Marina La Torraca’s debut with Battle Beast in Tokyo
New vocalist Marina La Torraca brought Brazilian fire to this Finnish heavy metal band on stage in Tokyo.
Battle Beast at WWWX, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan on 6th March 2026
The sudden and unexpected departure of a much-loved lead vocalist can be a death sentence for a band. When Finnish powerhouse singer Noora Louhimo decided to leave melodic heavy metal band Battle Beast a few months ago, many feared it was the end of this celebrated band. Fortunately, we were wrong. The band found Brazilian vocalist Marina La Torraca, best known for her work with Exit Eden, Phantom Elite and Avantasia. They swiftly began rehearsing with their new vocalist, as they already had several international tours booked for 2026.
The Tokyo gig was Marina’s first-ever show fronting Battle Beast. And, oh my, the way she did it! What a triumphant way of announcing one’s arrival. The rest of the band – Eero Sipilä on bass, Joona Björkroth and Juuso Soinio on guitars, Janne Björkroth on keyboards and Pyry Vikki on drums – fed off Marina’s energy and the warmth with which the Japanese audience welcomed her. This new chapter of Battle Beast couldn’t possibly get a better start. The fact that the last time the band performed for its Japanese fans was in 2017 helped too. The fans wanted this badly. They had been waiting.
Formed in Helsinki, Finland, in 2008, Battle Beast has released seven full-length studio albums. The latest, “Steelbound”, was released in October 2025, just two months before Noora announced her departure. But fear not. The many of us who worried about the future of this band can calm down. Marina La Torraca is no Noora clone, but she proved this evening in Tokyo that she is more than capable to front this band. She’s doing it her way. And the fans love her and this new chapter of the band.
The bulk of the evening’s setlist consisted of songs from the excellent new album “Steelbound”. Of the new songs, highlights included “Angel of Midnight”, “Blood of Heroes”, “Twilight Cabaret” and “Last Goodbye”. There were also, of course, some old favourites in the set, including “Bastard Son of Odin”, “King for a Day”, “Straight to the Heart”, “Master of Illusion” and “Eden”. The evening came to a close with “Wings of Light” from 2022’s “Circus of Doom”.
The band was on fire! Marina performed as if she had been in the band forever rather than doing her first gig this evening. This was a Finnish-Brazilian-Japanese love fest in the name of high-energy melodic heavy metal. Now let’s see what Marina can do in the studio with this band. This is, hopefully, just the beginning of a long and beautiful chapter for this Finnish band.
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