From left, Kasperi Heikkinen, Sami Hänninen, Yannis Papadopoulos, Anton Kabanen, and Mate Molnar.
Beast in Black
is a Finnish Power Metal band formed by former Battle Beast guitarist and songwriter Anton Kabanen after leaving his former group in 2015.Like Battle Beast, Beast in Black is a tribute band to '80s Hard Rock and Speed Metal, fronted by Greek vocalist Yannis Papadopoulos (Wardrum), and again writes at least half its songs about the Dark Fantasy manga Berserk. Also like Battle Beast, Beast in Black started its career opening for Nightwish, this time before even having their first album out. Berserker would ultimately come out in November 2017. After the album's release they toured with Nightwish again as support for the European portion of the Decades World Tour.
Members:
- Kasperi Heikkinen - guitars
- Atte Palokangas - drums (2018-)
- Yannis Papadopoulos - vocals
- Anton Kabanen - guitars
- Mate Molnar - bass
Former members:
- Sami Hänninen - drums (2015-2018)
Discography:
- Berserker (2017)
- From Hell With Love (2019)
- Dark Connection (2021)
Tropes in Beast in Black's music:
- Atomic F-Bomb: In "Crazy, Mad, Insane":"Forced in to a puzzle
Where I cannot fit
I won't be like you
'Cause you make me sick
Rather a freak than eat the trash
That you all say is true
FUCK YOU!" - The Berserker: As if the first album's title didn't already tip you off. Notably, the song "Beast in Black" is about Guts and the Unstoppable Rage he unleashes upon his enemies once he becomes the Black Swordsman. "Zodd the Immortal" also applies being as Zodd is an example of a berserker as well.
- Call-and-Response Song: The verses of "Zodd the Immortal" have Yannis and Anton alternating lines. It's especially noticeable if you listen with headphones: Yannis is almost entirely on the right ear while Anton occupies the left.
- Cat Folk: The cover of Berserker boasts a lion-headed warrior, similar to the one that served as Battle Beast's mascot.
- Cyberpunk: Dark Connection shifts away from Berserk to tributing cyberpunk anime and manga.
- The video for "Moonlight Rendezvous" is a Whole-Plot Reference to Armitage III and the song features a quote from the 1995 OVA.
- The opening lines of "Revengeance Machine" is taken directly from Cyber City Oedo 808.
- "One Night in Tokyo" is about traveler to Tokyo falling in with a nightclub dancer after robot soldiers storm the place.
- "Blade Runner" is of course, a tribute to the movie of the same name.
- Deal with the Devil: "Unlimited Sin" alludes to pledging one's soul to demonkind for power.
- Defector from Decadence: "Dark New World" is about declaring rebellion against a world so far gone into decadence that it cannot even recognize it's own corruption anymore.
- Do Androids Dream?: the whole point of "Moonlight Rendezvous". Both lyrics and video deals with a tragic love story between two android assassins.
- The End of the World as We Know It: "The End of the World."
- Evil Feels Good: "The Fifth Angel". See Precision F-Strike below.
- Genre Mashup: Beast in Black is a mishmash of Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Power Metal, and Speed Metal, and additionally leans on synthpop influence even more than Battle Beast does, especially on From Hell with Love. Check out "Die By the Blade".
- Genre Shift: Berserker and From Hell with Love are Heavy Mithril albums mainly inspired by Berserk. Dark Connection takes a hard turn into cyberpunk.
- God of Evil: The Idea of Evil from the Missing Episode of Berserk is alluded to in "Hell for All Eternity.""The god we created
Plans our destiny
'Cause life without a meaning
Is our sworn enemy" - Heavy Mithril: Songs about Berserk, and more generally about kings trying to regain their throne and displaying courage in righteous battle.
- Holding Out for a Hero: "Cry Out For A Hero" is a song based on Fist of the North Star, and is basically a announcement from the people of a post-apocalyptic world for their heroic savior, Kenshiro.
- Homage:
- A whole lot of their music is homages to manga and anime, mostly Berserk.
- The video for "Moonlight Rendezvous" is a Whole-Plot Reference to Armitage III.
- Hunter of His Own Kind: "Blade Runner" describes Rick Deckard as "a killer of his own kind", referencing the theory that main character Rick Deckard is in fact a Replicant himself (the film left it ambiguous and the creators disagree whether he is).
- Power Ballad: In true Power Metal fashion, each of their albums feature at least one.
- "Ghost in the rain" from Berserker
- "Oceandeep" from From Hell with Love.
- "My Dystopia" from Dark Connection.
- Precision F-Strike: There are a couple of them on Berserker (e.g. "Evil has never felt so fucking good!" from "The Fifth Angel"), not to mention the Atomic F-Bomb in "Crazy, Mad, Insane".
- Rape as Drama: "The Fifth Angel" shows the Eclipse from Berserk's Golden Age arc (about which Anton Kabanen wrote several songs for Battle Beast) from Griffith/Femto's point of view, mentioning his rape of Casca in the chorus."I steal your sanity, betray your heart and let it bleed
Burn down your paradise and drain your love
I stain your purity, become thy faithful enemy
Defile your womanhood before his eyes" - Snow Means Death: The video for "Blind and Frozen" shows a female protagonist wandering through a snowy castle in a white dress, then lying on a bed, apparently frozen to death, at the denouement.
- Villain Song: Plenty. "Hell for All Eternity" is about Griffith's sacrifice of the Hawks to the God Hand, "The Fifth Angel" concerns his rape of Casca, and "Zodd the Immortal" is about Zodd the Immortal. "Repentless" is a unique version, in that it at first seems heroic, only for Griffith to remind you of his true colors in the second verse. "Unlimited Sin" is about pledging one's soul to demons for the sake of power.
- Woman Scorned: The music video for "Sweet True Lies" shows a woman finding out that her husband is seeing another woman and heading down to the club to let him have it.
- You Can't Fight Fate: "Zodd the Immortal" alludes to Zodd's words of warning to Guts about his impending doom."You will face your demise
Heed the warning of Zodd the Immortal
Bound to fight, kill, and die
Nothing can stop this tide
The ultimate sacrifice"
