Children of Bodom - Blooddrunk Review

Posted by Dan Haggerty on 04.15.2008

Children of Bodom return with their sixth studio album. After the controversial changes of their last album, can this metal band continue the success of their pervious albums?

Sons of Finland (Espoo specifically), Children of Bodom is metal band that mixes melodic death, power, and neo-classical writing (earlier works) along with a more neo-thrash drive (newer material). Named after the Lake Bodom murders, the band employs that imagery on their lyrical content: Death, the Reaper (images of death), war, individual struggles (personal war?), and of course the Lake Bodom murders themselves. Recent output has seen the band branch out into more straightforward metal lyrical fare as well.

The band was founded in 1993 by guitarist Alexi "Wildchild" Laiho and drummer Jaska Raatikainen. They named the band IneartheD. Two friends who knew each other since childhood, sharing an interest in death metal bands. The hiring of bassist Samuli Miettinen and rhythm guitarist Alexander Kuoppala completed the initial line-up of the band. IneartheD recorded its first two demos Implosion of Heaven and Ubiquitous Absence of Remission at this point. When his parents moved the family to America in 95, Samuli was forced to quit the band. He was replaced by Henkka "Blacksmith" Seppälä (another friend for the duo). Atthis point a permanent keyboardist was brought in buy the name of Jani Pirisjoki and the band recorded there third demo Shining.

The demos to this point failed to impress labels, and the band decided to self fund an album. With the stakes higher, and the current keyboardist was missing practices, he was sacked for another friend of the band, Janne "Warman" Wirman. Wirman’s skill turned out to be what the band needed to define their sound. IneartheD successfully recorded their first album in 1997. Their debut, Something Wild, was supposed to be released by a small Belgian label that accepted the bands improved sound, but Sami Tenetz (from Thy Serpent) acquired a copy of their album (both worked for the same company at the time). Shortly after IneartheD signed this contract, Spinefarm Records' boss immediately became interested in signing them for a major release. The latter deal was much more attractive to the band, since the Belgian label was offering them close to no help, to the point where they would have to distribute and sell the album themselves.

The band was required to create a new name to sign up to Spinefarm Records. The contract with the Belgian label had already been signed under the name of IneartheD. The answer to that problem came as members looked for good names in their local phone book. When they stumbled upon Lake Bodom, they realized that it was a name with impact and one which had an interesting story behind it. A long list of possible names involving the word Bodom was then made, and they settled with Children of Bodom.

With the release of Something Wild, everything started to fall in place for the band. Acting support for Dimmu Borgir in late 1997 gained them notice from Nuclear Blast Records who promptly signed them to a contract for a European release starting on their next album. Subsequently, two songs for a compilation from Spinefarm Records ("Towards Dead End" and "Children of Bodom") brought the band chart success in Finland. Their next full release, Harebreeder would bring success to other European country charts.

Follow The Reaper came next, and has become a fan favorite, but their next release Hate Crew Deathroll would see them actually top Finnish charts for weeks and become their first gold record. The new popularity would eventually see their other albums reach that status, with Follow the Reaper eventually going Platinum. As a capstone to their success, the band was awarded “Finnish Band of the Year” when the Finnish Metal Music Awards were held in 2003.

Kuoppala quit the band the following year during a tour, and was replaced by Sinergy guitarist Roope Latvala, who would eventually be offered the position permanently for the bands next release Are You Dead Yet?. The new album caused a stir, with the introduction of tougher riffs and more straight forward metal fare. Not all fans were pleased, but new fans took the album to the highest sales the band achieved to date.
To top the bands recognition in the metal world, guitarist Alexi Laiho was voted world's best guitarist of 2006 in Metalhammer magazine.

But with all of that success and evolution in musical style, will their new release, Blooddrunk continue the bands success?










