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Black Beast (no, not Beast in Black, go to the corner) are a black metal band from Finland that's been around since 2002, yet they only have a handful of prior releases to their name, and only one full-length at that. Arctic Darkness is their latest, and the name pretty much tells you what you're going to get: fast, ruthless, straightforward black metal that's not too far off from demo-era Impaled Nazarene if they were more melodic. In fact, Black Beast's melodic sensibility is what makes them stand out for, while many in the Finnish scene rely on being raw and grim, they add more texture with influences that range from Motörhead with their black 'n' roll sections to Moonsorrow on the "Suden Tunti"-esque "Depths of Damnation" to the old Bathory worship of album highlight "Hymn to the Freezing Wind." None of this is to say they push the envelope of their scene, and the rest of the songs are more of what you'd expect from the region, but they know their craft and use it with vicious ferocity to create a frigid, unwelcoming sound, and they deserve a nod for that.