Ryan Murray | Co-Owner | Chief Editor | Contributor | Photographer
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When Battle Beast come charging, the ground shakes. You don’t listen to a Battle Beast record, you feel it in your bones — in the pulse of your heart, in the metallic roar of something too triumphant to stay caged. With their seventh studio album, Steelbound, the Finnish juggernauts rip the throttle wide open and refuse to look back. It’s part defiance and part celebration. It’s a reminder that metal doesn’t just survive adversity, it thrives on it.
Ever the masters of theatrical power and melodic precision, Battle Beast has built a reputation for marrying unshakable riffs with synth-saturated grandeur, led by Noora Louhimo’s commanding, soul-scorching vocals. Steelbound is their victory lap and their next crusade rolled into one — a thunderstorm of grit, glitter, and unapologetic heart. From neon-soaked anthems to stadium-sized choruses, it’s the sound of a band not only cementing their legacy, but forging it hotter than ever before.
The album roars to life with The Burning Within, a blast of classic Battle Beast energy that fuses 80s bravado with modern precision. It’s an ignition point with pure fire out of the gate, and the tone it sets reverberates across the entire record. That same melodic spirit later reemerges in Angel of Midnight, a late-album standout that feels like the mirror reflection of the opener: both cinematic, both dripping with nostalgia, and both showcasing the band’s uncanny ability to merge melody and muscle. Heard together, even across the album’s arc, they form a throughline — the spark and the afterglow of Steelbound’s electrified heart. These are the songs that remind you Battle Beast were never content to be background noise, but that they’re built for the spotlight.
Then comes the album’s first full-throttle anthem, Here We Are, where every note feels engineered for the stage. You can practically hear tens of thousands of voices chanting the chorus back before the song even ends. Its optimism and unity set the tone for Steelbound, the title track and spiritual core of the record. This is Battle Beast at their absolute best, boasting melodic hooks that refuse to leave, guitar lines sharp enough to draw blood, and a rhythm section that hits like thunder. It’s a battle cry disguised as a pop-metal anthem, and it works. These two tracks belong together. One raising the flag, the other planting it firmly in the ground.
But Battle Beast aren’t afraid to throw curveballs. Twilight Cabaret pirouettes into view with smoky, burlesque swagger, turning the album’s heat into something theatrical and strange with the kind of song you didn’t expect but can’t stop replaying. Its playfulness only amplifies the weight of Last Goodbye, which follows with unrelenting power. Here, Noora tears through verses with emotional fire, her delivery balancing heartbreak and triumph. The guitars duel and dance before erupting into one of the record’s best solos, arguably one of the most blistering moments on Steelbound. It’s that contrast of glitter and grit, lipstick and leather that makes this stretch of the album so damn compelling.
The momentum briefly settles with The Long Road, a cinematic instrumental interlude that does far more than fill space. It’s a breath drawn before the plunge, with ambient keys rising like mist before the charge of Blood of Heroes. When it hits, it hits. The galloping rhythm feels like armor-clad cavalry charging into dawn. It’s power metal distilled to its purest, most heroic form. A rallying cry not just for the band, but for anyone who’s ever needed to stand taller in their own fight. The Long Road and Blood of Heroes feel inseparable. One leads the listener up the mountain, the other plants the flag at its summit.
The home stretch is where Steelbound solidifies its triumph. Riders of the Storm rips through the record with breakneck adrenaline. It’s a track built to ignite a circle pit and keep it roaring. It doesn’t just make you move; it gallops forward, full of mischief and menace. Then, just when you think Battle Beast might have spent all their ammo, they detonate the closer, Watch the Sky Fall. This finale feels cosmic, apocalyptic, with everything collapsing in beauty and chaos. “Watch the sky fall, the stars go dark, destruction all around. Cosmic storms, the edge of time as the eons now collide…” Louhimo’s delivery here is nothing short of commanding, the band firing on every cylinder beneath her. It ties the album together thematically and emotionally, steel and starlight, power and purpose.
Steelbound is a bold, thunderous statement. Battle Beast don’t just tick boxes, they fuse genres, emotional tones, and stylistic twists into a cohesive, electrifying ride. They’ve taken what they’ve done before and elevated it: sharper riffs, more daring songwriting, and a fearlessness to flirt with pop or cabaret-infused power metal without ever losing their backbone.
If you’re a power-metal purist, there are moments you might raise an eyebrow. Twilight Cabaret or the more AOR-leaning tracks might feel like detours. But in the broader scheme, they add contrast, surprise, and dynamic tension. And because Noora remains among metal’s most formidable vocalists, everything she sings assaults your ears with genuine conviction.
At this stage, Battle Beast don’t just stake their claim in the power-metal pantheon, they own it, and then some. Steelbound cranks every element to eleven: soaring vocals, razor-sharp riffs, stadium-sized choruses, and just the right amount of gleeful excess. It’s loud, unapologetic, and yes, over the top, but that’s exactly what makes it brilliant. This is an album you blast with the windows down, see live with your fists in the air, and revisit for every thunderous, decadent moment. Modern, celebratory, and crushing when it needs to be, Steelbound is a monster that declares: Here we stand. We are steelbound. And we will not be silenced.
Verdict: 4/5
Ethereal Metal 
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