Battle Beast (band)

Battle Beast
Battle Beast live in June 2011
Background information
Origin	Helsinki, Finland
Genres	Heavy metal, power metal
Years active	2008-present
Labels	WEA, Nuclear Blast
Website	www.battlebeast.fi
Members	Noora Louhimo Eero Sipilä Pyry Vikki Juuso Soinio Janne Björkroth Joona Björkroth
Past members	Nitte Valo Anton Kabanen

Battle Beast is a Finnish heavy metal / power metal band established in Helsinki in 2008. The initial line-up consisted of guitarists Anton Kabanen, Juuso Soinio and drummer Pyry Vikki, who were high school friends. The rest of the original line-up, singer Nitte Valo, bassist Eero Sipilä and keyboardist Janne Björkroth, joined the band after auditions.

Before gaining a record contract, Battle Beast was best known for having won two major band competitions in year 2010: the international Wacken Metal Battle 2010, participated by thousands of bands from all around the world, whose final stage was held at the famed German metal festival Wacken Open Air; soon after that, the band was announced the winner of Radio Rock Starba, a band competition held by the major Finnish radio station Radio Rock. With their victory in the Finnish competition the band received intense media exposure, and before the end of 2010 they had signed a record deal with the Finnish label Hype Records.

Battle Beast's first album, titled Steel, was released in Finland in Spring 2011. With the support of the two singles, "Show Me How to Die" and "Enter the Metal World", and their heavy airplay on Radio Rock, the album peaked at No. 7 upon its release. Although released only in Finland, the album soon caught the attention of the international metal label Nuclear Blast, with whom the band signed a licensing deal in late 2011. A reissue of Steel, which included one bonus track, was released to the European market in January 2012. The band was voted at the third place in the list for Newcomer Of The Year 2011 at the Finnish Metal Awards in February 2012. To support the European release of Steel, Battle Beast toured for the first time as opening act for their countrymen Nightwish in many European dates of the Imaginaerum World Tour. The tour was reported a success by both bands. On the final show of the tour Nightwish paid their respects to the support band by performing a cover of "Show Me How to Die" as a part of their acoustic set. A song they made called "Kingdom" is a song in tribute to the long-lasting manga series Berserk.

In Autumn 2012, after touring the Finnish rock festivals for the summer, Nitte Valo was announced to be leaving the band because of family issues. With the news of her departure, came the announcement of a new lead singer Noora Louhimo from Tampere, Finland. With Louhimo in the band, Battle Beast started another European tour in November, this time supporting the Finnish power metal band Sonata Arctica.