Beast In Black

Beast In Black
Beast In Black in 2024
Background information
Origin	Helsinki, Finland
Genres	Power metal[1][2] heavy metal[2]
Years active	2015–present
Labels	Nuclear Blast[3]
Spinoff of	Battle Beast[2]
Members	Anton Kabanen Yannis Papadopoulos Kasperi Heikkinen Máté Molnár Atte Palokangas
Past members	Sami Hänninen
Website	beastinblack.com

Beast In Black is an International heavy power metal band, which was formed in Helsinki in 2015 by guitarist and songwriter Anton Kabanen.^[4] The band's blend of power metal, 80s pop and electronic music ^[5] as well as their energetic live performances^[6] have made them pioneers of their genre. Beast In Black's current lineup consists of founding member and primary songwriter Anton Kabanen, lead vocalist Yannis Papadopoulos, guitarist Kasperi Heikkinen, bassist Mate Molnar and drummer Atte Palokangas. The band's original drummer Sami Hanninen left the band in 2017 because of the changing circumstances in his life and issues related to the nerve system on his left hand.^[7]

Beast In Black's debut studio album Berserker was released in November 2017 and achieved rapid success by getting certified Platinum by the IFPI, same as their 2019 follow-up From Hell With Love, which further increased their popularity. The band's third studio album, Dark Connection was released on October 29, 2021, and achieved Gold status. With the proven success of the band's three releases, Beast In Black has become one of the most successful Finnish based heavy power metal bands of the decade. This was further solidified by the band's appearances on international music festivals including Graspop in 2019^[8] and 2023,^[9] Hellfest^[10] in 2023 and Wacken Open Air^[11] in 2024.

To date, the band has released three studio albums, 15 singles and one video game.^[12] Their lyrics are inspired by topics such as the manga Berserk,^[13][14] relationships, literature, dark fantasy, science fiction and societal issues, while the band's mascot, the "Beast",^[15] regularly appears on album artworks and live shows.^[16][17]

Beast In Black was formed in Helsinki in 2015 when Finnish guitarist Anton Kabanen decided to give a call to all the musicians whom he has spotted over the years for a brand new, five-piece heavy metal band. More specifically, Kabanen and Finnish guitarist Kasperi Heikkinen met each other briefly in 2010 when Battle Beast and Merging Flare (Heikkinen's band)^[18] were both supporting Blaze Bayley in Finland^[19][20] Back then they didn't initiate too much of a connection between each other. However, it was at the end of 2013, when Battle Beast was supporting U.D.O. during their “Steelhammer” tour^[21][22](Heikkinen had joined the ranks of U.D.O. earlier that year^[23]), when they found out that they both shared a lot of similar interests, influences and opinions on music. When the Battle Beast thing was finally done for Kabanen, he asked Heikkinen to be a part of this new band^[24]

In the early 2010s, Finnish drummer Sami Hänninen's band Brymir and Battle Beast shared the same rehearsal facilities where he occasionally met Kabanen. In 2011, Hänninen joined the Battle Beast tour in Central Europe as a driver, merchandiser and a general one-man crew^[20]

Kabanen and Hungarian bass player Mate Molnar first met in the end of 2013 when Battle Beast and Wisdom (Molnar's band) were both supporting Powerwolf during their “Wolfsnächte” tour.^[25] The chemistry worked pretty well between them from the very first moment and they kept in touch after the tour as well.^[24] The two met again at the Hungarian show of Sabaton’s “Heroes On Tour” tour, on January 25, 2015,^[26] for which Battle Beast was the opening act (Kabanen was still in their line-up). That was when Kabanen first talked about the idea of forming a new band, and Molnar immediately offered his services to him. In the end of that tour with Sabaton, on February 15, 2015, Kabanen and Battle Beast parted ways.^[27][28] A few weeks later Kabanen joined Wisdom and during these times they laid the foundation of a new band.^[29]

Kabanen contacted Greek vocalist Yannis Papadopoulos online in 2014, after discovering his YouTube channel and his band Wardrum.^[30] They eventually met in Thessaloniki when Battle Beast played there with Sabaton, on January 31, 2015,^[31] only six days after Kabanen met Molnar in Hungary, during the same tour.^[32] This meeting laid the groundwork for Beast In Black, since Kabanen and Papadopoulos talked about all future plans, arrangements, and practically established Papadopoulos as the last missing piece of this new band. Beast In Black was officially formed on October 7, 2015, when Kabanen, Molnar, Papadopoulos, Heikkinen and Hänninen gathered in a small pub in Helsinki. That was the day when these people first met each other face to face.

The band name came from Kabanen. After parting ways with Battle Beast, he wanted to continue using the Beast character which he originally came up with back around 2005-2006.^[20] As a huge fan of Berserk (manga),^[33] the Japanese manga-anime^[34][35] and his inner demon Beast of Darkness, which turned out to be Beast In Black.^[36]

The first band meeting had another reason too; from the other day they started to rehearse for the debut Beast In Black concert. They were the supporting act for Nightwish in front of 8000 people in Espoo Metro Areena, during their Endless Forms Most Beautiful tour, on November 13, 2015 .^[37][38][39] Heikkinen couldn't participate in this event because of his duties with U.D.O., and the band performed as a four-piece.^[40] They mostly played Battle Beast songs which Kabanen originally composed, and two songs (“Go To Hell” and “End Of The World”), which later became parts of their debut album, Berserker.^[41][42] To date, “End Of The World” is the only song, which has been performed on every single Beast In Black show. After their performance, they received an invitation to be the opening act of an event with Sabaton, Stratovarius and Gamma Ray (band). The concert has also been held in Espoo Metro Areena, on December 19, 2015.^[43] Before the band released Berserker, they played three shows in total; these two arena concerts and the legendary Tuska Open Air Metal Festival,^[44] which was the only Beast In Black concert in the year 2016^[41]

