Beast in Black is a Finnish heavy metal band formed in Helsinki in 2015 by guitarist and songwriter Anton Kabanen. The band's blend of power metal, 80s pop, and electronic music, as well as their energetic live performances, have made them pioneers of their genre. Beast in Black's current lineup consists of guitarist, founding member and primary songwriter Anton Kabanen, bassist Máté Molnár, lead vocalist Yannis Papadopoulos and drummer Atte Palokangas. The band's original drummer Sami Hänninen left the band in 2017 because of the changing circumstances in his life, as well as issues related to the nerves in his left hand. Guitarist Kasperi Heikkinen left the band in 2025.
Beast in Black's debut studio album Berserker was released in November 2017 and achieved rapid success by getting certified Platinum by the IFPI. Their 2019 studio album From Hell with Love followed suit, earning a Platinum certification from IFPI and further increasing the band's popularity. Beast in Black's third studio album, Dark Connection, was released on 29 October 2021, and achieved Gold status. With the proven success of the band's three releases, Beast in Black has become one of the most successful Finland-based heavy metal bands. This was further solidified by the band's appearances at international music festivals including Graspop in 2019 and 2023, Hellfest in 2023 and Wacken Open Air in 2024.
To date, the band has released three studio albums, 13 singles and one video game. Their lyrics are inspired by topics such as the manga Berserk, relationships, literature, dark fantasy, science fiction and societal issues, while the band's mascot, the "Beast",name="crypticrock.com"> regularly appears both in album artworks and in production elements of live shows.
History 2015: Formation
Beast in Black was formed in Helsinki in 2015, when Finnish guitarist Anton Kabanen decided to call several musicians with whom he strongly connected over the years for a brand-new, five-piece heavy metal band.
Kabanen and Finnish guitarist Kasperi Heikkinen met each other briefly in 2010 when Battle Beast and Merging Flare (Heikkinen's band) were both supporting Blaze Bayley in Finland Back then they didn't initiate too much of a personal connection. However, it was at the end of 2013, when Battle Beast was supporting U.D.O. during their "Steelhammer" tour(Heikkinen had joined the ranks of U.D.O. earlier that year), when they found out that they both shared similar interests, influences, and opinions about music. When Kabanen's professional journey ended with Battle Beast, he asked Heikkinen to be a part of this new band.
In the early 2010s, Finnish drummer Sami Hänninen's band Brymir shared the same rehearsal facilities with Battle Beast, in which he occasionally met Kabanen. In 2011, Hänninen joined the Battle Beast tour in Central Europe as a driver, merchandiser, and a general one-man crew. After Kabanen left Battle Beast, Hänninen contacted him about other matters and Kabanen mentioned the possibility of founding a new band offering the drummer's spot to Hänninen.
Kabanen and Hungarian bass player Máté Molnár first met in the end of 2013 when Battle Beast and Wisdom (Molnár's band) were both supporting Powerwolf during their "Wolfsnächte" tour. The chemistry worked pretty well between them from the very first moment and they kept in touch after the tour as well. The two met again at the Hungarian show of Sabaton's "Heroes On Tour" tour, on 25 January 2015, for which Battle Beast was the opening act (Kabanen was still in the Battle Beast line-up). That was when Kabanen first talked about the idea of forming a new band, and Molnár immediately offered his services to him. In the end of that tour with Sabaton, on 15 February 2015, Kabanen and Battle Beast parted ways. A few weeks later Kabanen joined Wisdom and during these times they laid the foundation of a new band.
Kabanen contacted Greek vocalist Yannis Papadopoulos online in 2014, after discovering his YouTube channel and his band Wardrum. They eventually met in Thessaloniki when Battle Beast played there with Sabaton, on 31 January 2015, only six days after Kabanen met Molnár in Hungary, during the same tour. This meeting laid the groundwork for Beast in Black, since Kabanen and Papadopoulos talked about all future plans, arrangements, and practically established Papadopoulos as the last missing piece of this new band.
The first appearance of this new group was a Facebook post on 5 September 2015, with a simple but mysterious announcement, "The Beast is back!". However, Beast in Black was officially formed on 8 October 2015, when Kabanen, Molnár, Papadopoulos, Heikkinen, and Hänninen met each other in a small pub in Helsinki. That was the day when the band first gathered face to face.
The band name Beast in Black came from Kabanen. After parting ways with Battle Beast, he wanted to continue using the Beast character which he originally came up with back around 2005-2006. He took a character, The Black Swordsman from Berserk, the Japanese manga-anime, and combined it with his inner demon, the Beast of Darkness, which turned out to be Beast in Black.
