{"id":104231,"date":"2024-11-15T00:00:30","date_gmt":"2024-11-15T00:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=104231"},"modified":"2024-11-22T08:17:48","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T08:17:48","slug":"album-review-beast-ancient-powers-rising","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-beast-ancient-powers-rising\/","title":{"rendered":"BEAST – Ancient Powers Rising (2024) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

BEAST
Ancient Powers Rising<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nSelf-released (2024)<\/span>
Rating: 7.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Galloping in traditional metal style, Ancient Powers Rising<\/em> is the sturdy debut full-length outing from Osnabr\u00fcck, Germany-based foursome Beast. To be honest, I expected this album to be one of those contemporary soulless creations and yet my frosty scepticism was soon melted by the calming vocals of frontman Philipp Rethmann who leads his gang like a more nonchalant, low end King Diamond.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a real confidence and maturity with these eight songs in spite of the familiar strides within the contours. Not necessarily nostalgic or even throwback in its vibe, Beast\u2019s debut casually lopes with genuine mystique and intrigue, particularly on \u2018In The Name Of The Horned One\u2019 which reminds me of a steely Marillion in parts, while some of the guitars boast an almost dissonant effect.<\/p>\n

Opener \u2018Behead The Dragon\u2019 is the band in brisk mode as each melody maintains constant levels of warm accessibility. The fact that this album surprised me so much is what\u2019s kept me on board. Flecks of power metal fuse nicely with traditional thunder (\u2018Ride The Tempest\u2019) while more aggressive combinations also flourish (\u2018Swords Are Burning\u2019), but it\u2019s just that fluidity throughout which enables the aura of this album to sizzle. Melodies soar and dance like flames, often fanned by unexpected metallic chugs and emphatic, ascending choruses (\u2018Kingdom Of Steel\u2019).<\/p>\n

The robust nature of Julian Kr\u00f6ger\u2019s drums is still encased within a smooth shell of production, and the result is the rich title track that strides with a suave nature. Yes, there are shadows here of late 80s British metal aligned with something Swedish from a few years earlier alongside some New Wave Of British Heavy Metal-type fancies. It\u2019s not extravagant but somehow cool, sublime even, as the epic \u2018Mystery Of The Lonesome Rider\u2019 drifts in on an enchanting, wistful acoustic before steadily churning like a spicy brew of Iron Maiden meets Manilla Road. It\u2019s all so organically constructed as the combo shifts into edgier passages but it never overflows into something too crazed.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d best describe the sound of Beast as comforting metal, and yet it\u2019s not a mimic of the past but just a rhythmic pulse of elegance and controlled energy culminating in rich, warming glows I last experienced with a band like Canada\u2019s Spell.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BEASTAncient Powers Rising Self-released (2024)Rating: 7.5\/10 Galloping in traditional metal style, Ancient Powers Rising is the sturdy debut full-length outing from Osnabr\u00fcck, Germany-based foursome Beast. To be honest, I expected this album to be one of those contemporary soulless creations and yet my frosty scepticism was soon melted by the calming vocals of frontman Philipp […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,5827],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-beast-germany"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104231"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104232,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104231\/revisions\/104232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}