2017 Recordings Review: BATTLE BEAST - Bringer Of Pain

BATTLE BEAST - Bringer Of Pain +4

CD ℗ 2017

MELODIC METAL

1. Straight To The Heart
2. Bringer Of Pain
3. King For A Day
4. Beyond The Burning Skies
5. Familiar Hell
6. Lost In Wars
7. Bastard Son Of Odin
8. We Will Fight
9. Dancing With The Beast
10. Far From Heaven

The band returns with their fifth release, introducing a new guitarist and noticeably shorter songs. The realism of the painting and the take no prisoners attitude of the character from the cover quintessentially sets the tone for what follows.

Straight To The Heart is a perfect opener to take you straight to the ticker of the Melodic Metal genre.

Bringer Of Pain is the title song brought to the 1990's Judas Priest altar as a propitiation sacrifice to summon the powerful beast of the era long forgotten.

King For A Day was the track chosen to kick off the new CD's release, with a Music Video filmed in participation of those dedicated fans who responded to a casting call, announced via the band's Facebook page. It tells a story of corrupted individuals of influence replaced on a daily basis.

Beyond The Burning Skies is an epic song, with overload of sweeping melodies.

Familiar Hell The best song on the CD comes just before the half time and I was already in heaven. Kind of ironic, considering the title of the song, don't you think? Anyway, it touches the premises of a contemporary and burning subject matter of obsessively following a trend.

Lost In Wars opens on a grandiose scale of dramatic passages to unveil the tyrants pulling the strings of the confused masses from the comfort of their hiding. The band is not afraid to ask:

"How can the stars glow
Above this creepy show?
Which lie to choose,
To believe and use."

Bastard Son Of Odin After that eye opener, the band lightens up the mood, with a mocking Norse mythology anthem. Viking style.

We Will Fight is an uplifting song with stripped instrumentation in some places to allow Noora to display her immense talent, quite effortlessly, I might add.

Dancing With The Beast Like the hound that got the scent of the prey, we too, craved for more disco tingled Metal songs, instituted on the previous album. The band was happy to oblige... again.

Far From Heaven slows the pace down. I found it strange that BB closed the album with a ballad that essentially builds into a crescendo, but beside Noora's heartfelt delivery, it failed to make an impression on me. For my money, this track should have switched position with Beyond The Burning Skies, for a better closure.

The regular edition of the CD ends here, but if you are a dedicated fan who always wants more, you could pick up the Limited Edition Digipak, with 3 additional tracks.

Bonus Tracks
11. God Of War
12. The Eclipse
13. Rock Trash

God Of War might have been left off for the sake of diversity, since the band already covered war as a theme, which is shame, because this song has the greatest arrangements and while the solo is brief, it's also amazing.

The Eclipse is firmly planted in the world of fantasy and has more keyboards than any other song on the CD. I like it. It's epic.

Rock Trash on the other hand, has more guitars than any other song on the CD. It's fun, it's 80's and it's silly. What not to like?

This is where the Limited Edition CD ends, but if you still need more BB-fix then pick up the Japanese Version for an extra track.

Japan Only Bonus Track

14. Far From Heaven (Acoustic) The electrified version of the song didn't do much for me and the unplugged piano escort to Noora's voice didn't improve on the sentiment, either. Oh well, who said I was perfect?

Rating: The Pain is 9, on the Scale of 10