Beast in Black

• 1. Introduction

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  Beast in Black announced themselves to the world on the 5th of September 2015 with four words: "The Beast is back!" A Facebook post, nothing more. No album, no tour, no official lineup. Just a declaration from guitarist Anton Kabanen, who had just walked away from one band and was determined to build something new from scratch. The questions the announcement raised would take years to answer. Who were these musicians? What kind of music were they making? And why was a lion-man warrior from a Japanese manga at the center of it all? This is the story of how a handful of musicians from Finland, Hungary, and Greece assembled in a Helsinki pub and became one of the most successful heavy metal bands to emerge from Finland.

• 2. Assembling the Band

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  Anton Kabanen first spotted Kasperi Heikkinen in 2010, when their respective bands were both opening for Blaze Bayley in Finland. No real connection formed that day. It was not until the end of 2013, when Kabanen was touring with Battle Beast as a supporting act on U.D.O.'s "Steelhammer" tour, that the two guitarists realized how much they had in common. Heikkinen had joined U.D.O. that same year, and the shared tour gave them enough time to discover overlapping tastes and opinions about music.

  The bass player came via a different route. Kabanen and Hungarian bassist Máté Molnár met at the end of 2013 when Battle Beast and Molnár's band Wisdom were both opening for Powerwolf on their "Wolfsnächte" tour. The chemistry was immediate, and the two stayed in touch. On the 25th of January 2015, during the Hungarian date of Sabaton's "Heroes On Tour" tour, Kabanen first raised the idea of forming a new band. Molnár offered his services on the spot. Three weeks later, on the 15th of February 2015, Kabanen parted ways with Battle Beast.

  The vocalist was found online. Kabanen discovered Yannis Papadopoulos through his YouTube channel and the Greek singer's band Wardrum. They met in person in Thessaloniki when Battle Beast played there with Sabaton, on the 31st of January 2015, only six days after the meeting with Molnár in Hungary. That conversation in Thessaloniki effectively locked in the final piece. Papadopoulos was in.

  The drummer, Sami Hänninen, had a longer relationship with Kabanen. His band Brymir had rehearsed in the same facility as Battle Beast in the early 2010s. In 2011, Hänninen drove the Battle Beast tour van across Central Europe, working as driver, merchandise seller, and one-man crew. After Kabanen left Battle Beast, Hänninen reached out about other matters, and Kabanen mentioned the prospect of a new band. Hänninen was offered the drum seat.

  On the 8th of October 2015, all five musicians gathered for the first time in a small Helsinki pub. That evening was the official founding of Beast in Black.

• 3. The Name and the Beast

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  The name Beast in Black traces directly to Anton Kabanen's imagination and to a Japanese manga. Around 2005-2006, Kabanen and visual artist Roman Ismailov created a lion-man warrior together. The character had no official name for years; people called it the lion man, the lion-like warrior, or even Battle Beast. Kabanen first used the character in Battle Beast.

  When he left and formed his new band, Kabanen brought the character with him and fused two sources to name it. He took the Black Swordsman, a character from the manga and anime series Berserk, and combined that figure with the Beast of Darkness, which he described as his own inner demon. The result was Beast in Black, a name that doubled as the band's title and the identity of their mascot.

  The physical incarnation of the Beast arrived on stage in 2019. Fabricator Tommi Mähönen built a structure 2.4 meters high and weighing 260 kilograms from iron bars, sheet metal, and structural paste. The eyes light up. The mouth exhales heavy smoke. It first appeared at an event called "Beast in Black Friday" in Helsinki, and it returned five years later during the 2024 "Glory and the Beast" tour.

  The band's logo was designed by Kabanen and Molnár, with final touches added later by Janne Peltonen. However, Peltonen's modifications came after the release of the debut album, so the original pressing of Berserker carried the old version of the logo. Only later reprints featured the finalized design.

• 4. Berserker and the First Years

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  One day after founding the band in that Helsinki pub, the five musicians began rehearsing for their first ever concert. They had eight weeks. On the 13th of November 2015, Beast in Black took the stage as the supporting act for Nightwish at Espoo Metro Areena in front of 8,000 people. Guitarist Kasperi Heikkinen could not attend due to his commitments with U.D.O., so the band performed as a four-piece. Most of the set drew on Battle Beast songs that Kabanen had originally written, supplemented by two new tracks, "Go To Hell" and "End Of The World", which would later appear on the debut album. "End Of The World" has since been performed at every single Beast in Black headlining show.

  By the time they signed with Nuclear Blast Records on the 31st of August 2017, the band had already attracted attention from multiple labels. Their debut single "Blind And Frozen" came out on the 8th of September 2017, with a music video directed by Ville Lipiäinen, who had previously worked with Nightwish, Pain, and Stratovarius. The single brought a management deal with Till Dawn They Count Management, which had been working informally with the band since the beginning.

  Midway through this run-up to the album, the band's original drummer Sami Hänninen stepped away, citing changes in his life and issues with the nerves in his left hand. Replacement drummer Atte Palokangas was recruited in time for an upcoming tour, and on the 7th of February 2018 he was officially announced as a permanent member.

  Berserker was released on the 3rd of November 2017, produced by Kabanen himself. It reached number 7 on the Finnish charts and charted in a number of other countries. It was subsequently certified Platinum by the IFPI. The band's nomination for the Metal Hammer Awards 2018 in the Best Debut Album category followed.

