Beast in Black has done it again! 3 spectacular albums in a row for the Finnish band and if we consider Anton Kabanen’s previous offerings with Battle Beast, then we get 6 albums in 10 years. Quite impressive if you ask me! Truth be told here, I was almost certain that the new Beast in Black album would be once again exceptional as the two first singles (“Moonlight Rendezvous”, “One Night In Tokyo”) were exactly what we expected from them.
Kabanen has established himself as one of the most talented songwriters in the music business and Beast in Black is steadily becoming a force to be reckoned with in the European heavy metal music. “Dark Connection” bears all the usual elements that the band has provided us with in the past yet this time around Kabanen adds a few more hi-tech elements in the songs while Yiannis Papadopoulos’…supersonic voice uplifts the quality of the songs which are naturally well crafted even to the slightest detail. Beast in Black has its own musical identity which is accompanied by fitting lyrics based mainly on manga comics thus giving them an extra unique quality point. The Finnish are here to stay and the fans of the modern metal sound with all those pop/hi tech and symphonic references will surely find everything that they ask for (and more) in “Dark Connection”.
Highlight: The cover tunes of “Battle Hymn” (Manowar) and “They Don’t Care About Us” (Michael Jackson) are flawless!
