#battlebeast — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #battlebeast, aggregated by home.social.
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9. #BattleBeast - Steelbound, 2025.
"Angel Of Midnight" -
9. #BattleBeast - Steelbound, 2025.
"Angel Of Midnight" -
9. #BattleBeast - Steelbound, 2025.
"Angel Of Midnight" -
9. #BattleBeast - Steelbound, 2025.
"Angel Of Midnight" -
9. #BattleBeast - Steelbound, 2025.
"Angel Of Midnight" -
8. #BattleBeast - Unholy Savior, 2015.
"Madness" -
8. #BattleBeast - Unholy Savior, 2015.
"Madness" -
8. #BattleBeast - Unholy Savior, 2015.
"Madness" -
8. #BattleBeast - Unholy Savior, 2015.
"Madness" -
8. #BattleBeast - Unholy Savior, 2015.
"Madness" -
7. #BattleBeast - Battle Beast, 2013.
"Out of Control" -
7. #BattleBeast - Battle Beast, 2013.
"Out of Control" -
7. #BattleBeast - Battle Beast, 2013.
"Out of Control" -
7. #BattleBeast - Battle Beast, 2013.
"Out of Control" -
7. #BattleBeast - Battle Beast, 2013.
"Out of Control" -
Shadowborne – Heaven’s Falling Review By Andy-War-HallI used to love poppy, ultra-processed power metal. Blind Guardian basically killed that whole scene for me when I discovered them and realized power metal could have riffs, but a part of me still remembers what I loved. A part of me won’t let it go. And like a shadow from the past, Sweden’s Shadowborne arrived with their debut Heaven’s Falling. Led by vocalist Eira Shadowborne and accompanied by keyboardist The Warden, guitarist The Oathbearer, bassist The Keeper, and drummer The Warbringer,1 Shadowborne seek to make their mark on the genre with fantasy storytelling, monumental hooks, and shiny, bloopy synthesizers. With groups like Twilight Force, Fellowship, and Brothers of Metal reminding me in recent years that there’s still room in my heart for things campy and glossy, and catching some nostalgia pangs to boot, I decided to give Shadowborne a fair shake. But does Heaven’s Falling spell a new rising star in power metal, or are Shadowborne just another curd in the cheese wheel?
Heaven’s Falling is an uncomplicated debut for Shadowborne: ten tracks,2 thirty-five minutes of dramatic, anthemic, and highly polished power metal. Shadowborne pivot between two modes on Heaven’s Falling: folky, Brothers of Metalesque jaunts like “Hold the Door” and “The Wall” and synthy, pop-hooked 80s LARP à la Battle Beast on songs like “Stranger to Myself” and “Wolf and the Queen.” Oathbearer does the Sabaton thing and riffs in sync with Warden’s synth stings on “High and Low” while Warbringer lays out mid-paced marches, barring one diversion into speed on “Custodians.” Production-wise, Heaven’s Falling is bright and loud, and nothing sounds particularly real, especially the wispy clean guitars (“End of the World”) and Warden’s toothless gang vocals (“Hold the Door”). It’s the kind of metal that Beast In Black can, and likely do, write in their sleep. Simply, anyone familiar with the Europower scene over the past fifteen(ish) years will know what to expect from Shadowborne.
And if you know Europower, then you know that Chorus Is King. Heaven’s Falling hits its stride with every chorus, accomplished by the phenomenal pipes of Eira Shadowborne. Evoking the likes of Ylva Eriksson (Brothers of Metal) and Noora Louhimo (ex-Battle Beast), Shadowborne belts and croons with power and charisma, sounding thoroughly in charge across Heaven’s Falling. Album highlights “Heaven’s Falling (Dragon’s Hymn)” and “Raven” demonstrate Shadowborne at her best, pouring copious heart into their strong melodies and itch-scratching layered harmonies. Beyond Shadowborne’s battle cries, there’s a commitment to bigness across Heaven’s Falling that contributes to its catchiness. Whether stomping away in “Wolf and the Queen” or waxing melodramatic balladry on “The End of the World,” Shadowborne fill as much sonic space and layer parts as hard as the music can take before bursting. Shadowborne the band is built around Shadowborne, the singer, and Heaven’s Falling is shaped around letting her shine in its biggest moments.
Heaven’s Falling’s greatest strength, however, comes with a price. Like much chorus-centric music, Heaven’s Falling suffers from a severe case of Boring Verse Syndrome (BVS).3 Most songs default to banal chugging and space-filling synths with little flair or variation. Even Shadowborne’s lines aren’t nearly as engaging in the verse, sounding somewhat thin on “Stranger to Myself” and “The End of the World.” As a result, Heaven’s Falling feels somewhat hollow. Where songs do feel fleshed out, like “Custodians” with its propulsive tempo and “Raven” with its darker verse contrasting its bright chorus, plus an Amon Amarth march in the intro, they stand out drastically. Oathbearer’s solos in particular could’ve cooked longer, as they’re slick, proficient, and wickedly fun across the board but also far, far too brief to leave a lasting impact. A great chorus is good to have, and Shadowborne can deliver them, but Heaven’s Falling needs great whole songs to be a great whole album.
What holds Shadowborne’s debut down is what holds much of the genre back: entrapment within genre tropes. Heaven’s Falling is loaded with talent and vim, and a lot of these hooks are going to be stuck in my head for a long time. But between the BVS, flaccid production, and played-out approach to power metal on Heaven’s Falling, Shadowborne have crafted a record that simply can’t stand out. Maybe Shadowborne just needed to prove to themselves they could write an album, and their sophomore will be more adventurous. Or maybe this is exactly what they wanted to write. Either way, fans of power metal may like what they’ll hear, but they’ll certainly have heard it already.
