Battle Beast - 'Circus Of Doom' Album Review

Tracklist:

1. Circus Of Doom

2. Wings Of Light

3. Master Of Illusion

4. Where Angels Fear To Fly

5. Eye Of The Storm

6. Russian Roulette

7. Freedom

8. The Road To Avalon

9. Armageddon

10. Place That We Call Home

2022 has been a bit of a slog so far, hasn’t it? Am I the only one who feels like that, or has this ongoing global pandemic just really sapped everyone of energy and enthusiasm this year? Sometimes I just feel like I need an injection of adrenaline to get through the day. It was towards the end of one particularly sluggish day that I first put this Battle Beast album on, as I was looking for a bit of an escape. And trust me, it did more than that.

This album is an insane energy boost the likes of which Red Bull would kill to be able to harness. Battle Beast’s epic Power Metal has always been energetic, but there is just something about “Circus Of Doom” that really steps it up a notch. The title track opens the album, and makes itself known within about ten seconds. Full of guitar riffs, keyboard fills, powerful drums and Noora Louhimo’s insanely powerful voice, this first track really sets out the album’s aim – to have a bloody good time.

“Wings Of Light”, the second track, keeps the energy levels up and the heads banging, and the third track “Master Of Illusion” opens with a keyboard riff that sounds like it might be from a Europop dance track, but as soon as it’s joined by the rest of the band, you realise that this is another banging Metal tune.

“Where Angels Fear To Fly” is a bit slower – not a ballad, but more of an anthem, if you know what I mean? It’s certainly a song I can see a crowd singing along with at a gig, and that then leads us into the best one-two punch of the album, “Eye Of The Storm” followed by “Russian Roulette”. “Eye Of The Storm” is a brilliant distillation of everything I’ve ever heard this band do into one 4:26 song – a catchy chorus, a chunky riff and just an overall feeling of good times. This is then followed by possibly my favourite song on the album “Russian Roulette” – which feels like an 80s Hair Metal anthem that has been dragged kicking and screaming into the 2020s – it is pure cheese, and I absolutely love it. Genuinely, it’s one of my favourite songs I’ve listened to in years.

The album has four tracks left after this, and they’re all pretty great as well – “Freedom” is another anthemic slice of brilliance, “The Road To Avalon” is a mid-tempo track that is probably my least favourite on the album (not that I dislike it or anything, it’s just not up there with the best), “Armageddon” is great, and I hope that the real end of the world is just as catchy as the song is! That leaves us with “Place That We Call Home”, which is another banger to end the album on.

I’m sure you’re under the impression I really liked this album, and you’d be right. It is absolutely everything I wanted from an album in 2022. Fun, sprinkled with bits of cheese and just an energy fuelled romp through some amazing songs. I reviewed their previous album ('No More Hollywood Endings') a couple of years ago, and that was fine, but this is better in every way.