Children of Bodom
“Are You Dead Yet”
Century Media
The Inside Pulse:
With every new outing, Finland’s Children of Bodom continues to blow away its contemporaries in the metal scene. Building on the foundation laid with 2003’s “Hate Crew Deathroll,” CoB has managed to take its sound to an even more extreme peak. The guitar riffs are even more overblown, the synth solos are even more epic, the vocals are even more “nasty” (aggressive with a twist) and the bass and drum work is downright destructive.
Positives:
Overall, Children of Bodom have almost become the quintessential European metal band. The group has molded an amazing sound pulling from the death and thrash corners of the genre, incorporating keyboards to perfection and infusing just the right amount of pop hooks to craft “Are You Dead Yet?” The group’s sound is uniquely its own and instantly recognizable. The album explodes out of the gate with “Living Dead Beat” and never lets up. The title track settles into a groove and proves to be catchy as hell; “If You Want Peace … Prepare for War” is an in-your-face metal anthem and probably as heavy as anything CoB has dared to put out; the band ends on a fun note with a sick cover of The Ramones “Somebody Put Something in My Drink.” Indeed, CoB is known for its fantastic covers and this is no exception.
Negatives:
There has been complaints in the past that frontman Janne Warman’s vocals are a little too garbled so that may make Children of Bodom an acquired taste. A couple of tracks in the middle (most notably “In your Face” and Bastards of Bodom”) are almost an afterthought and pull down the overall “feel” of the album. With a forgettable mid-section, listeners may want to skip over some tracks to get to another good song. One of the best aspects of CoB’s sound has been the keyboard solos, but those seemed toned-down on “Are You Dead Yet?”
(As an aside, and this has nothing to do with the band, but it was well-known that the group also put together a cover of Poison’s “Talk Dirty To Me” and I was disappointed the label chose to leave it off the US release (though there is talk of a re-release later this year with extra tracks).)
Crossbreed:
As already mentioned, Children of Bodom merge thrash riffs and death drumming into a metallic monolith. There’s just the right edge of pop and industrial to make this more than just a run-of-the-mill metal release. If you want comparisons, think In Flames more recent outings or maybe a group like Skyfire or Lullacry (with a male vocalist).
Reasons to buy:
Children of Bodom have fast become my favorite European metal band. The group pulls from a variety of metal influences and is filled with enough hooks to keep you interested from the very first listen. While not as hard-hitting as “Hate Crew Deathroll,” “Are You Dead Yet?” still blows away a good portion of what has been showing up on the metal scene as of late.
