Finland’s CHILDREN OF BODOM truly have a sound of their own and what genre to classify the band as has long remained a hot topic of contention amongst the international Metal community – I’ve heard them called Melodic Death, Melodic Thrash, and even Power Metal! Whatever style you want call them I don’t think CHILDREN OF BODOM have strayed very far from their musical roots even though I’ve heard plenty of opinions otherwise as of late. In all ‘Blooddrunk’ still retains the original CHILDREN OF BODOM attributes – double bass drumming, catchy melodic guitar riffage and solos accompanied with those synthesizers which give the music that haunting atmospheric edge. I think if anything’s changed, the production is heavier and maybe a there are a few less of the melodic sections present when you compare the tracks to those of an album like ‘Hatebreeder’ released in 1999. In all though, the parts that are melodic aren’t lacking in catchiness compared to the band’s earlier releases. So what’s interesting or different about this release then? Well some of the ‘Blooddrunk’ material sounds quite progressive just as Alexi said it would leading up to the album’s release. You can really hear that progressive aspect in ‘Tie My Rope’, that synthesizer riff is remniscent of what’d you’d hear on an intro a song off AMORPHS’s ‘Eclipse’ album. I think all up this album offers a good mix of the old CHILDREN OF BODOM while at the same time being a cut above previous release ‘Are You Dead Yet?’. It’s certainly won the hearts of fans in the US scoring a #22 Billboard Chart position – the band’s hightest ever. My one and only criticism of this album is that I wish it was a bit longer – it’s about 36 mins in length. But yeah, if you like CHILDREN OF BODOM then you’ll be wanting this album and if you’re a New Zealander then you’ll be also wanting to score yourself a ticket to the first ever CHILDREN OF BODOM gig in Auckland on 26 June 2008!
Review by Dave Borgioli-Jones
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