A five-piece Helsinki based heavy metal band Beast In Black was founded by Anton Kabanen soon after he had parted ways with Battle Beast in 2015. The excellent debut album titled Berserker was released in late 2017 and was well received by critics and power metal fans, specially those who love cheese. Oh boy, Beast In Black do not dial down on their cheesiness, love for 80s music and power/traditional heavy metal.
Less then two years after, Beast In Black highly-anticipated sophomore record From Hell With Love is already upon us. While the debut album flirted with 80s synth based music, From Hell With Love goes double force in that direction. Really, I'm talking The Human League "Don't You Want Me" and A-HA "Take On Me" kind of 80's music. But that's fused with Judas Priest and Manowar influences, specially when it comes to Yannis Papadopoulos vocals. And somehow that works, take the two video singles for example "Sweet True Lies" (homage to early Bon Jovi ) and "Die By The Blade" both excellent and fun songs. Most of the able follows similar blueprint, but there are some notable exceptions. The heavier and fast-paced "Cry Out For A Hero" and "Repentless" (looks like Slayer really created a new word), the Helloween Grapow era-like "This Is War", the ballad "Oceandeep" and "Heart Of Steel" which is waiting to be in the next Rocky movie.
Of course if you are looking for complex progressive music or extreme metal growls, this is not your place. But if, like me, you are in this kind of music (or were 30 years ago) and want to have fun, then From Hell With Love is a sequence of jewels fusing modern and retro 80's from start to finish. In this context, there are no bad tracks. Anton Kabanen is a master of creating catchy music and via Beast In Black he won't apologize or contain his love for the cheesiness of the 80s. I mean, if you grew up in that time, you won't believe that this album is being released 30 years later. His music writing combined with Papadopoulos vocals is a magical combination. In every song Papadopoulos displays his powerful and versatile pipes singing irresistible melodies that will get stuck in your mind. The production is modern and clean and typical for power metal with the added positive that a dynamic range of 7 is quite decent for the genre. At the end of the day, the combination of love and believe for what you do with skillful song writer and talented musicians makes Beast In Black a breath of fresh air while paradoxically being retro.
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