Beast In Black - Dark Connection (2LP)

If you like your power metal with a neon grin and a heart full of synths, Dark Connection is the sweet spot. Beast In Black lean into their pop instincts here, but keep the riffs sharp enough to slice through a Friday night. Released 29 October 2021 through Nuclear Blast, it’s the third album from the Helsinki outfit led by guitarist and chief songwriter Anton Kabanen, and it plays like a love letter to cyberpunk cinema, arcade sheen and stadium-sized choruses.

The singles tell the story. One Night in Tokyo has that Eurobeat pulse that makes you want to hit the autobahn at 2 am, all while Yannis Papadopoulos lifts the hook into the stratosphere. Moonlight Rendezvous walks down rain-soaked streets, all noir romance and chrome, with a chorus that feels instantly familiar. Hardcore hits harder, a gym-floor banger with chugging guitars and a synth line that refuses to leave. These tracks became fast fan favourites for good reason. They’re precise, unabashedly catchy and carried by Papadopoulos’ ridiculous range, from glassy high notes to a full-blooded roar.

Kabanen’s writing has always fused old school metal muscle with 80s pop sparkle. Here the blend is tighter, and the electronics sit right at the centre. Keys don’t just colour the edges. They drive the riffs, often doubling the guitars so everything locks in like a chrome-plated machine. Atte Palokangas keeps the kick drums punching in clean patterns, giving the songs a dance-floor engine without losing the metal. Kasperi Heikkinen’s leads cut bright lines through the mix, while Máté Molnár underpins the choruses with a bass tone that thumps like a nightclub PA.

It’s still very much Beast In Black. That pulp sci fi world they love is everywhere. The band have always worn their fandom on their sleeves, from manga obsessions to cult films, but this time the city lights feel closer. You can almost see the glow of a billboard reflected in a visor during the pre-chorus. There’s romance in it too. Not the brooding kind, but a melodramatic, high-stakes type of love that suits their widescreen melodies. When they hit a key change, it lands like a movie kiss in slow motion.

What keeps Dark Connection from tipping into pure pastiche is the conviction. The hooks are written with a craftsman’s ear, and the performances sell every line. Papadopoulos sounds fearless, as if every take is the final one. Kabanen’s arrangements give him room to soar, then pull back to let the rhythm bite again. Even on the glossiest moments, the guitars still snarl, and the solos aim for melody rather than shred-for-shred’s-sake fireworks.

Spin this on a decent system and you’ll hear the production doing exactly what it should. The low end is tight, the high end sparkles, and the synth layers sit cleanly so the choruses hit like a wave. On Beast In Black vinyl the album pops even more, with the kicks and bass hugging the groove and those shiny keys blooming. The Dark Connection vinyl is an easy recommendation for anyone who files their records by mood and colour. If you’re crate digging in a Melbourne record store, it sits neatly between your glossy hard rock and your synthwave curios. And if you need to buy Beast In Black records online, this is the gateway drug. It also pairs nicely with other Beast In Black albums on vinyl when you want to binge the arc from euro metal grit to neon excess.

There’s a communal joy to these songs that makes sense in a crowd. The choruses were built to be shouted back, and the band clearly know it. Since release, the new material has held its own alongside older staples on setlists, which says plenty about how quickly fans took to it. That’s the secret weapon here. Dark Connection understands that metal can be fun without losing power, and pop can be grand without feeling hollow.

If your taste skews toward riffs and unabashed hooks, this record is a thrill. If you collect vinyl records Australia wide and need something that lights up a room when friends are over, it earns its shelf space. You get sharp songwriting, a charismatic vocal performance and a sonic world that feels like late-night city streets. No irony, no wink. Just a band leaning fully into what they do best and delivering the goods.