CD Info
2011
Hype Records / Nuclear Blast
11 Tracks
English Lyrics

At the risk of dating myself too much here on the internet, I have to admit I was around in the 80s (exactly how old I was will remain off this web site!) and that was a key time in the development of my adult musical tastes. I was hugely into the so-called "hair bands" or "glam metal" bands. Along with my love of Alice Cooper, I kept most of my musical likes to myself because was one of those marginalized high school geeks that was considered extremely square, and revealing my inner hair metal fangirliness would not have gone over well with my peer group. Nevertheless, I loved the music and I love it to this day, and with the appearance of Finland’s Battle Beast on the musical landscape, I have been transported back to nostalgia -land.

Featuring a kick-ass female vocalist who can belt and scream out lyrics with the best of any hair band hero you could mention, this outfit has the whole old school metal schtick down-pat: the fast, catchy, fist pumping songs, the screaming of guitars with blistering solos - served up with as much cheese as you can possibly throw into an 11-track album. But the thing about it is, Steel doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not. The cheese is not the fake, wanna-be crap you find on cheesy snack food; this cheese is excellent quality fondue-making stuff that is so delightful you keep wanting more. It’s unpretentious. It’s fun.

And in order to fully appreciate Steel, you have to see the fun in it, or else you’ll spent the entire 46 minute run-time of the album groaning at the clichés. Because, lyrically, there is not a cliché-less song on this album and the fact that it’s so blatant and so overboard is exactly what makes this album so pleasurable.

The opening track, "Enter the Metal World", for which there is also a video, is a great start. Beginning with a nifty little guitar lick, the main part of the intro features the rhythmic grunts of male backing tracks, which also show up dramatically in the chorus. Once vocalist Nitte Valo kicks into action, you will be transported to a heavy metal world comprised of lyrical themes ripped right from 1980s pop culture. Just look at the video! Look at the band: the hair, the mohawks, the zippers, the PVC! But also, look at the plot: a Dr. Frankenstein-esque man is turning a younger man into machine using some very sketchy-looking science, creating an army of metal robots! There is even a little roboty-bit of vocal effect at the end of the song to strengthen the point that we are all doomed to become something vaguely similar to the Borg! Check out the lyrics:

I see a monster in her eyes
The monster claims I'm her kind
Obsessed with immortality
Fight an unseen enemy

And the chorus:

Enter the Metal World of Doom
Into the hands of the machines
Enter the Metal World of Doom
Beware the killer jaws of steel

In fact, most of the lyrics in Steel draw from the man vs. machine paranoia that was popular in the 1980s and earlier 90s and made movies like The Terminator hits. Track number two, "Armageddon Clan" says,

Don't you know I'm not insane
I have foreseen the Judgement Day
Machines will annihilate
Lock me up or throw me to the wolves
The truth remains unchanged
Machines have given the date

Extermination has begun
The Sentinel is on the run
To warn the Armageddon Clan
Before we're all gonna die

In addition to these themes, Battle Beast sings a lot about metal: the literal metal, steel, iron, etc. For instance, track five, "Steel", revels in this:

Shake the world with metal
Shake the world with steel
Shake the world with Heavy Metal grinding the meat
Shake the world with metal
Shake the world with steel
Shake the world with Heavy Metal Gods

Another pop culture futuristic fear in the 80s and 90s was the whole concept of cyberspace, and guess what, Battle Beast has a song about that, too:

I type this secret code again
And plunge into another realm
Welcome to cyberspace my friend
You have got access everywhere

Yeah! I wanna welcome you to Hell
Reality is just a shell
You live a dark life on the edge
I can exceed all boundaries
And realize my filthy dreams
I will return for more and more

Battle Beast even does a decent power ballad called "Savage and Saint." Nitte shows her sensitive side on this and also displays some vocal versatility, which was great to hear.

I think the fact that I am the age I am has made me appreciate this album all the more. I lived through all that fear of technology, robots taking over, man being replaced by machines, and sci-fi stuff and I can now look back on it and shake my head a bit and smile.

This is a young band. Starting out together in 2008, Battle Beast released Steel in Europe in April, and this spring they will get some great exposure touring as Nightwish’s opening act for their upcoming spring jaunt around Europe. It says a lot about them that in November they signed a record deal with premiere metal label Nuclear Blast. Steel will be released in North America January 27.

9 / 10

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