Once again, the crazy Finns of Beast in Black are combining power metal with dance music, this time on their third album, Dark Connection. I am an avowed power metal fan. I can take a lot of cheesy lyrics, happy melodies and frilly keyboards. I admit that Beast in Black deliver a polished, professional sound, strong writing and performances and man, oh, man can they craft a hook. That is all well and good, I’m on board until I’m not, and here’s where they lose me. "Bella Donna" and "Highway to Mars" feature some crunchy, Euro power metal riffing but far more dance rhythms and pulsating beats that belong in a disco. The quite vocal passage beginning around 4:36 of "Moonlight Rendezvous" sounds like something The Bee Gees would have sung. Other than "Last Drop of Blood" and the surprisingly entertaining cover of Manowar’s "Battle Hymns" (a song I would not have guessed this band would cover in a hundred years), Dark Connection is too saccharine, too dancey, too commercial, even for me. The vocal lines and keyboards, catchy as they unquestionably are, just drip with pop sweetness. Like I said in my review of their last album (From Hell with Love), Beast in Black do what they do very well, I just don’t know how much metal is left or how soon before they end up challenging in the Eurovision Song Contest. If this style floats your boat, be my guest, but it just isn’t metal enough for me.
