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Children of Bodom > Are You Dead Yet? > Reviews > beardovdoom
Children of Bodom - Are You Dead Yet?

The Real Downward Spiral - 65%

beardovdoom, November 24th, 2013

I really like Children Of Bodom. I don't really like this album. I got into them at the time of Hate Crew Deathroll without hearing a single note of their music. I was gettinginto stuff like In Flames and Soilwork and various amazon reviews recommended Bodom as similar and even better. They were right! The first 4 Bodom albums are sheer brilliance in the melodic death metal scene. So needless to say my expectations were high for Are You Dead Yet?...i even bought an import copy because i couldn't wait for a proper UK release. Oh how disappointed i was.

This album starts off well enough, the opening pair of songs are pretty good, but there's obviously a different smell in the air on this one. Gone are the widdly power metal-esque riffs, gone are the black metal influenced vocals (although this started to happen at least one album earlier), gone is the speed. This is slower, heavier and groovier for the most part. The keyboards are utilised differently too, still there and still playing leads but somehow not the same. This album sounds....American i guess. As if the record label said 'guys, you'll break big if you change this, this and this'. So they did. So did In Flames and Soilwork sadly.

This change works on some stuff and not on others. Mainly because Alexi just isn't as good at writing this type of music. The vocal change has stuck for the most part and it's really just an out of tune semi-growl, clearer than before but this only serves to highlight the bad lyrics. His lyrics have always been atrocious in an amusing way and this album is only slightly worse than usual. The obvious exception being 'In Your Face', basically a lot of 'fucks' and hardman threats that come off sounding weak and pathetic. Shame really, cos i quite like the music to this one. 'If You Want Peace...Prepare For War' has always reminded me of Megadeth musically, which would be good but it's fairly boring despite the musical prowess on show. 'Punch Me I Bleed' sounds like WASP. make of that what you will.

Tracks 6, 7 and 9 i have no real comment on. Every time i listen to them i instantly forget them afterwards, just dull from what i recall. 'Trashed, Lost and Strungout' is the only good song on the latter half of the album, with a Slayer inspired riff at the start and a near return to their old sound in general. Bonus track is a cover of Billy Idol's 'Rebel Yell'. it's ok for what it is, Bodom have a long history of covers and this is far from the worst.

So overall this is a change of style and a change for the worse in my opinion. Blooddrunk was more of the same and it took another 2 albums before Bodom found their feet again. This isn't a terrible album but it has too many anonymous tracks, while the best tracks just aren't as good as previous work. Approach with caution.

Recommended tracks: Living Dead Beat, Are You Dead Yet?, in Your Face, Trashed, Lost and Strungout.