BEAST IN BLACK Dark Connection | Weekly Heavy Metal Album Review

Released by Nuclear Blast Records on October 29th, 2021

Quick Background

Beast in Black is a Helsinki, Finland-based metal band formed in 2015 and led by former Battle Beast guitarist and main songwriter Anton Kabanen. The band makes a very unique blend of genres and therefore created their own sound. While their influences include Judas Priest, Manowar, W.A.S.P., Accept and Black Sabbath. They mix that with Italo disco and Euro beat while using prominent synths. Greek singer Yannis Papadopoulos has a very dynamic and imposing voice, think Eric Adams from Manowar. This mix has worked for the band and they are on an ascendance with Nuclear Blast from the beginning. After the impressive success of their first two records - their debut Berserker (2017) and its follow up From Hell With Love (2019), Beast in Black is back with their third effort Dark Connection. I got to know them as an opening act during the debut album tour. I was immediately impressed by the quality of their song writing. And also by how cheesy and unapologetic they are: "this is what we love, what we do, if you enjoy it join us, if not too bad" kind of vibe.

Dark Connection 

Dark Connection. features 11 tracks in 48 minutes and two cover songs as bonus: "Battle Hymn" from Manowar and "They Don't Care About Us" by Michael Jackson. This combination says a lot about the band sound and influences. The album opens with the heavy high tempo "Blade Runner" and thematically this is a great choice to open the album. Films like Blade Runner were pioneers in the live-action cyberpunk genre and the album really gives out this vibe. Lyrics are mostly about heroic stories that are rooted in sci-fi, fantasy and cyberpunk. That's also clear from the artwork of the band's longtime collaborator Roman Ismailov. Given this theme it is no surprise that Dark Connection features the most prominent synths of all of Beast in Black's recordings so far. Despite that, at its core, it's still all about straightforward heavy/power metal. The band's mastermind Anton Kabanen is a genius when it comes to writing ageless melodies that are uplifting, catchy and just all around memorable. His music writing combined with Papadopoulos vocals is magical. In every song the Greek singer displays his powerful and versatile pipes singing irresistible melodies that will get stuck in your mind. Produced, recorded and mixed by Kabanen and mastered by Emil Pohjalainen, the album sounds modern and bright. In addition to the Italo disco and Euro beat influences, the band also adds symphonic elements to make those melodies and choruses sound even bigger. No wonder with every tour they get more popular, Beast in Black put out a fantastic and fun show to watch. 

But back to "Blade Runner", this is one of the heaviest tracks on the album, despite the synths, the crunchy guitars are very prominent. Overall all the elements discussed above are present here. With its 80's guitar intro, "Bella Donna" builds up into one of the catchiest songs due to its huge chorus. "Highway to Mars" keep things interesting and it's again a display of Papadopoulos' vocal abilities. It's a bit of a longer song with an interesting instrumental middle section that will clearly work well live. Interestingly 3 songs in and we are hit with the three first singles of the album: "Hardcore", the shortest song on the album "One Night in Tokyo" and "Moonlight Rendezvous". They are all very good tracks, less heavy than the first ones and with even more prominent synths. But these singles are all lots of fun. "Moonlight Rendezvous" has a very elaborated video of 7 minutes, it's a short film and it will certainly help the band to get further visibility. 

Now, the second half of the album is not as strong as the first 6 songs. But it is still very good. "Revengeance Machine" is a very heavy track featuring great performance from Papadopoulos (again). It sounds like Judas Priest's Turbo album on steroids.  "Dark New World" and "To the Last Drop of Blood" are good power metal tracks. A futuristic version of Rhapsody. "Broken Survivors" is another catchy one before we head to the album closer and longest song, the almost 6 minute "My Dystopia". Don't get fooled by the first bars, this is not a power ballad. It's a mid tempo song that builds up with ups and downs. It's quite symphony and makes me think of bands like Kamelot. Great way to close the album with something slightly different.

The Picky Guy

If I'd pick something to complain, I'd prefer to have a little bit more heaviness and somewhat less synths. Maybe next album they can bring up a bit more the rawness of the debut album. But this is more of a wish than a problem with Dark Connection. Overall the sound fits the concept. Also to be fair it's the first album without a power ballad, and that's a big plus. 

Wrap Up Opinion 

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 into cheesy power metal and want to have fun, then Dark Connection is a sequence of jewels fusing modern power metal and Euro beat 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 or European power metal. But as opposed to the previous album, this doesn't sound like a retro album but a futuristic modern album. At the end of the day, the combination of love and believe for what you do with skillful song writing and talented musicians makes Beast In Black a band in strong ascendency and Dark Connection a very good album with 82/100. 

SCORE: 82/100

Genre: Power Metal

Released by  Nuclear Blast Records on October 29th, 2021

Rating System

99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad

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