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Battle Beast - Unholy Savior review



Reviewer:
7.7

146 users:
7.53
Band: Battle Beast
Album: Unholy Savior
Release date: January 2015


01. Lionheart
02. Unholy Savior
03. I Want The World... And Everything In It
04. Madness
05. Sea Of Dreams
06. Speed And Danger
07. Touch In The Night
08. The Black Swordsman
09. Hero's Quest
10. Far Far Away
11. Angel Cry
12. Push It To The Limit [Paul Engemann cover][Japanese edition bonus]
13. Wild Child [W.A.S.P. cover][Japanese edition bonus]

Battle Beast are back with their third release, the second with Noora Louhimo leading the charge.

In the months leading up to the release of Unholy Savior, fans grew more and more concerned. The first song that premiered, "Touch In The Night", turned out to be a pure 80's disco piece, and the return on track with the roaring "Madness" only partially appeased the ones worried about a too commercial or non-cohesive album.

The first part of Unholy Savior states loud and clear that the difference in styles shown up to the release day wasn't the symptom of the band's identity crisis, but on the contrary shown Battle Beast's confidence in experimenting and trying new solutions. From the opener "Lionheart" to the previously released "Madness", going through the bombastic title track and what's probably the strongest track in the whole album, the wild "I Want the World? And Everything In It", Unholy Savior is impressive. Noora Louhimo's scratchy vocals are best described as just mean, and lead guitarist Anton Kabanen is out of control, making of this a marvellous beginning for an album. What most surprised me was, other than its predictable energy blast, just how fun was it, as I found myself inadvertently smiling throughout these first four tracks.

The second half or more of the album is the riskier part of it, being the one in which the band tried to venture into unknown or unusual territory. If the first ballad, "Sea Of Dreams," can be a welcome break from the initial heavy metal assault, the album's closer, "Angels Cry" feels a lot like its copycat, and if you throw in the middle of them the above-mentioned 80's synth pop "Touch In The Night" (still an interesting endeavour, that allows for admiration of the versatility of Louhimo's vocals), that must just be too much for a die-hard, pure heavy metal fan. Considering, then, the fact that the other more traditional tracks, though still being enjoyable and providing some stand-out moments, don't live up to the Fantastic Four that opened the album, it's understandable that this second part of the album can be seen as sort of a bummer.

The direction taken by the band, though, is probably the right one. After all the comparisons with Sabaton, often criticized for not innovating their music, trying to change and to expand their musical horizons could be a wise move.

And yet, Unholy Savior is glorious in some parts and just fine in others, not turning out to be the definitive consecration album that many had hoped for, being too metal for the wider audiences and too commercial and daring for the Steel fans, this album falls right in the uncomfortable middle. Still, it's widely more than satisfying and a solid pillar on which to build a more gradually varied metal career.





Written on 05.02.2015 by Hopefully you won't agree with me, diversity of opinions is what makes metal so beautiful and varied.

So... critics and advices absolutely welcome.


Comments

Comments: 7   Visited by: 139 users
06.02.2015 - 14:31
Rating: 5
AssailantForce

Nicely written - quite balanced - the last paragraph is neatly put.

The Band name, the artwork, the song themes are terribly misleading. From the two tracks I heard, I appreciate they're exploring something new for themselves, albeit in deep cheese space. But it's almost a parody that they represent everything they don't musically sound like. I'd respect the irony if it was intended as a parody but alas.
Madness was catchy for sure but nothing impressive about it, except for neat vocal dynamics. While it compliments the music, i'm still surprised the guitarists settled for an overly cliche riff in repeat. Even with a talented vocalist, they manage to sound like dumbed down re-incarnate of Nightwish but conditioned to appeal more to the disco-stus rather than the metal-heads within us.
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06.02.2015 - 16:54
Jason W.
Razorbliss
I'll still have to check out the album properly, but based on the samples and the three full tracks I've heard, the review seems quite accurate! "Lionheart" is pretty good during the verses, and, as I've voiced in another thread, "Touch In The Night" is straight out of the 80s and simply awesome. Perhaps the band will take what it flirts with on this album and fully embrace it on a future release.
----
"After silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." - Aldous Huxley
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06.02.2015 - 23:21
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Written by Jason W. on 06.02.2015 at 16:54

