Beast in Black From Hell with Love CD Review
Nuclear Blast Records
2019
Power Metal
When Anton Kabanen left Battle Beast in 2015, many wrote him off that we wouldn’t hit the heights that Battle Beast were beginning to scale. However, his new band Beast In Black hit the ground running in 2017 with their excellent debut ‘Berserker’, but once the dust settled, the pressure was on for the band to deliver the follow up. That album would be ‘From Hell With Love’, an album which not only equals its predecessor, but surpasses it in every way imaginable.
‘From Hell…’ is as expected, a grandiose slice of power metal and a huge helping of European cheesy pop, to achieve this, Beast In Black take the happy overtones already present in the music of Sonata Arctica and turn it up to 11 where tracks such as ‘Sweet True Lies’, ‘Die By The Blade’ and the title track itself are coupled with an insanely infectious disco beat which demands replays. Furthermore, Beast In Black show that they are not all cheesy Euro-pop and turn on the metal during the Judas Priest-esque opening track ‘Cry Out For A Hero’, the choral Turisas/Sabaton inspired ‘Repentless’ and ‘Heart of Steel’ or the slow burning Nightwish style that oozes from ‘Oceandeep’.
There are times that ‘From Hell…’ verges on a guilty pleasure; but ultimately, who cares? This album is thoroughly enjoyable, it is top drawer power metal that wouldn’t fail to bring a smile to even the sourest metalhead.
Rating : 92/100
MHF Magazine/Adam McCann
