wings of Light” are some of her best showcases in years. I find most of Battle Beast’s riffs and choruses to be extremely cookie cutter and dull overall, but Louhimo’s catchy but raw performance polishes up an otherwise drab product. Most of the variety comes from the various synths and strings that are utilized to either drum up a dance beat like in “Master of Illusion” and “The Road to Avalon”, or to supply an angelic, victorious sounding backdrop on the strong “Eye of the Storm” and weaker “Where Angels Fear to Fly”. The rest of the album is a mixed bag, ranging from the interesting title track “Circus of Doom” that incorporates all of Battle Beast’s elements into a satisfying, bombastic opener, to the travesty that is “Russian Roulette”, which shows what can happen when this style is taken a bit too far.

While I wouldn’t call Circus of Doom a good album, Battle Beast have cleaned up their songwriting and let Louhimo loose in all the right ways to finally release another collection of decent and extremely catchy tunes. I obviously want the modern Power Metal scene to continue to grow and mature, but I can’t lie and say I don’t crave stuff like this sometimes. The feeling may come and go since I don’t think Battle Beast or any of their contemporaries have too much staying power, but their 80’s electro-infused brand of Power Metal does have its place as a guilty pleasure every now and again.