Follow the Reaper

Children of Bodom never cease to amaze the hell out of me. Their debut is a massive success, their sophomore album is positively stunning, and Follow the Reaper is damn near perfect. I figured they weren’t going to get much better as a band but Follow the Reaper is spectacular. It even has better production then the previous releases.

*Note on rating: Children of Bodom’s third album, Follow the Reaper, had some big shoes to fill as a follow up to their last release, Hatebreeder. Granted my ratings for Hatebreeder are slightly higher than this album, but Follow the Reaper met the challenge of its predecessor and for some people surpassed it. For me, there are a few more flaws on this album then I thought there to be on their sophomore release and these are my justifications for saying Hatebreeder is a better album.

Children of Bodom are pushing further and further towards a power metal sound with each release. This album is borderline power metal were it not for Alexi Laiho’s vocal style and the aggressive nature of the music in general. The music isn’t near as aggressive as it has been on previous releases – one aspect of this album that I was disappointed with. This album has a lot of energy still but much of the music isn’t near as threatening.

The guitar work is non-stop trade off leads under toned with some chorded notes. Not the entire album is this way, there are some very killer thrash riffs present on the album but most of the guitar work is melodic oriented. For a powered death metal band, this isn’t anything too new. The talent that both guitarists radiate from their fret work and writing is practically nuclear. They have some extremely catchy guitar lines in this album and newer fans to the band are really going to latch on to this.

The keyboards are a definite force to reckon with. They have been really brought out, and with the talent of Warman on that keyboard, it was bound to happen. The keys add a great friendly vibe to the album (one of the reasons this album is as popular as it is). Although I believe the keys are excellent, I still would have liked the focus to be guitar work being Alexi is also an amazing guitar player. Both solos from guitars and keys work well off of one another and sometimes its hard to tell the two apart.

The bass work isn’t as near appreciated on this album. The bass is devoured by louder drums and guitar work. There aren’t as many “bass breaks” on this album. The bass player is one of the best and most charismatic players in the scene today and I missed some of his work.

Alexi’s vocals, as was said before, are still very harsh and death metal but now there is a little better production on them. You can understand him a lot more this time – and even though the lyrics are still in need of some work – they really don’t have a massive impact on the listener. Group vocals work very well on this album and make it seem as though some of the songs are just really well produced live recordings.

Follow the Reaper is a great starting place for new Children of Bodom fans. It’s very catchy, mostly listener friendly, and it is very well written. The band is moving slightly more away from death metal but its ok. The transition is going quite well. A great album for both older and newer fans.

Songs to check out: Bodom After Midnight, Mask of Sanity, Hate Me!