Due to the band members’ past, Beast In Black was under the radar of several record companies, even before the release of their debut album. On August 31, 2017, they signed a worldwide record deal with Nuclear Blast Records, which came together with the announcement of the release of their debut album Berserker, in November of the same year.^[45]

The band revealed the album's lead single “Blind And Frozen”, on September 8, 2017.^[46] The music video was directed by Ville Lipiäinen,^[47] who had worked with bands like Nightwish, Pain (musical project) and Stratovarius in the past. The success of the song and the music video brought a management contract to the table with Till Dawn They Count,^[48][49] which was unofficially working with the band since their initial formation. After the record and management deal, they signed to Contra Promotion booking agency to take care of their concert bookings all over Europe, except for Finland, where they agreed with Fullsteam booking agency.^[48]

The second single “Beast In Black”, came out as a lyric video on October 13, 2017.^[50] This was the first official song from Beast In Black which drew its lyrical topic from Berserk, and it made clear to the audience that Kabanen was willing to walk the same path he did with Battle Beast (band).^[51]

In the meantime, everything started to speed up around the group, which made Hänninen come to a hard decision. He didn't want to hold the band's progression back; therefore, claiming health issues and changes in his life circumstances, he announced his departure.^[48] The guys quickly had to find his replacement, since they were booked for a tour, which was to start in a few weeks. Amongst the suggested drummers, Atte Palokangas was the one whose abilities and availability matched the band's expectations, and was recruited for the tour.^[48][52]

To present their debut album live on stage, the band joined W.A.S.P. (band) on their “Re-Idolized: The 25th Anniversary of The Crimson Idol” tour, which kicked off one week before the release of Berserker, on October 28, 2017,^[41] however, it didn't last long for them. Beast In Black stated that they did not get the treatment they were guaranteed, and after four shows they quit the tour on November 2, 2017.^[53][54]

On November 3, 2017, Beast In Black released their debut album, Berserker, with its production being handled by Anton Kabanen.^[55] On the same day, they revealed a lyric video for the song “Born Again”, as its third single.^[56][57] Berserker reached the 7th position on the Finnish charts, while it also charted in a considerable number of other countries as well,^[58] a great feat in it by itself.

After the aforementioned prematurely ended tour with W.A.S.P. and, they got another chance for the live presentation of Berserker. Beyond the Black invited Beast In Black (along with Kobra and the Lotus), to support them on nine shows in Germany on their “Lost In Forever” tour.^[59][60] The tour started on December 7, 2017, and introduced the band to the German fans. On December 22, 2017, the band launched another Berserk related lyric video, for their track entitled “Zodd The immortal”.^[61] This was the fourth single from band's debut studio album Berserker.

On February 7, 2018 and after having toured touring with the band since the end of 2017, Atte Palokangas was officially announced as the new drummer for Beast In Black.^[62][63] In the meantime, the band had the chance to be the main support for Rhapsody Of Fire, for their "20th Anniversary Farewell" tour.^[48] Before their tour kicked off, they played three headline concerts in Finland. All these shows got sold out, with one of them being at the legendary Radio Rock Cruise, which was organized by Radio Rock, the main rock radio in Finland, after which Radio Rock started playing Beast In Black songs in high rotation on their channel. The aforementioned quickly brought about a considerable prominence for the band in Finland. On February 17, 2018, Heikkinen parted ways with U.D.O.^[64][65] This allowed him to focus fully on Beast In Black. On the same day, the tour with Rhapsody started in Bologna, Italy. This five week-long tour became the band's first intensive appearance in Europe.

Before the summer festival season, they did a short tour in Japan along with Turisas and S-tool, called “Suomi Feast 2018”.^[48] This was the first time the band played outside Europe. The intense touring resulted in some major festival invitations, like Nova Rock Festival, Tuska Open Air Metal Festival and Sabaton Open Air.^[66] The culmination to the above was Beast In Black's nomination for the Metal Hammer Awards 2018 in the "Best Debut Album" category^[67]

The band's second album, From Hell with Love, was released on 8 February 2019.^[68] After the release of the album, the band did their first headline tour in Europe with the Finnish industrial metal band Turmion Kätilöt as support.^[69]

On 26 October 2021, Beast In Black released their third album, Dark Connection. In addition to Berserk, several songs in the album reference science fiction series such as Blade Runner, Armitage III, Bubblegum Crisis and Cyber City Oedo. The album charted in Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Japan, ranking first in Finland.^[70]

• Anton Kabanen – guitars, backing vocals, keyboards (2015–present)
• Yannis Papadopoulos – lead vocals (2015–present)
• Kasperi Heikkinen – guitars (2015–present)
• Máté Molnár – bass, backing vocals (2015–present)
• Atte Palokangas – drums (2018–present)

• Beast In Black, current lineup live at Rockharz 2022
• 
  Anton Kabanen
• 
  Yannis Papadopoulos
• 
  Kasperi Heikkinen
• 
  Máté Molnár
• 
  Atte Palokangas

• Sami Hänninen – drums (2015–2017)

• "Blind and Frozen" (2017)
• "Beast In Black" (2017)
• "Born Again" (2017)
• "Zodd the Immortal" (2017)
• "Sweet True Lies" (2018)
• "Die by the Blade" (2019)
• "From Hell with Love" (2019)
• "Moonlight Rendezvous" (2021)
• "One Night in Tokyo" (2021)
• "Hardcore" (2021)
• "Power of the Beast" (2024)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Beast in Black.

• Official website
• Beast In Black at AllMusic
• Metallum Archives