Battle Beast – Steel

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Traditional heavy metal is back and in full force – yay? Certainly there are a select few bands who are doing this whole revival thing correctly, taking the original sound of the genre, cranking up the speed a bit further and producing something that sounds classic but is still fresh and exciting. Then there are bands that sound hackneyed and bland, a ball of decades old clichés rehashed into what is trying to pass for fun and ‘true’ – and if you don’t like it, that must just mean you don’t like true metal, right? That’s what Battle Beast seem to be all about. Don’t let the presence of a female singer fool you, whilst the band might be a little bit like Doro, they have much more in common with a weaker, less interesting Accept, complete with Udo-esque backing vocals. The tempo is strictly mid-paced though, bordering on AOR with hard-rock tendencies at times, with very little speed-influenced full out rocking. They catch a good melody or two in their riffs, granted, but it all sounds so… old. Lyrically the band are just embarrassing, with more references to metal, iron, steel and presumably other alloys than one can fit in an album. Some will no doubt find their clichés endearing, with the lack of outright speed compensated by silly but catchy songs about obscure Japanese fantasy animé, but hopefully most will be more discerning and recognize a lack of imagination and creativity. Certainly whilst we still have the likes of Triosphere and Benedictum, not to mention a debut album from Huntress just around the corner, the female-fronted side of the traditional metal revival can do much better than Battle Beast.

Written by James Donovan
More: 2012, Albums, Female-fronted, Heavy Metal, Quick.Play Reviews, Battle Beast