Battle Beast reign supreme in London

BATTLE BEAST – 24TH OCTOBER 2025

It’s not often that you go to a show with three different acts and come away saying “I loved all three”, but that was the case tonight. With three very different and versatile bands, there was something for everyone, and no one left disappointed.

Battle Beast are rapidly coming to the fore and becoming the must-see Nordic Metal kings. Headlining in their own right, they put on a stupendous performance of powerful, symphonic-styled metal. Fronted by the incredible Noora Louhimo on vocals, she comes across as a heavy-metal Maleficent, complete with pointed shoulder pads and twisted 1980s-style attire. Her skull and horned headgear is something else – a dark and demonic banshee made flesh. Yet her voice is heavenly.

With a new album Steelbound under their belts, it’s no surprise that it’s well featured, yet it still includes some of their strongest material and fits perfectly into the set. This is a band now seriously coming of age.

Entering the stage to a taped intro of the instrumental The Long Road from the latest album, they open up with a roar and long-time favourite Straight to the Heart. Tonight’s set is quite enigmatic yet brings out the very best in Battle Beast. The relationship between band and audience is intense; tonight, they simply cannot fail. The old and the new meld beautifully, and when your back catalogue contains masterpieces such as No More Hollywood Endings and Eye of the Storm, the audience knows they’re in for one hell of a hellride.

There are still moments of surprise and humour within the set. A stripped-back keytar-driven cover of Elton John’s Can You Feel the Love Tonight sees a hall full of metalheads singing every word, and later, when Noora slips into a short burst of The Pointer Sisters’ I’m So Excited, the crowd erupts in disco-metal delight.

But tonight is really all about the metal. This is a band so interconnected that the musical chemistry borders on magical. Bastard Son of Odin sends both band and audience into overdrive — mosh pits, fists in the air, and a raucous sing-along. The guitar work is exquisite, and the interplay between lead guitarist Joona Björkroth and keytarist Janne Björkroth is off the scale.

This is one of those shows that feels over before it’s even begun, such is the sheer energy of the evening. Yet more is to come as Joona returns to the stage to play The Long Road before the rest of the band rejoin for a climactic King for a Day and Wings of Light. A quite exceptional night full of Scandinavian brilliance. Long may Battle Beast reign.

Setlist

• Tape Intro: The Long Road (Instrumental)
• Straight to the Heart
• Master of Illusion
• Last Goodbye
• Here We Are
• No More Hollywood Endings
• Eye of the Storm
• Blood of Heroes
• Can You Feel the Love Tonight (Elton John cover)
• Where Angels Fear to Fly
• Watch the Sky Fall
• I’m So Excited (The Pointer Sisters cover – snippet)
• Twilight Cabaret
• Bastard Son of Odin
• Angel of Midnight
• Steelbound
• Eden
• Encore:
• The Long Road (Instrumental)
• King for a Day
• Wings of Light

DOMINUM

Second support came from German metal titans Dominum, bringing their pseudo-shock rock to the stage. If you haven’t discovered this band before, think a German Wednesday 13 with a bit of Slipknot thrown in. The Slipknot reference comes from the masks worn by the band (except for frontman Felix Heldt, a.k.a. Dr. Dead) and the punchy industrial-tinged sound that recalls Wednesday 13’s early work.

It’s great fun — they clearly don’t take themselves too seriously, and the tongue-in-cheek song titles add to the on-stage chaos. With two albums under their belts, tonight’s set draws largely from both and offers a sharp introduction to the band’s zombie-themed, schlock-horror aesthetic.

Tracks like Killed by Life and The Dead Don’t Die set the tone, yet beneath the camp theatrics lies serious intent. Don’t Get Bitten by the Wrong Ones warns of the rise of the far-right, while We All Taste the Same tackles racism with biting humour and inclusivity. Their cover of Rock You Like a Hurricane sees them go full Scorpions mode — guitar heroics and all.

The set closes with the symphonic, anthemic Immortalis Dominum before the audience floods the merch desk, newly converted to the undead cause.

Setlist

• Danger Danger
• Killed by Life
• The Dead Don’t Die
• Frankenstein
• We Are Forlorn
• Don’t Get Bitten by the Wrong Ones
• Rock You Like a Hurricane (Scorpions cover)
• We All Taste the Same
• The Chosen Ones
• Immortalis Dominum

MAJESTICA

First up were Sweden’s Majestica, formed in 2000 by vocalist Tommy Johansson. They’re no strangers to putting on a show, having honed their craft over the last twenty-five years — much of it under their former name ReinXeed.

Musically they straddle power metal and melodic AOR, weaving both styles together effortlessly. Opening with the title track from their latest album Power Train, they immediately set out their stall with driving drums and Johansson’s trademark high-register vocals.

No Pain, No Gain follows, an epic melodic tune loaded with lyrical clichés yet impossible not to enjoy. Metal United adds a folky twist and gets the crowd moving again. Though short, the set is irresistible — the perfect warm-up for what’s to come.

Setlist

• Power Train
• Night Call Girl
• Rising Tide
• No Pain, No Gain
• Above the Sky
• Metal United
• Alliance Forever (snippet outro)

WORDS: ADRIAN STONLEY PHOTOS: ROBERT SUTTON