Battle Beast

Unfortunately, I think it's a continuation of the downward trend in overall album quality that started with the inconsistency of Unholy Saviour. There's a decent slug of good tracks (The Golden Horde in particular is bloody brilliant), but they're let down by a handful of absolute stinkers - It's hard to believe that the band that shat out the not-even-pretending-to-not-be-pop Endless Summer is the same one that gave us the awesomely cheesy Steel and Battle Beast. Anyway, I also reckon the production is a bit too polished, taking a lot of the bite out of songs like Unbroken and The Hero as a result; IMO trying to be Nightwish 2: Electric Boogaloo is certainly not what Battle Beast does best, and it shows here
 
IMO trying to be Nightwish 2 is certainly not what Battle Beast does best
It doesn't sound anything like they're trying to be Nightwish II. :confused:

I think it's a decent album but nothing special in comparison to other Power Metal bands. I saw Battle Beast a few years ago at a festival and enjoyed their set a lot. When I listened to some of their songs afterwards I was a bit underwhelmed. They were a lot more powerful live. 'No More Hollywood Endings' is fine and enjoyable but I don't know what it's like in comparison to their other albums as I haven't listened to Battle Beast much at all until this week. On 'Endless Summer', it's basically something straight out of the 80s. I can see it on the soundtrack to an 80s film or soap opera.
 
Battle Beast Concert Setlist at Marquee Theatre, Tempe on October 6, 2019 | setlist.fm

Battle Beast just left the stage (opening for Sonata Arctica & Kamelot) in Tempe (Phoenix) AZ (here for work this week). I have never seen an opening band get a crowd going from the 1st note like that! They should've been headlining! God she can sing!
 
If I am correct and, from the audience's POV, Joona is on our right and Juuso is on our left, here are the lead guitar credits for these songs (based on how I saw them played live last night):

No More Hollywood Endings: Joona
Unbroken: Joona
Eden: Juuso/Joona; Juuso (soft fill through chorus)
The Hero: Juuso/Joona (short fill in right channel); Joona (lead through chorus at end of song)

Straight To the Heart: Joona/Juuso/Joona/Juuso; Juuso (lead through last chorus)
King For a Day: Joona
Beyond the Burning Skies: Joona
Bastard Son of Odin: Joona

When listening to Straight to the Heart studio recording, there is somewhat of a channel separation during the lead trade off: Joona about 11:00 position (same position most of H's leads are on Book of Souls) and Juuso is about 1:00 position; in other words we are hearing them from Noora's POV (which I hate; I want to hear them from our POV so I listen to that song with earbuds switched so I can hear them the same way I saw them)
 
The new song is great. That said, I've no issue with their output up until this point, either. I love most of their stuff (yes, even - perhaps especially - the pop stuff).
 
The new album is their best imo. I like some of their previous stuff, but not the whole albums - this time is different, there's not a single bad song. The songs are short, melodic and memorable. 10 out of 10 songs! (including the 2 bonus songs), so it's 12 out of 12! This is amazing. I also like a lot that some of songs have Nightwish vibes.

Album of the year for me (so far).

My favorite songs are: basically all songs, but mostly ''Eye Of The Storm'', ''Where Angels Fear To Fly'', ''Freedom'', ''The Road To Avalon'', ''Wings Of Light'' and ''Place That We Call Home'' (the best song in the album). The bonus song ''Tempest Of Blades'' should have been in the album - killer song!
 
In previous albums, Battle Beast have usually had a few offbeat, experimental songs. Circus Of Doom is different - it has a focus and consistency lacking from previous albums. How you feel about that will depend on how much you enjoyed the experiments but both camps will agree that what remains is very strong.

My favourite song is The Road To Avalon. There is so much going on in this track, so many layers to the music, in a way I hadn't previously appreciated from the band.
 
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