Rating: Mixed
#25 #AmonAmarth #BattleBeast #BeastInBlack #BlindGuardian #BrothersOfMetal #Fellowship #HeavenSFalling #PowerMetal #Review #Reviews #Sabaton #ScarletRecords #Shadowborne #SwedishMetal #TwilightForce
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps MP3
Label: Scarlet Records
Websites: bandcamp.com/heavens-falling | facebook.com/Shadowborne
Releases Worldwide: June 19th, 2026 -
#beastinblack ist ja so ne Band die ich mittelmäßig finde. Den Sound von #battlebeast finde ich genial aber mit Sängerin ist halt geiler. Naja als Vorband tut es ... Und nimmt den Stress aus der Anreise. #helloween in #hamburg
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Battle Beast – Steelbound Review
By Grin Reaper
Steelbound, Battle Beast’s seventh full-length album, struts forth boasting bubblegum choruses and sticky refrains that, upon contact, are sure to plague your showers and commutes for days afterward. For the uninitiated, the sextet from Helsinki, Finland, plays pop-infused power metal with anthemic, uplifting gusto and broad appeal. Battle Beast simmers with talent, but it’s singer Noora Louhimo that steals the show with her powerhouse range and grit, the perfect voice to broadcast the positivity and pluck that Battle Beast engenders. After years of snacking on sweetmeats, though, has the candy coating left this Beast’s fangs riddled with cavities, or are the teeth still mighty enough to bring the pain?
Except for the time Steel fell head-over-monkey’s paw for debut Steel,1 Battle Beast has languished in mixed-to-good territory. The self-titled sophomore effort saturated its sound with Europop, and follow-up Unholy Savior tried to blend the styles of the first two albums, creating an uneven listen. Afterwards, guitarist Anton Kabanen left to form Beast in Black, and Battle Beast forged on with Brymir’s Joona Björkroth on six-string duty with nary a lineup change since. The subsequent albums have followed the tried-and-true formula of sub-forty-five-minute runtimes (less bonus tracks), concise track lengths and enough earworms to warrant a prescription for Ivermectin. Steelbound follows suit, adhering to the blueprint honed over the last few albums.
Every nook and cranny of Steelbound’s ten tracks drips with polish, where each second is crafted to be damnably catchy and take root in your earhole. From the chest-thumping mantra in “Here We Are” to the Latin-inspired rhythms in “Twilight Cabaret,” Battle Beast marches their aural cavalcade about town, tossing out fun-sized bites to on listeners by the fistful. Besides forgettable interlude “The Long Road,” each song is engineered to ensnare your attention with belt-along choruses and dancy grooves, harkening influences from ABBA (“Steelbound”) to Spice Girls (“Twilight Cabaret”). Finnish treasure Noora sinks her sonic barbs into your brain, but she’s not the only weapon this Battle Beast wields—guitar chugs, solos and drum fills ground Steelbound with metal roots amongst the synth-addled retro vibes. Knowing what to listen for, the Brymir injection is obvious and welcome, coating songs with succinct shredding that sparkles without ever approaching self-aggrandizement. Meanwhile, Pyry Vikki’s drumming suits the music perfectly, lurking in the pocket until summoned forth to unleash a drum break. The flamboyant keys (courtesy of Janne Björkroth) rarely allow you to escape 80s sensibilities, and the rhythm and bass guitar2 reinforce Steelbound’s mood without ever intruding or stealing the spotlight.
As ever, Battle Beast marries Eurovision-ready melodies with heavy metal to craft an accessible palette for any age or disposition. This is entry-level metal, and I don’t mean that derisively. There’s a path most of us take to blossom into the opinionated, fetid elitists we are today, and it’s not usually jumping straight from T-Swift to Portal in a single bound. Yet what makes Battle Beast so digestible is also what hamstrings the band—the song craft is too safe. Steelbound is at its best when toeing the line between danger and pop inclinations, but it happens too infrequently. Title track “Steelbound” features a calculated chorus that’s enchanting, and two-thirds through the song, there’s a call-and-response section where Noora musters her full grit and the music feels genuine, like it could almost go off the rails. It doesn’t, but this organic moment sticks out as one that hasn’t been carefully curated and vetted in a focus group. There’s undeniable talent here, but when every song feels like it’s manufactured rather than tailored, the end result lacks conviction.
Steelbound prioritizes hooks over substance, which proves out after repeated listens. The irrationally captivating “Here We Are” and other choice moments are instantly recognizable, but between entire songs, the fun can blur together. It’s a shame, because the band possesses all the pieces to write something truly special, but the reason I can rely on Battle Beast to be a dependable comfort listen is the same thing that holds them back. Avoiding any risks handcuffs their ability to move past the ceiling they’ve fabricated for themselves. Some of the songs on Steelbound will stick with you like sugary treats wedged between your teeth. They’ll be with you for a day or two, but eventually you dislodge the saccharine gob, brush your teeth, and find something with more sustenance.
Rating: Mixed
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Nuclear Blast
Websites: Website | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: October 17th, 2025#25 #2025 #ABBA #BattleBeast #BeastInBlack #Brymir #FinnishMetal #HeavyMetal #NuclearBlast #Oct25 #Portal #PowerMetal #Review #Reviews #SpiceGirls #Steelbound #TaylorSwift