Follow the Reaper

This album was the album that sparked my interest in metal. I remember hearing 'Bodom After Midnight' at a friend's house in 8th grade. I ended up buying the album, and shortly afterwards I became a metalhead.

For about two years afterwards, I was convinced that this was the greatest metal album of all time and that Alexi Laiho was the world's greatest guitarist. I still think that this is an amazing album and Alexi is certainly a capable guitarist, but not nearly to the degree that I used to.

The album opens with the a sample (a voice quoting the John Donne poem 'Death be not proud", presumably from a movie) that provides the perfect opening to the album. The guitars are certainly the most important instrument on this album. Alexi provides outstanding leads, solos, and riffs (as usual) that are the main reason why this album is so highly regarded by many metalheads. The guitar work is technical, melodic, very catchy, and overall quite interesting to listen to. Janne Wirman (or Warman) also sets up the atmosphere of this album with various synths and is quite capable of rivaling Laiho when it comes to his abilities as a soloist. Alexander, Henkka, and Jaska provide the rhythm section needed to support such an array of flashy solos and interludes. They create a strong low end for the band's overall sound, boost the other member's efforts and help back up soloists effectively. Jaska is especially important to the overall flow of the album and the transitions throughout each song, all of which he sets up perfectly.

My personal favorite tracks on the album are Hate Me and the title track. Each of them serves as a prime example of everything that Bodom does right on this album, with the latter being quite possibly the greatest track the band has ever recorded.

In terms of it's faults, 'Follow the Reaper' only has one in my book. The only problem with the album is that, unfortunately, there is a decent amount of riff recycling throughout the album. Alexi recognizes a good riff in a song and repeats the same riff in a slightly varied form in two others. This happens occasionally and when you notice it, the album seems to lose that same quality that it had during the first few listens. Nevertheless, 'Follow the Reaper' remains a CoB classic that is certainly worthy of recognition in the metal community and that I highly recommend as well.