Hate Crew Deathroll - Children Of Bodom

...solo!

9. Hate Crew Deathroll - Children of Bodom's new anthem. I had the pleasure of seeing the band live twice last year (at Wacken Open Air and at Bloodstock) and this song really got things moving. Every single person at both of those venues screamed out the words to the chorus!

"We're the Hate Crew, we stand and we won't fall,
We're all for none and none for all,
F@ck you! We'll fight til' the ...
...song in their very own Hate Crew fashion!

While I have been saying that this album is not Bodom's greatest album, which is reflected in the four-star rating, it is without doubt Bodom's most accessible album! If you are new to the genre, or new to the band, then this is the album I recommend you buy, as it is a great introduction to a great band. If you are already a fan of extreme metal, but have thus far overlooked Children of Bodom, ... more

Children of Bodom are Finland's finest and most popular Death Metal export, and have been releasing quality albums since 1998's explosive debut 'Something Wild'. Growing in popularity and experience ever since then, Bodom delivered 'Hate Crew Deathroll', their fourth studio album, in 2003. Does this album reinforce Bodom's position as Death Metal superstars, or is it one album too many? The answer is that yes, this is a great album, but no, it is not as great as their pervious releases.

Children of Bodom take their name from a lake in Finland named Bodominjarvi (Lake Bodom), which was the scene of a brutal triple murder in June of 1960. This murder, in which three teenagers died, is the inspiration for the bands name, and also for many of their songs (Lake Bodom, Triple Corpse Hammerblow, Bodom Beach Terror, Bodom After Midnight), lending Children of Bodom a sinister edge. Over the course of their first four albums, Children of Bodom have become a much more streamlined band, moving away from the all-out thrash of their first album to include increased levels of melody on each of their releases thereafter. Unfortunately, with 'Hate Crew Deathroll', this increased emphasis on the melodic has had a slightly detrimental effect on the music, taking away some of the power and agression found on the band's previous releases. More on the songs soon, but first, the band!

In frontman Alexi Laiho, Bodom have themselves a true metal superstar. He has the swagger, the talent, the voice, the looks and the drive to be one of the most recognised faces in the world of extreme metal, and it is only the nature of the music that prevents this. Bodom combine crunching Death Metal riffs, throwaway solos that would leave a lesser band reeling, great keyboard work and ultra-fast double-bass drumming. After growing up listening to Slayer and similar bands, I always maintained that there was no place in Heavy Metal for keyboards. How wrong I was! Bodom would be totally lost without keyboard genius Janne Warman, who graduated from the Helsinki Pop & Jazz Conservatory when he was sixteen years old. This man can play. The other members of the band too are extremely competent musicians, and every piece of music on this album displays a great amount of skill.

Lyrically, Children of Bodom provide nothing profoundly special, though some of them are admittedly thought provoking. Having exorcised alot of the Lake Bodom demons on the previous three albums, it seems like Bodom here are addressing, on a few tracks at least, the plethora of people that they don't like. Take this example, from the song 'You're Better Off Dead',

"Mind your own business and leave mine alone,
take a look at the real world for a sec.
It's a hell for heroes and heaven for fools,
what makes you the luckiest bastard on the earth!"

There are other examples, though the lyrics are maybe too obscene for me to recreate here. While the lyrics are not, as I was saying earlier, profound and intellectual, each of the songs on the album does tell a good interesting story, and the language in which it is told is both amusing and impressive.

Track by track guide

1. Needled 24/7 - The first and best track on the album. The brief solo straight after the introduction is not only one of the finest moments on the album, but also of Bodom's career. This song is filled with Alexi's trademark screams.

2. Sixpounder - If you have surround sound then you must listen to this song extremely loud.. in the dark! The guttural growl that comes from behind you after one minute thirty-five seconds is fantastic. Nice solid metal riff and more great soloing.

"I refuse to be brought down by you"

3. Chokehold (Cocked 'n' Loaded) - The first wrong moment on the album, as the chorus is shouted, and it just sounds out of place with all that is around it. A hint too much of the keyboard too. Again though, the solo is great.

4. Bodom Beach Terror - The song starts with some nice sounding bass drum, of which I am a great fan! There are some great parts to this song, but I don't think it works as a cohesive whole.

5. Angel's Don't Kill - A great Metal song! A slow riff, perfectly paced. Nice lyrics on this one too:

"When you appear, as an angel
looking me down, looking my way
Could you ever kill the pain in my heart?
Even though they say angels don't kill"

6. Triple Corpse Hammerblow - Another song that, while not bad at all, just does not have the quality I have come to expect from a Bodom song. Too much like a straightforward Heavy Metal song, betraying the bands Death/Black metal roots

7. You're Better Off Dead - Back on top form with this one, with an 80's stadium-rock singalong chant in the chorus!

"Ohhhhhohh,
Til' tomorrow is a better day to be,
Ooohhohohoh,
You're better off dead than f@cking with me.
Ohooohhoooh
What if there ain't no tomorrow...
Ohooohoho
Well let me tell you, there wasn't one today!"

The song as a whole is good, not great, but that chorus just lifts things up onto another level. Janne Warman on the keys also does something on this song that my girlfriend the keyboard player would be able to explain to you in detail... but she's not here. There's just a part where it sounds like the keyboard and the bass drum have been fused, making the keyboard sound like it is trying to force its way out of the speaker. It's fantastic!

8. Lil' Bloodred Ridin' Hood - There does not seem to be anything to this song, it just plods along without really going anywhere. Definitely the weak link on the album, even with the inclusion of an absolutely giant solo!

9. Hate Crew Deathroll - Children of Bodom's new anthem. I had the pleasure of seeing the band live twice last year (at Wacken Open Air and at Bloodstock) and this song really got things moving. Every single person at both of those venues screamed out the words to the chorus!

"We're the Hate Crew, we stand and we won't fall,
We're all for none and none for all,
F@ck you! We'll fight til' the last hit,
And we sure as hell ain't taking no sh!t.

This song is an example of Bodom at their best, writing top quality high speed Death Metal songs, with technical mastry of their instruments and a don't-give-a-sh!t' attitude.

10. Silent Scream (Limited Edition Bonus Track) - A Slayer cover... with the keyboard part from Psycho! What more could I ask for. Bodom have nailed this song in their very own Hate Crew fashion!

While I have been saying that this album is not Bodom's greatest album, which is reflected in the four-star rating, it is without doubt Bodom's most accessible album! If you are new to the genre, or new to the band, then this is the album I recommend you buy, as it is a great introduction to a great band. If you are already a fan of extreme metal, but have thus far overlooked Children of Bodom, I recomment that you buy 1999's 'Hatebreeder' instead.

If you live in or near a large town or city you should have no problem in finding any of Bodom's albums, though it's always cheaper to shop online. Bodom's European distributer, Nuclear Blast has recently been selling the first two albums relatively cheaply (Less than 7 Euros) through their online shop, which is always worth a look.

Similar artists: Norther, Wintersun, Ensiferum 

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