Children of Bodom – Blooddrunk
Fontana Universal Records (4/15/08)
Metal
It would appear as if Children of Bodom likes taking a different approach with each new album, as seen with the evolution from 2003’s Hate Crew Deathroll (an explosive assault) to 2005’s Are You Dead Yet?, which was a little more raw and less expansive. And now, with Blooddrunk, the band have taken the aggressive approach one step further.
The album spills out of the speakers like a wall of sound, as everything is thick, compact and foreboding. The band has incorporated more thrash elements to its repertoire, and it gives the material more of an edge than on its previous album. The rest is vintage Children of Bodom, with killer solos, mind-bending riffs, plenty of keyboards, choking double-bass drumming and a lot of melody to temper the breakneck pacing.
While a song like “Hellhounds on my Trail” may draw comparisons to Lamb of God or Slayer, the band in no way should be accused of following in anyone’s footsteps. If anything, Children of Bodom should start being recognized for their place at the forefront of today’s metal scene. Just take a listen to “Smile Pretty for the Devil”, mid-way through the song where the guitar and keyboard solos trade back and forth, and you will, indeed, smile pretty for the devil.
Everything from the killer title-track to “Done With Everything, Die for Nothing” feels like an instant classic. In a year where the running best-of-metal list seems to grow exponentially from month to month, Blooddrunk definitely deserves to be high on said list.
Everything seemed to bleed together during the first listen, but that was probably due more to it all being new to the ear. With each subsequent spin, the various layers of each song expand before the listener. At first, it the latter half of the disc seemed more dynamic, but that was more likely due to virgin ears getting used to the band’s approach on this album. They like to blend these slower, more melodic elements with a crushing assault (“Tie My Rope” is a good example) to create soundscapes that border on the more accessible orchestrated metal genre. But make no mistake, this band has both feet firmly planted in its straight-up metal approach and only uses the melody (keyboards) to accentuate the proceedings.
As a side note, Blooddrunk is also available in an expanded digipak with a bonus DVD featuring the “Blooddrunk” video, a making-of featurette, and the entire album presented in a 5.1 surround mix. I’m not normally into extras like that, but this album is so compact in normal stereo that the full 5.1 mix sounds like an entirely new album, in the best way possible. So if you pick this disc up, try and track the expanded version down.
Blooddrunk is easily one of the best metal albums of the year. Go pick this up, now. And then crank “Banned from Heaven” in surround sound and enjoy.
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