Line Up

Alexi Laiho – vocals, lead guitar (1993–present)
Roope Latvala – rhythm guitar (2003–present)
Janne Warman – keyboard (1997–present)
Henkka Seppälä – bass (1996–present)
Jaska Raatikainen – drums (1993–present)


Track Listing

Hellhounds on My Trail – 3:58
Blooddrunk – 4:05
LoBodomy – 4:24
One Day You Will Cry – 4:05
Smile Pretty for the Devil – 3:54
Tie My Rope – 4:14
Done with Everything, Die for Nothing – 3:29
Banned from Heaven – 5:04
Roadkill Morning – 3:32



Bonus Tracks For You Collectors

Ghost Riders in the Sky
Lookin' Out My Back Door (Creedence Clearwater Revival cover) (UK bonus track)
Just Dropped In (Kenny Rogers cover)
War Inside My Head (Suicidal Tendencies cover)



The Review

Children of Bodom's sound has evolved into their self etched nitch of neo-thrash/speed and will occupy the bands sound some time to come. This will undoubtedly piss off fans of their older material while reassure newer fans that the band is staying in similar orbits of Are You Dead Yet?. The thing that strikes you immediately is the rush of riffs, percussion, and keyboards. Bodom's style being less melodic these days and more intent on hitting you full force with everything at once, a whirlwind cacophony of rhythm and noise that rapidly fires into your conscious, digestion coming with repeated listens as you pull the depth of each construction apart. Alexi Laiho is certainly in his element, offering up some great axe work again while Janne Warman virtually steals the show with his keyboard work. I’m continually amazed that a few staunch individuals like him can make the keyboard decisively metal, even if not every metal lover’s cup o’ tea. The man runs from counter point tension to actual accompanying dual instrument to Laiho’s leads; very cool, as both deliver their parts in stellar fashion. This is the kind of rapid fire beast that will undoubtedly continue the bands success.

But this all seems to have come at a price, and that is the production. In order to achieve this continuous assault the band relied too heavily on post recording work, the production turning all this tight run amok playing into a packed claustrophobic journey of high speed sonic tracks. At times inspiring, at times tiring, the obvious pro-tool surgical construction of the songs doesn’t give the songs enough room to breathe in the air head banging requires. This causes a few tracks to wash together, causing the listener to lose track in the wall of assault. But with the band keeping the tracks short (only one barely topping 5 minutes, a few around 4 minutes, and four more under that) this flaw can also be seen as a tight packed charm that makes this an easy quick shot of juice to the system. In other words, a few lost tracks won’t slow fans down, even if they hinge on filler that better production could have saved.

But that aside, there is still much good to talk about, as mentioned before the performance is done well, and some tracks offer up great metal and song construction. The album might run a little together in the early parts, but the second half certainly opens up with some crunch and teeth. “Smile Pretty for the Devil” begins with a great bottom end, lets the riff work run through, and finally drives the finish home with good interplay between dueling solo keyboards and guitar, all run over a great riff to fun effect. “Tie My Rope” maximized the heavy push and drives home the blasts, turning the very things I’ve complained about into a four minute tour de’ force. You can thank that crunchy reoccurring riff for tying that song together – It always comes back to the riff. “Done with Everything, Die for Nothing” ups the crunch factor, and I’m digging it. This is where a good solo pays off, breaking that crush in a moment of power and chaos. “Banned from Heaven” is a melodic driven tune, dipping between older Bodom ideas and tying in the newer, almost a bridge between the two even if the newer stands tall in the end. “Road Kill” (love the name by the way), just kills, the weapon of choice is speed as the guys go for broke, a few keyboard melodic interplays and a searing solo (dueling again) just punts you back for a second listen. Good way to end the album.

Some of the tracks suffer from overproduction, and a few tracks blend early on, but the album really gels halfway through making this a short fun blast. I can see these songs absolutely ripping live when the band gets to stand on their own in the performance, and it’s that kind of performance and writing that still tells the tale. This is not at the bands full potential but certainly a good listen.

The 411: Good to great songs, backed by a solid performance, are a speedy thrash like bash through death riffs and power textures. This picks up where Are You Dead Yet? left off while adding to the bands new direction. Weakened and undercut due to the surgical construction of pro-tool happy engineering, but enough tracks rise above that fault to deliver the crunch and make this worth revisiting.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]