Children Of Bodom
Hatecrew Deathroll
[Spinefarm]
Children of Bodom remind me a lot of In Flames. Not in the musical sense, but the fact that you can pick up any of their albums from the last 6 or so years and you can be assured that it will sound like the others. With this , their fourth release , the Finnish outfit stick to the tried and tested formula they have utilized with their past albums, something which should come as no surprise to fans of COB.
Children of bodom play a very power metal influenced brand of music, infused with keyboards that aren’t afraid to step up every once in a while and throw out an awesome melody at the listener. Some people seem content to label them a death metal band, but the only real form of extremity comes in the form of Alexi's sometimes screeched - sometimes growled vocals which is the perfect accompaniment to their catchy hooks. The things that sets this album slightly apart from others is the occasional use of vocal effects , and the effort to ensure any swear words uttered are easily heard by listeners
But apart from that that isn’t much to say about this album. From the starting wails of the guitar on “ Needled 24/7” one can pretty much anticipate an album full of cheesy lyrics, swirling keyboard lines and the crushingly fast riffs courtesy of main man Mr Laiho. Apart from a few stand out tracks such as “You’re Better off Dead” and “Triple Corpse Hammerblow”, where the use of Janne Warman's wonderful piano side by side with the guitars and a solo towards the end inject a bit of flair , everything sounds like a typical melodic extreme metal album. It doesn’t receive any points for originality, in fact, fans of the genre would be much better off picking up the groups first or second release, but Hatecrew Deathroll is a somewhat solid product from veterans of this style of melodic/power/death. Don’t get me wrong , its a fun listen- but if after 4 albums all your songs sound like they came from the same album things start to get a bit repetitive. Check it out if you’ve exhausted all their other releases.
6.5/10
© 2003 hassan
Children of bodom play a very power metal influenced brand of music, infused with keyboards that aren’t afraid to step up every once in a while and throw out an awesome melody at the listener. Some people seem content to label them a death metal band, but the only real form of extremity comes in the form of Alexi's sometimes screeched - sometimes growled vocals which is the perfect accompaniment to their catchy hooks. The things that sets this album slightly apart from others is the occasional use of vocal effects , and the effort to ensure any swear words uttered are easily heard by listeners
But apart from that that isn’t much to say about this album. From the starting wails of the guitar on “ Needled 24/7” one can pretty much anticipate an album full of cheesy lyrics, swirling keyboard lines and the crushingly fast riffs courtesy of main man Mr Laiho. Apart from a few stand out tracks such as “You’re Better off Dead” and “Triple Corpse Hammerblow”, where the use of Janne Warman's wonderful piano side by side with the guitars and a solo towards the end inject a bit of flair , everything sounds like a typical melodic extreme metal album. It doesn’t receive any points for originality, in fact, fans of the genre would be much better off picking up the groups first or second release, but Hatecrew Deathroll is a somewhat solid product from veterans of this style of melodic/power/death. Don’t get me wrong , its a fun listen- but if after 4 albums all your songs sound like they came from the same album things start to get a bit repetitive. Check it out if you’ve exhausted all their other releases.
6.5/10
© 2003 hassan