The Steelbound tour rolls into London, with Battle Beast celebrating their new album Steelbound. We went along to check out their latest battle cry!

Another early start sees me arriving just before the first band of the night are taking to the stage. The venue is already pretty full of metalheads looking forward to a memorable evening of headbanging virtuosity delivered as part of the Steelbound tour!

MAJESTICA

Majestica open the evening tonight. This is a Swedish band who have been around for a number of years but, apparently, have never played in the UK before this tour. Not really sure why that would be the case, they knock out solid power metal, are tight and have a fairly large back catalog of albums to draw material from (including those from pre 2019 when the band name was changed from ReinXeed to Majestica). If the audience reaction this evening is anything to go by, their arrival is well overdue!

Comprising of Tommy Johansson on vocals and lead guitar, Chris David on bass, Petter Hjerpe on rhythm guitar and completed by Joel Kollberg on drums they definitely are a tight unit. Starting with Power Train from the current album of the same name, they blast onto the stage, tipping a nod to Helloween as they rifle through a short set of songs taken primarily from Power Train and Above The Sky.

Tommy Johansson shows a fine range of vocals along with some impressive guitar playing and lead lines. The whole band look like they are thoroughly enjoying the experience with big grins all round. Movement on the stage is limited by the amount of dressing that has been deployed, mainly for Battle Beast as far as I can see but they do their best.

PIRATE ROMPS AND JIGS

No Pain, No Gain shows some strong songwriting along with catchy hooks, Above The Sky gives Chris David to show some skill on the bass and to get the pedals working too. Metal United is a good excuse for some Irish jigging or pirate romping and a bit of a sing song. All very well executed and a good warm up for crowd, with the venue now looking comfortably full. There are no songs from their A Christmas Carol opus, understandable as this probably needs to be played complete to make good sense.

DOMINUM

As Majestica leave the stage, a crowd of stage hands prepare the stage for the second band of the evening, Dominum from Germany. More power metal with a zombie twist and I have to admit that I’d kind of dismissed the press material a little, thinking the band were more about image than music.

That was soon to be dispelled as Dominum took to the stage and the first chords of Danger Danger rang out. This is indeed a band with great songs accompanied by the fantastic stage presence of Dr. Dead (Felix Heldt). While the rest of the band are hidden behind rather hideous masks, Dr Dead prefers to just go with contact lenses. He stalks around the stage, a commanding presence indeed.

POSITIVE AND UPLIFTING

Killed By Life has a big chorus which is echoed by the crowd. Despite the rather morbid lyrics, ironically, the song has a quite uplifting feel to it. This is true of most of the set this evening actually. The songs all feel very positive despite the subject matter! Frankenstein gives the band an opportunity for harmony and for Dr Dead to pronounce Frankenstein in the most German of ways!

We Are Forlorn sees the vocalist roaming the stage with an incense thurible, more character on the stage but backed up by a song that will indeed stand the test of time with its drama and slightly off the wall phrasing, the crowd shouts out ” And it feels, yeah it feels like a war!“

The Dead Don’t Die with its recognisable motif and delicious riffing is another crowd pleaser, giving Dr Dead an excellent opportunity to scowl and pace around the stage. The band all play under pseudonyms – Patient Zero on bass, Victor Hilltop on drums and Tommy Kemp on guitar, I hate to think how hot they are under their masks!

MORE THAN JUST THEATRICS

So, this evenings performance proved they’re more than just theatrics. Tracks like Don’t Get Bitten By The Wrong Ones and We All Taste The Same have catchy choruses that beg for a singalong, and surprisingly good lyrics, all delivered by Dr Dead who commands the stage. They throw in their cover of The Scorpions’ Rock You Like A Hurricane clearly a crowd please with more singing, conducted by Dr Dead!

The vocalist asks before the last song “shall we end with a cuddle song or a big fucking bang?” The obvious answer is echoed back from the crowd and the band launch into Immortalis Dominum and we have some large balloons bouncing around in the crowd. Great way to end the show and I have to say, I’m a convert! I’d definitely like to see this band again, very entertaining, with great songs to back up the performance. Very impressive!

BATTLE BEAST

So, the lights come up and the stage is once more prepped for the highlight of the evening, Battle Beast. The Dominum drum kit is dismantled and the stage once again looks like there is some space to move around. We don’t have to wait too long for the lights to go down and Battle Beast take their places for the show. The crowd cheers loudly as vocalist Noora Louhimo takes her place stage front and centre. Dressed like some kind of fantasy goddess or demon she cuts a fine figure on the stage and this is only matched by her super strong vocals.

Starting with Straight From The Heart from 2017s Bringer Of Pain album sets the tone for the rest of the evening. This is power metal, finely mixed with a good helping of pop sensibilities, real songs, strong choruses, all delivered with precision and a fine eye for performance. Louhimo herself continues to pull all sorts of shapes and theatrics, while clearly savouring the live experience and the London crowd. She is lucky to be backed by such a fine band, this evening they don’t put a foot wrong, helped along by the usual solid sound in the Empire.

Master Of Illusion is another epic song that has the crowd singing and bouncing along. Also good to see live keys by way of Janne Björkroth and his keytar. The solos of Juuso Soinio & Joona Björkroth ring out, musicianship of the highest order, good to hear solos with a bit of soul rather than just seeing how many notes can be played per second. The band is completed by Eero Sipilä on bass and Pyry Vikki on drums. Both in the band since the beginning and locked together like super glue had been deployed!

A LESSON IN SONG CRAFT

Louhimo shouts “Let’s kick some ass together!” before they launch into Last Goodbye – a classic metal anthem, driving chugs, pummelling drums and a chorus to kill for. No more Hollywood Endings slows things down a little and reminds me a little of Delain with a classic building riff. Eye Of The Storm is another song that is a great vehicle for the vocals of Louhimo and The Blood Of Heroes – another lesson in song craft.

We then get a little bit of a break as the band have a laugh with the audience, Eero Sipilä tells the audience they are great as they encourage him to down a drink or two! “I have no idea what you’re saying…because I’m drunk (or I will be!)” They then perform a snippet of Can You Feel The Love Tonight (yes from The Lion King!). Watch The Sky Fall chugs along, solos abound and there are fists raised in the air to accompany the soaring chorus. Like many of the songs this evening this one is lifted from the current album Steelbound.

DANCE SCHOOL

Louhimo Introduces Twilight Cabaret saying she has setup a dance school on the tour, “Mother Beasts salsa class!” The song is classic pop mixed with metal and a Latin feel, you can see why it invokes the desire to dance! The audience laps it all up! Steelbound is another classic, metal, pop tinged anthem and this takes us to the final song of the set, Eden. Louhimo coaches the audience on the singing before the song gets going in full flow, it is easy to see how strong her voice is here. She thanks the crowd for making their dreams come true and says they should all take heart from this and make their own dreams come to life.

The encore sees a couple more classics, King For A Day and finally Wings Of Light. A cracking end to a brilliant gig, great performances from all of the bands, great sound, fantastic lights and a really brilliant atmosphere.

Battle Beast now continue their Steelbound tour across Europe. The full Battle Beast performance can be seen below:

All concert photography by Graham Hilling. You can check out more of his work on his website, here.

Battle Beast online: Website / X (formerly Twitter) / Facebook / Instagram / YouTube

Dominum online: Website / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube

Majestica online: Website / X (formerly Twitter) / Facebook / Instagram / YouTube

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