Follow the Reaper

The full CoB repertoire is on display here, copiously filling out the album-buffet: mysterious key melodies on solo before the full instrumental, orchestra hits over power chords for dramatic effect, trad-metal sounding rhythm guitars and sharp tight leads aplenty, background choirs for depth perception, guitar and key leads harmonizing one another or trading solos one at a time, shrieky shouting, and drums somewhere between hard rock and metal.

Overall the progressive element is more prevalent and obvious on here, with for example the prog metal tone on the keyboard solos, more so than 'Something Wild' that just sounded like complex neoclassical composition instead. The musicianship is on full display, and there isn't much to point out here: this is tight, constantly evolving lead oriented metal with solid rhythm foundations, that is spectacular with how rich it is from a purely instrumental standpoint. Such a musical project wouldn't work without super tight production. And the production, it must be said, is exceptionally good here. The guitars are virtually perfect, trimmed down to a quasi-flawless final tone, locked in with double kicks with robotic precision. The throaty bass brings depth when needed as both guitars soar high on the fret-board but offers superb presence with its highly defined tone. The vocals and drums are crystal clear, and every other instrument from any of the keyboard textures to the background arrangements provide three-dimensional depth and pristine quality sound.

Now for the problems with this record (which applies to the previous 'Hatebreeder' for which there was no need to make a separate review, given how both these albums are consistent between them).
The use of constantly ultra basic, stereotypical chord progressions creates a faux-epic tone to the melodies. They'll use the most cliché possible progressions on rhythm - the entire time - where anything they do for lead work on top of that never achieves an atmosphere that feels new or unique. Rather it's more like tidy doodling over beginner series of chords. The stereotypical chord progressions render this into almost sing-along poppy tunes a lot of the time. I could seriously picture little forest creatures, elves and fairies, doing happy little dances in circles to this in my head. There's also that feeling of the melodies being too linear, with a certain pick attack redundancy. That right hand on the guitarists is often flat-out metronomic, which defeats the purpose of leads in the first place (supposed to provide fluctuation rhythmtically). This, again, prevents the music from reaching any sort of depth or from distinguishing itself. In this sense, the album is both colorful, yet monochromatic, however paradoxical this might seem at first reading.

Another bit of criticism is this feels overactive. Like an action movie. It only has one speed . It's like the music always has to be uptempo and can never slow down and take the time to develop more substantial sounding parts. 'Every Time I Die' might be the exception, and is arguably from beginning to end the most accomplished, ripe and balanced song on here. Even Cannibal Corpse for example, often considered the archetype of the formulaic band, will indeed go full-on blast beats with heaps of rapid notes playing, but they'll then slow it down and mix it up with grooves, creating a natural flow with rhythmic and tempo modulations. This here is musicality over song-writing, and it's constantly in a rush. It feels like Laiho desperately needs some sort of constant high-pitched sound going on and for the songs to keep pushing and pushing and pushing or he'll get depressed or drop into a coma or something. And despite everything that's happening musically, the album ironically lacks variety.

Moreover, the songs too often feel like they're the same template repeating, with the same structure, just filled in with a new set of riffs. They don't all give that impression, but a few definitely do, which only contributes further to the sentiment this album is like melodies on a conveyor belt , industrially shipped out manufactured goods with a sort of mechanical regularity about them.

Lastly, there's the fact the music sounds too thin as a whole and might come across as lacking in virility, as it is so constantly filled with leads, whammy and pinch harmonic squealing, high-pitched squeaky keys (that sometimes, truth be told, flat out sound cheesy), high-pitched shrieks, etc. Utilizing some of those elements is fine, but when it's all there is, for a metal album this could come across as just flimsy. Besides the standard bass and the occasional generic heavy gallop on guitars, there's very little low end or grit going on at all.

Taking it for what it is, there are some good highlights like the instrumental chorus part to 'Bodom After Midnight', or that 'Children of Decadence' intro as some of the more memorable moments. But this lacks the darker charm of their debut, with its wider array of dynamics and atmospheres. Perhaps the band could've done less pure nonstop high-paced Bodom, injected more variety and preserved some of the darker toned and less shallow aspects from the debut. The next records, from the mid 2000's and onward, would see the band execute a more commercial version of themselves and probably don't require the effort of full reviews.