I'll still have to check out the album properly, but based on the samples and the three full tracks I've heard, the review seems quite accurate! "Lionheart" is pretty good during the verses, and, as I've voiced in another thread, "Touch In The Night" is straight out of the 80s and simply awesome. Perhaps the band will take what it flirts with on this album and fully embrace it on a future release.


IMO new vocalist is better as older one, judging from samples
----
Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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09.02.2015 - 08:59
Rating: 8
M C Vice
ex-polydactyl
Written by AssailantForce on 06.02.2015 at 14:31


The Band name, the artwork, the song themes are terribly misleading. From the two tracks I heard, I appreciate they're exploring something new for themselves, albeit in deep cheese space. But it's almost a parody that they represent everything they don't musically sound like. I'd respect the irony if it was intended as a parody but alas.


What does the name suggest then?
----
"Another day, another Doug."
"I'll fight you on one condition. That you lower your nipples."
" 'Tis a lie! Thy backside is whole and ungobbled, thou ungrateful whelp!"
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09.02.2015 - 17:09
Rating: 5
AssailantForce

Something more aggressive. If not, nothing as cheesy!
I heard some stuff of their steel record, it sounded like they had a lot of traditional heavy metal elements going on and nothing of this sort of glamorous pop metal fusion. Battle Beast was very relevant.
Here they sound more like a heavier version of 80's Europe that did the Final Countdown Record. An exception i heard was track 3 which was pretty neat - like a synth-core, radio-catchy version of 3 inches of blood. Still, has a consistent powerful attitude to justify battle beast. But from this review, it sounds like an exception. So - Battle Beast? Really? It's not criminal if the band did not have foresight while naming themselves. But look at this album art, the titles and its contrast with the style of music. This was deliberate choice. Certainly an Identity crisis and my criticism is fair enough. Equivalent example would be Cattle Decapitation making a paramore style pop punk influenced record titled Leaking Entrails of Humanity.
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10.02.2015 - 08:55
Rating: 8
M C Vice
ex-polydactyl
Written by AssailantForce on 09.02.2015 at 17:09

Something more aggressive. If not, nothing as cheesy!
I heard some stuff of their steel record, it sounded like they had a lot of traditional heavy metal elements going on and nothing of this sort of glamorous pop metal fusion. Battle Beast was very relevant.
Here they sound more like a heavier version of 80's Europe that did the Final Countdown Record. An exception i heard was track 3 which was pretty neat - like a synth-core, radio-catchy version of 3 inches of blood. Still, has a consistent powerful attitude to justify battle beast. But from this review, it sounds like an exception. So - Battle Beast? Really? It's not criminal if the band did not have foresight while naming themselves. But look at this album art, the titles and its contrast with the style of music. This was deliberate choice. Certainly an Identity crisis and my criticism is fair enough. Equivalent example would be Cattle Decapitation making a paramore style pop punk influenced record titled Leaking Entrails of Humanity.

Well, the self-titled album is their best by a long shot. Still very 80s and fairly commercial sounding, but better than this one or Steel.
----
"Another day, another Doug."
"I'll fight you on one condition. That you lower your nipples."
" 'Tis a lie! Thy backside is whole and ungobbled, thou ungrateful whelp!"
Loading...
02.10.2015 - 03:40
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
That 80's pop song is awesome, what kind a pop music we have no --- c mon shake you ass X40 times, .... I have weird fealings as much I want say pop, and as much I want play it

I did spin it 1th time today, 3 times
----
Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
Loading...

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