2015–2018: Early years, drummer change and Berserker
The first band meeting had another purpose, too; from the next day they started to rehearse for the debut Beast in Black concert. They were the supporting act for Nightwish in front of 8000 people in Espoo Metro Areena, during their Endless Forms Most Beautiful tour, on 13 November 2015 . Heikkinen couldn't participate in this event because of his duties with U.D.O., and the band performed as a four-piece. They mostly played Battle Beast songs which Kabanen originally composed, and two songs ("Go To Hell" and "End Of The World"), which later became parts of their debut album, Berserker. To date, "End Of The World" is the only song which has been performed at every single headlining Beast in Black show. After their performance, they received an invitation to be the opening act of an event with Sabaton, Stratovarius and Gamma Ray. The concert has also been held in Espoo Metro Areena, on 19 December 2015. Before the band released Berserker, they played three shows in total; these two arena concerts and the legendary Tuska Festival, which was the only Beast in Black concert during the year 2016.
Due to the band members' past bands and significant successes, Beast in Black was on the radar of several record companies, well before the release of their debut album. On 31 August 2017, they signed a worldwide record deal with Nuclear Blast Records, which came together with the announcement of the release of their debut album Berserker, which arrived in November of the same year.
The band revealed the album's lead single "Blind And Frozen", on 8 September 2017. The music video was directed by Ville Lipiäinen, who had worked with bands like Nightwish, Pain and Stratovarius in the past. The success of the song and the music video brought a management contract to the table with Till Dawn They Count Management, who were unofficially working with the band since their initial formation. After the record and management deal, they signed to Contra Promotion booking agency to take care of their concert bookings all over Europe, except for Finland, where they signed with Fullsteam booking agency.
The second single, "Beast in Black", came out as a lyric video on 13 October 2017. This was the first official song from Beast in Black which drew its lyrical topic from Berserk, and it made clear to the audience that Kabanen was willing to walk the same path of song content and inspiration that he formerly had with Battle Beast.
In the meantime, the group's activity grew exponentially, which brought Hänninen to a hard decision. He didn't want to hold the band's progression back; therefore, citing health issues and changes in his life circumstances, he announced his departure. The rest of the band quickly had to find his replacement, since they were booked for a tour, which was to start in a few weeks. Amongst the suggested drummers, Atte Palokangas was the one whose abilities and availability matched the band's expectations, and he was recruited for the tour.
To present their debut album live on stage, the band joined W.A.S.P. on their "Re-Idolized: The 25th Anniversary of The Crimson Idol" tour, which kicked off one week before the release of Berserker, on 28 October 2017. However, the tour didn't last long for them. Beast in Black stated that they did not get the treatment they were guaranteed, and after four shows they quit the tour on 2 November 2017.
On 3 November 2017, Beast in Black released their debut album, Berserker, which was also produced by Kabanen. On the same day, they revealed a lyric video for the song "Born Again", as the album's third single. Berserker reached the 7th position on the Finnish charts, while it charted in a considerable number of other countries as well,.
After the aforementioned tour with W.A.S.P. prematurely ended, they earned another chance for the live presentation of Berserker. Beyond the Black invited Beast in Black, along with Kobra and the Lotus, to support them on nine shows in Germany on their "Lost In Forever" tour. The tour started on 7 December 2017, and introduced the band to the German fans. On 22 December 2017, the band launched another Berserk-related lyric video, for their track entitled "Zodd The Immortal". This was the fourth single from band's debut studio album Berserker.
On 7 February 2018 and after having toured with the band since the end of 2017, Atte Palokangas was officially announced as the new drummer for Beast in Black. In the meantime, the band had the chance to be the main support for Rhapsody Of Fire, for their "20th Anniversary Farewell" tour. Before their tour kicked off, they headlined three shows in Finland, all of which sold out. One of them was the legendary Radio Rock Cruise, which was organized by Radio Rock, the main rock radio station in Finland. After this point, Radio Rock started playing Beast in Black songs in high rotation on their channel. This quickly brought about a considerable prominence for the band in Finland. On 17 February 2018, Heikkinen parted ways with U.D.O. This allowed him to focus fully on Beast in Black. On the same day, the tour with Rhapsody Of Fire started in Bologna, Italy. This five-week-long tour became the band's first intensive appearance in Europe.
Before the summer festival season, Beast in Black embarked on a short tour in Japan along with Turisas and S-Tool, called "Suomi Feast 2018". This was the first time the band played outside Europe. The intense touring resulted in some major festival invitations, like Nova Rock Festival, Tuska Festival and Sabaton Open Air. The culmination to the above was Beast in Black's nomination for the Metal Hammer Awards 2018 in the "Best Debut Album" category.
2018–2020: From Hell with Love
From 2 November – 15 December 2018, the band began their first major touring cycle as the main supporting act on Nightwish's Decades: World Tour. This six-week-long arena tour around Europe introduced Beast in Black to thousands of people every night. Their full set was based solely on the Berserker album, while they also used this tour to promote their second album, slated for release in the beginning of 2019. During the tour, they revealed the cover artwork with its title From Hell with Love, and released the album's lead single, "Sweet True Lies", as a music video on 30 November 2018.
On 11 January 2019, the lyric video for "Die By the Blade" was released. This Berserk-related track, and Kabanen's statements made Berserk fans sure that some songs of the new record would continue dealing with this manga.