• 5. From Hell with Love

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  From the 2nd of November to the 15th of December 2018, Beast in Black toured Europe as the main support on Nightwish's Decades: World Tour. The six-week arena run introduced the band to large crowds every night. During that tour, on the 30th of November 2018, they released the lead single from their second album, "Sweet True Lies", as a music video.

  From Hell with Love arrived on the 8th of February 2019 via Nuclear Blast Records. It went straight to the top of the Finnish charts and earned a Platinum certification from the IFPI. The album included a cover of Motörhead's "Killed By Death", recorded as a tribute to Lemmy Kilmister, who had died around the time Beast in Black was founded.

  The first European headlining tour in support of the album launched on the 20th of February 2019. Playing to average crowds of around 1,000 people, the tour included 16 dates in Finland alone, all without any supporting acts. Of the tour's 31 total shows, 21 sold out. A second leg followed, announced on the 19th of May 2019 with Myrath as support.

  That summer, the band appeared at Sweden Rock Festival, Graspop Metal Meeting, and Heavy Montreal, which marked their first ever performance in North America. In early September, they played their first Russian shows, headlining in St Petersburg and Moscow. The year closed with "Beast in Black Friday" at Helsinki Ice Hall on the 13th of December 2019, in front of 5,000 fans, with Lordi as very special guests. That night was the first time the band deployed large-scale stage decorations, pyro effects, and the now-famous Beast head prop.

• 6. Dark Connection and the Cyberpunk Turn

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  On the 20th of August 2021, Beast in Black announced their third album and named its cyberpunk influences in the same breath: Armitage III, Cyber City Oedo 808, AD Police Files, Battle Angel Alita, Bubblegum Crisis, and Blade Runner. The album was dedicated to Kentaro Miura, the author of Berserk, who had died during its recording.

  The lead single, "Moonlight Rendezvous", came out on the 3rd of September 2021. Its music video, the first directed by Katri Ilona Koppanen rather than simply produced under her involvement, drew on the visual language of the 1982 Ridley Scott film Blade Runner. The video won Best Music Video of the Month at the Top Shorts Film Festival.

  Dark Connection was released on the 29th of October 2021 and debuted at number one on the Finnish charts. Beyond eleven original songs, the record contained covers of Manowar's "Battle Hymn" and Michael Jackson's "They Don't Care About Us". On the 8th of November 2021, in collaboration with Marvin Advergames, the band released an arcade game called One Night In Tokyo, modeled on beat 'em up games like Streets of Rage and Final Fight.

  The Dark Connection touring cycle was the band's most ambitious to date. Their first North American headlining tour launched on the 7th of April 2022. It was delayed at the start when vocalist Yannis Papadopoulos tested positive for COVID-19 one day before the flight to North America, forcing the cancellation of the first three shows. He rejoined the band in Dallas five days later and completed the remaining 17 dates.

  The "Glory and the Beast" co-headlining tour with Gloryhammer launched on the 10th of January 2024. Across 21 dates in 14 European countries, playing venues with capacities between 2,000 and 4,000 people, twelve shows sold out. The average crowd was 2,500.

• 7. Songwriting Philosophy

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  Kabanen named Judas Priest, Manowar, Black Sabbath, W.A.S.P., and Accept as his major influences. In interviews with Blabbermouth and Dead Rhetoric, he returned repeatedly to the same idea: heavy metal is the freest genre that exists precisely because it allows everything, from the softest whisper to aggressive, growled vocals, from ambient soundscapes to fast, loud energy. He said the genre makes variety not just acceptable but expected.

  His 80s orientation in songwriting was deliberate. Speaking to Dead Rhetoric, Kabanen argued that songs from that era stood the test of time because they contain musical elements that speak to people regardless of decade. He described the Beast in Black sound as drawing on that familiarity while adding freshness through combination.

  The band's lyrics divide into three categories, as Kabanen explained to The Metal Crypt: Berserk-related and anime-derived content, other fictional stories, and personal narratives. Berserk appears in roughly three to five songs on every album. Kabanen also told The Metal Crypt that he deliberately avoids over-explaining lyrics, believing that art should raise questions and leave room for individual interpretation. In his view, revealing too much destroys part of the magic.

  On production, Kabanen pushed against a standard metal convention. Speaking to Blabbermouth, he questioned why every song on a metal album has to share the same sonic palette, noting that pop artists regularly use different sounds from track to track on the same record. His stated goal was to make Beast in Black instantly recognizable while centering each song on simplicity and directness, regardless of how many different stylistic elements appear on top.

• 8. Beyond the Third Album

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  On the 27th of June 2024, Beast in Black released a standalone single called "Power Of The Beast". Kabanen described it as a hybrid of Berserk and his own life experiences and called it the first Super Eurobeast song, a term he coined for the track.

  On the 28th of April 2025, the band announced a collaboration with Blizzard Entertainment's game Diablo IV and the Berserk IP. The partnership, described as the first non-Blizzard intellectual property collaboration in the Diablo franchise, was tied to the eighth season of the game, "Belial's Return", and promoted through a Beast in Black single and music video titled "Enter the Behelit".

  Kasperi Heikkinen, who had been a guitarist in Beast in Black since the beginning, announced his departure on the 22nd of October 2025, during the band's tour supporting Helloween on their 40th anniversary European run. Daniel Freyberg stepped in as a fill-in guitarist for the remainder of that tour. Kabanen sat out the subsequent North American leg of the Helloween tour, stating on the 7th of April 2026 that he was focusing on completing the fourth studio album.

  A headlining European tour for the fourth album was announced on the 13th of October 2025, scheduled for September and October 2026, with Sonata Arctica and Frozen Crown as support acts.