When I heard this band for the first time I said wow. !This is something refreshing, thrilling and kicking. I believe with each passing album Children of bodom became stronger, charismatic and characterized. All of this made them one of the best melodic death metal exponents from Scandinavian shores.
Alexi and buddies who started as teenagers with ‘Something wild’ in 1997, would have never thought they would come so far. A decade after the debut comes ‘Blooddrunk’, my first thoughts- thumbs up! For its unique album title.
Start spinning you find ‘Hellbounds on my trail’ which is thrashy, upbeat, quick and caressing, it reminds a little of ‘Needled 24 X 7’ from ‘Hatecrew deathroll’. Alexi swings in and out marching his chords along with the riffs, and when all instruments pace forward so does Alexi. A Perfect beginning & a great display on control.
Title track ‘Blooddrunk’ is next, off we are with a short keyboard solo that backbones into the first riff onslaught, turning around drums intermediate into a heavy metallish mid-structure. Chorus sees the instruments in an elevated tone forming a firm plateau of destructive melodic death kill. It justifies the title, but it could have been a little more lethal had it been with more tangy solos.
‘Lobodomy’has heaps of double base beats at the bottom, lifting up the pace; guitar harmonization is supreme on the central section of the song. This song is an authenticated character display of a decade long legacy.
Midway you run into-‘One day you will cry’, which has the most amazingly crafted keyboard background, this has an epical overture; and the complete song built around this, it has the riffs that you shall humm. The alternating solos between the keys & guitar cohesively make it progress like hot charcoal affixed on a newly built street, very COBish.
Next 2 tracks ‘Smile pretty for the devil’ and ‘Tie me rope’ are straighter as per COB standards, both have wicked melodic guitar work thrown in. Then there are exorbitant keys that were never in the front line on the previous releases. A moment or two have their high points, especially when the guitars and keys juggle. However, it’s a little baffling since it’s over-extensive.
Track 7 ‘Done with everything, die for nothing’ has an NWOAM riff opening that settles into an intermediate drum patch, leads onto again into solos surrounding the epicenter. 2 minutes into it you start feeling it has lost fume, in comes solid lead playing greasing all over the frets, but still the juice isn’t that sweet.
‘Banned from heaven’ looks like an unforced error, as we all know that COB have a habit of placing one slow song in all their releases, the only difference created this time is the placement of the song, generally such songs are in the middle of the record, this time its right at the end. To add to the repetitive moves are lyrics, which are feeble and dated. Utter disappointment again.
Record closing ceremony is conducted through ‘Roadkill morning’, on this COB came up with this antidote let’s play a mixture of all the songs played before this. Shear injustice with the creative genius they have.
Its hard to digest that this is the band that created ‘Hatebreeder’, ‘Warheart’and ‘Hatecrew deathroll’. Clearly the album reflects that COB has nothing new to offer in terms of musical landscape & lyrics. For the traditional COB fans-an affair of couple of spins, the rest you can omit ‘Blooddrunk’.