Follow the Reaper

Out of a lot of old metal releases back in the day, this is one of the few albums that still gets me pumping and waving the nostalgia flag the most. Recent albums of the band have clearly tried to recapture the spirit and overall essence of this classic (Halo Of Blood anyone??) but in reality those albums barely manage to scratch the surface of what CoB accomplished here. Why? Because this album has such a pure and unabashed level of goddamn energy which is quite hard to find in metal releases of today. Unlike the CoB of today, the band was clearly on fire back in the day. Of late, too many close minded metal fans have hated the fuck out of this band for getting the supposed undeserved popularity that we attribute to them today which is honestly just baffling. I mean sure, I can get behind the fact that they did lose a sizable chunk of their fan-base after Are You Dead Yet, (after all, they did start to kinda suck after that) but to just casually diss their entire discography is quite honestly, taking narrow-mindedness to new heights. If you don't happen to be one of them, you may kindly read on.

More than enough has already been said about how groundbreaking and decisive this album was in jetissoning the band right into the limelight, not to mention having some of the band's prime hits like "Children Of Decadence" (the intro simply KILLS even after all these years, believe me), "Hate Me" "Every Time I Die" and the super-fast title track destined to stay in your head for days on end with their superb bunch of catchy-as-fuck guitar and keyboard riffs and licks along with a maniacally amazing touch of the flamboyant side of both instruments, not to mention Alexi's insane vocal work. Don't get me wrong, I only mentioned these tracks as a appetizer for all you clueless souls yet to hear this band. At the end of the day all the songs are fucking scorchers. And anyone who claims that Laiho was always an overrated guitarist from the beginning, kindly listen to his lead-work and solos on this album and say that again. Sure they aren't virtuostic in that sense, but are pretty fucking good with a righteous eye for melody and ultimately serve their purpose. And the keyboards are fucking insane - just listen to "Hate Me!" and especially the end of "Kissing The Shadows" to see what I'm talking about. Now that's freaking insane. Essentially in my opinion, this album is Hatebreeder on fucking steroids. While the previous album had instances of the band killing it, there still were a few unpolished and raw parts to some of the songs almost as if the band weren't really that sure of what they were doing. On this album, they've pulled no punches whatsoever and have fully embraced the maniacal speed and fury that some of their best songs are know for, making an album of 9 absolutely devastating tracks that leave no survivors in their wake. Honestly, it's such a damn shame I've never had the opportunity to catch these Finnish maniacs live.

Finally, this is the band at their prime and that's about all I have to say. It has a really amazing charm and fun attitude about it that I can't help but dig the fuck out of, time and time again. Sure other fans may pick Hatebreeder, Something Wild or even Hate Crew Deathroll over this one and then again - all of them are great albums in their own right, but when I'm looking for my personal classic CoB fix, this is the album I constantly turn to. And I mean every fucking song. After a good 12-13 (!) years of being a fan of the band, I think that says a lot.