Album Review - Circus Of Doom (Battle Beast)

The Great Metal Debate Podcast

Today we review the new album from Finland’s Battle Beast entitled Circus Of Doom. I both love and hate reviewing albums of bands I’ve been able to see perform as well as meet in person. I had the pleasure to interview their vocalist Noora Louihmo a few years back and she couldn’t have been a kinder, more gracious person to speak with. All their members are super nice folks. And live Battle Beast are absolutely incredible - bringing so much energy and charisma to the stage. So up front I’ll fully admit that background experience strongly influences this review. Let’s get to it… While their body-double colleagues in Beast In Black continue to churn out pure cheesy 80s nostalgia, Battle Beast has moved in a direction that, while not necessarily as musically challenging as I‘d like, is a unique niche in the power metal market. They remain a step away from the heavier Euro power metal vibe of bands like Primal Fear and Iron Savior while not quite moving into the symphonic realm like an Arion or Firewing. Indeed, I would want to assign for Battle Beast the moniker many bands of late wish to adopt - soundtrack metal, albeit Battle Beast’s version is more aligned with a television theme song than a big-screen, cinematic score. Generally, a listen to this album Circus Of Doom tends toward an exercise in consistency. Much of what is found here are mid-tempo melodic metal; arena-leaning, easy-to-digest rockers with a lot of keyboard bombast. The opening, title track is a good example of this. Later in the album comes “Freedom” which ups the tempo but keeps the guitar edge on the soft side. The band does itself favors where they give room for Noora’s voice to work and generate equal parts energy and emotion, such as on the track "Where Angels Fear To Fly" which has a soft, building verse and epic chorus. Another a truck song, “Armageddon,” carries a heightened sense of pomp and largess that is very European power metal and, again, provides space to show off the singer‘s crooning. As was the case with their last album, Circus Of Doom is often a touch too pop-influenced for my taste. And that’s fine when used more economically, but occasionally that element dominates. A track like “Russian Roulette” just has too much ’80s-style synth work and oversaturated choruses. A fun romp that has a lot of rock and pop sensibilities but not more than a thimble-full of metal. Just not my cup of tea, but I get that some folks will lap that up. In my opinion, Battle Beast are at their best when they embrace and embellish their hallmark sound as on “Wings Of Light” with meaty keyboard tones driving a lot of the action. Love or hate this style, it is something Battle Beast does that is fairly unique and indisputably THEM. Similarly “Eye Of The Storm,” perhaps my favorite track on the album, melds some of the old-school Battle Beast punch from the days of their eponymous album with the new vibe unleashed on Bringer of Pain. Battle Beast are on the forefront of the ongoing rage of merging older 80s heavy metal with a more modernized and keyboard-infused sound. Personally, I like and appreciate what Battle Beast does, even when I might quibble with their execution here and there. But I get that for some metal fans the sound may be too far outside their comfort level. So while I can’t say all metal fans will necessarily enjoy Circus of Doom, I will definitely recommend it and especially for those who enjoy the varieties of melodic metal and power metal and even more modern metal bands like Amaranthe. Circus Of Doom is released January 21, 2022, from Nuclear Blast. Get a copy, and North American fans be sure to check out Battle Beast on tour this spring alongside Dragonforce, Visions Of Atlantis, and Seven Spires!