873. Battle Beast / Unholy Savior. 2015. 3/5

The one main thing that Battle Beast has in its favour is that they don't follow the usual power metal or Euro speed metal path like many of their contemporaries do. they have their own unique style, one where they mix different elements of both of these genres along with a pop influence, and cobble together a sound that both enthralls and frustrates you in the same instant. I like the fact that the keyboards are here within the mix, but they do not dominate like some other better known power metal bands. They enhance what is there but don't overawe the drums and guitars and vocals, and I think this works for the best. After the promise of the first two albums there was some living up to do here.

Everything is in order early on, with "Lionheart" bursting through the seams of the disc to open proceedings with a bang. From here it flows into the title track "Unholy Savior" which also lives up to that promise, utilising speed and heavy emoting in the lyrics to get the best out of the material. When this band is on song, they are simply terrific. "I Want the World... and Everything Else" is a barnstorming stompfest, mixing together the high ranging vocals with hard hitting drums and great guitar riffs. "Madness" motors along thanks to the double kick driving the song at a decent clip and a catchy chorus that has you singing along with gusto.
The downside is the slower, ballad-like, dreary songs that really fail to bring anything to the table. Seriously, if you are going to harp on the speed pop metal aspect of the music you are writing, then you should stay in that form rather than then trying to go for the soft rock ballad style. "Sea of Dreams" enter the album at about the halfway mark and completely kills all of the momentum that had built up preceding it. The fact that I abhor these kind of songs probably doesn't help it from the start, but the crime of halting what had been a pretty good album to this point is a mandatory sentence. It makes even less sense when it is followed by the speed/power metal song "Speed and Danger" which again blazes along with double kick and extreme pitched vocals combined with the cartoonish keyboards and then outstanding guitar solo break. Why on earth throw a slow ballad in to break up these songs?
Then there is the very 1980's ABBA-sounding pop revolution "Touch in the Night". Honestly, it sounds like a love theme from a really bad 1980's teen movie, something like Zapped! or Revenge of the Nerds. The ridiculous part about it is that it is rather catchy when you listen to it, but that doesn't change the fact that it is not in the character of the rest of the better songs on the album. Ditto that with "Hero's Quest", the instrumental that has those same kind of characteristics, which very much brings back flashbacks of the 80's for me. And while "Far Far Away" is a song that holds its own with the best from the first half of the album, the closer "Angel Cry" harks back to similar territory as "Sea of Dreams" and completely crushes the enthusiasm one holds because of it. Again, I cannot understand the thought processes of finishing the album with this type of song, after the style that had come in the first half of the album. Desperately disappointing.

The majority of this album is tremendously entertaining, regardless of the style of music you prefer to listen to. What probably holds it back from being a better album is the amount of experimentation that goes on with the songs on the album. While a third of the album is excellent fast power metal based music, and a third probably sits comfortably in that likeable pop metal genre that makes you smile rather than headbang, the final third drags its sorry arse in the realm of gagging ballads that doesn't mix well with the other ingredients. In the long run there is enough here for me that I enjoy the album whenever it has come up in my rotation, but those few songs that don't agree with me drag its enjoyment levels down from where they could have been.

Rating:  No way I'm gonna let my dream slip through my hands.  3/5.