Following hot on the heels of Berserker, the 2017 debut album; from hell with love is Beast in Black’s sophomore effort and it shows that the intervening couple of years has done little to temper the fire and fury of Anton Kabanen’s vision. With Yannis Papadopoulos (vocals), Mate Molnar (bass), Kasperi Heikkinen (guitar) and Atte Palokangas (drums) in tow, Anton has crafted 11, blazing new tracks in his own Sound Request Studio. With evocative artwork courtesy of Roman Ismailov (who also inked Berserker’s cover) from hell with love sees Beast in Black continue to deliver their highly charged yet melodic metal – evoking the wild excesses of the eighties and revelling in the sheer wonder of it all.
With a title that recalls the super-charged hair-metal scene, cry out for a hero, does not disappoint. With elements of Europe, Kiss and Edguy, cry out for a hero is purest metal, with plastic synth patches and air-raid siren vocals all present and correct. Yannis is a phenomenal vocalist, belting out the high notes with spleen-rupturing power and there’s a sense from the very first notes that the band are having an absolute blast laying the tracks down. The album’s title track takes the listener by surprise with an intro that sounds like it was sourced from the original Doom computer game. Cheesy as hell (albeit in a good way), From hell with love is the sort of leather-clad fantasia that dominated MTV in its formative years, and whilst those who prefer their metal somewhat more serious may find it all a bit much, it’s hard not to be swept up in the sheer, joyous excess of the track. Leaping forward into the third track, the timeless question of what would have happened if W.A.S.P. had collaborated with Fleetwood Mac is finally answered as sweet true lies explodes in a storm of brightly covered confetti and catchy melodies. With fiery lead guitar work, sumptuous harmonies and a taut beat, sweet true lies would make a cracking single, Atte even throwing in a cheeky disco beat in the vein of I was made for loving you in the chorus. The album continues in the same vein with the symphonic repentless which, despite borrowing its name from Slayer, fits more comfortably within the realm of Nightwish (whose Tuomas Holopainen championed the debut album). As the first half of the album comes to a conclusion, it’s hard to supress a grin as Anton lays down some seriously low-rent synths in order to lead the way into die by the blade, a fearsomely catchy single that would have had chart show dancers tying themselves in knots if it had been released in the early 80s.
What power metal album is complete without a winsome ballad? In the case of from hell with love, the offending entity is Oceandeep, a sub-six-minute track full of bare-chested longing and windswept landscapes. It opens the second half of the album on a briefly folorn note, but fortunately, the insane bombast of unlimited sin is there to quicken the pulse with its driving rhythm and elastic bass. It almost helps the listener forgive the Pac Man-synth intro to true believer, a song that actively tries to recall the worst excesses of a decade typified by explosive hair and lycra in just three-and-a-half wonderfully silly minutes. To be quite honest, it’s great fun and it also packs the sort of chorus that will have Edguy fans moistening their underwear with delight. With no cliché left unturned, this is war is a great, chest-pounding anthem, all denim ‘n’ leather, with massed vocals ready to awake the denizens of Valhalla itself. Such grandstanding continues into heart of steel, a keyboard-led rocker worthy of Europe in their pomp thanks to its insistent rhythm and chrome-plated chorus. It leaves the mighty no surrender to see the album out on a defiant note, with huge guitars leading the way and a vocal performance that can only be described as explosive. It’s the perfect end to an album that revels in its own excesses, and it’s hard to imagine anyone finishing the album without having played air guitar for at least half of it.
From hell with love is a gleeful throwback to simpler times. Suffused with joy it’s an album that, regardless of your tastes, is liable to leave you with a giant, goofy grin plastered all over your face. The musicianship is incredible throughout, and if the synth patches are cheesier than a student’s footwear, it’s all part of the band’s intent to evoke an era thought long gone, and in this they certainly succeed. With melodies that will claim living space in your brain whether you will or no, the simple truth is that from hell with love is a hell of a lot of fun, and it’s impossible not to get swept up in the soaring choruses and wild soloing. Submit, you won’t regret it. 8
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