Children Of Bodom - Hate Crew Deathroll

*=Staff's pick	Needled 24/7* Sixpounder Chokehold (Cocked'N'Loaded) Bodom Beach Terror* Angels Don't Kill Triple Corpse Hammerblow* Your're Better Off Dead Lil' Bloodred Ridin' Hood Hate Crew Deathroll* Silent Scream (Bonus track)

Genre	Metal	Alexi Laiho	Vocals
Tracks	11	Alexi Laiho	Guitar
Runningtime	44 Min.	Alexander Kuoppala	Guitar
Label	Spinefarm Records	Henkka Seppälä	Bass
Release	03 March 2003	Jaska Raatikainen	Drums
Country	Finland	Janne Warman	Keyboards
Similar artists	Kalmah, Norther

Children Of Bodom are back with yet another full length album, and most things are the same as we are used to - pounding double kegs, amazing and swirling leads and solos, refrains that stick immediatly and riffs and grooves that put your neckmuscles in great danger of being sore and worn out. Take the atmosphere of many of the blackmetalbands, the harmonies of the power metalbands and some thrashy elements to spice everything up, all put together very intelligently by these gentlemen - there you have the basics of Children Of Bodom.

People still call this death metal, but I think it's time to put that label aside now since this can't possibly be described (if you necessarily have to label music) as anything else than very, very melodic, fast metal with lot of power and stamina. Take away the vocals, which can be described as one of the better ones in the black/death metal school, and you have bonecrushing, powerful metal like many other bands play nowadays. Children Of Bodom has to me always been one of the most talanted and most creative band in this genre, and they don't step one inch of that road with this release. Fans will get what they expect, and a bit extra to it this time, as it is a bit more darker and aggressive than before - but only a bit. It's still the same Bodom as we are used to.

This album is as neckwrecking as the previous ones, and we get as usual lots of marvellous, galopping riffs and incredible leads. Laiho masters his guitar in a way that is seldom seen before, and he is a genius when it comes to melodies. There are here like on all other albums more than a handful riffs and solos on the album that alone are worth the cost of the cd. A lot of powerful choirs, and keyboardparts by talanted Warman contributes to a very varied and interesting picture. I have never been much of a fan of sudden and repetead changes of pace in a song, but Children Of Bodom do that, and actually succeed with making it an asset in the music instead of an irritationfactor.

This actually makes you feel good, and brings you in a good mood - even though I suspect that it's supposed to be an expression of agony, agression and melancholy according to the finnish heritage. All due to the great melodies and leads by Laiho/Kuoppala. The second half of this album contains only pure metaldiamonds, and the feeling escalates all along the album like a good album should. People who already are familiar with the power metalband Sinergy from Finland, alreay knows that Laiho is producing brilliant riffs there too. If you are looking for something a bit more powerful, but yet as melodic, as Sinergy - than this is the direction in which you should turn your head. Finland's pride in the harder area. Future bands will have a very hard time topping this, as well as all of their previous releases.

Production	Vocals	Compositions
9	9	8,5

Summary
8,5 chalices of 10 - Tommy