January 6, 2003 - Hate Crew Deathroll

Happy New Year! Six weeks after my last release and a little over two years since "Follow The Reaper" Children of Bodom released their fourth album "Hate Crew Deathroll" on January 6, 2003. Children of Bodom are still playing some wicked melodic death metal, but this latest album leans a bit more towards thrash metal, and therefore Alexi Laiho's guitar shines a bit brighter than Janne Wirman's keyboards. I'm not sure how I feel about that, but let's listen before we judge!

The album kicks off with it's lead single "Needled 24/7" and Alexander Kuoppala plays some nice fast rhythm guitar before Laiho delivers a wicked early guitar solo. Wirman's keyboards are still very present and things sound like some classic(ly wicked) Bodom. Some solid singing by Laiho, some wonderful fast metal and Wirman even delivers a short but awesome keyboard solo. After another sweet round they each get a longer chance to solo and both of them deliver! Awesome guitar solo, awesome keyboard solo, just some fantastic melodic death metal! What an opener! Up next is "Sixpounder" and they dive right into a super heavy yet also pretty groovy chorus riff that chugs along and sounds pretty sweet. The verse has some faster, higher guitar along with some nice high yelling by Laiho and some cool backing keyboards. They nicely return to the heavy chorus and between verses Laiho delivers a pretty wicked guitar solo. This song could've been a single as well, it's quite catchy and groovy, while still being very Bodom. Another great song! Track 3 is "Chokehold (Cocked 'N' Loaded)" and Henkka Seppala lays the foundation with a cool bass riff that everyone else builds nicely around for another fast-paced and pretty cool main riff. The keyboards are still there in the background but this song is largely guitar driven; not that that is a bad thing, it's still some great guitar, it's just less diverse. Wirman and Laoho do sync up for one part and that sounds pretty cool as it usually does when they harmonize. Wirman does get a chance to solo himself and he performs when he gets the chance, it's a pretty fucking incredible keyboard solo! No weak songs at all yet! The next track is called "Bodom Beach Terror" and Jaska Raatikainen starts us off with a nice stop-and-start drum beat and the rest of the band build very nicely off of it to form a catchy and cool stop-and-start main riff with some epic keyboards and of course some pretty cool guitar. The chorus is actually a little on the simpler side for these guys, but the cool groovy verse more than makes up for it. Laiho plays a long guitar solo after couple rounds and it's filled with all kinds of awesome shredding. They play another chorus, then it's Wirman's turn for one hell of an awesome keyboard solo! Words don't do proper justice! It all culminates with a classic hard rock finish with everyone going crazy and it's just been banger after banger so far this album! Track 5 is "Angels Don't Kill" and Wirman plays a slow, epic keyboard riff to start us off before Laiho and Kuoppala come in with some super slow, chugging guitars. It's an extremely slow pace by Bodom standards, and it's unusually simple as well, but things still sound pretty damn heavy and solid. Laiho still plays a guitar solo, but even that is pretty tame by usual Bodom standards. A lesser song of theirs, but if this is the low end, I think they're doing pretty well! Up next is "Triple Corpse Hammerblow" and they're back to their usual pace with some fast and pretty sweet guitar by Laiho and some pretty sweet keyboards by Wirman as well; words don't do proper justice to all these unique and very cool riffs! This song has all the hallmarks of a typical(ly awesome) Bodom song: lots of great guitars, epic keyboards and of course one hell of a wicked guitar solo by Laiho. When Wirman and Laiho sync up it sounds great as usual and these guys just set the bar so high, another pretty sweet tune! Track 7 is "You're Better Off Dead" and Laiho is just shredding it right from the get-go with a great intro that leads right into a very speedy and awesome main riff with Wirman providing some epic stop-and-start keyboards in the background. Laiho screams another solid verse overtop and words just continue to fall short, I could describe it the same way, but it's another unique and very cool riff! There's a wonderful melodic part after the first round, then Wirman gets the spotlight and delivers possibly his best keyboard solo on the album! Words couldn't possibly do justice, it was absolutely incredible! Laiho follows with a pretty awesome guitar solo as well and then they bring it nicely back for a pretty sweet final round. Phenomenal song! The next track is "Lil' Bloodred Ridin' Hood" and they dive right into a hard-hitting main riff with some nice heavy bass by Seppala, of course some pretty cool guitar by Laiho, and of course some cool melodic keyboards by Wirman. Mix all that with some very aggressive yelling by Laiho and you've got yourself another typical(ly awesome) riff! I tell you there was a pretty awesome guitar solo and some pretty cool harmonies and melodies as well and it sounds like "just another typical Bodom song", but once again words fall short as it's another unique and very cool tune! The final song on the album is the title track "Hate Crew Deathroll" and Wirman sets the stage with a fast and cool keyboard riff and the rest of the band plays very nicely off of this riff with a complementing main riff that works very nicely together. This song is largely guitar-driven and while of course there's some great stuff, I found this one not quite as dynamic as the others. Still a good way to wrap things up.

That is the end of "Hate Crew Deathroll" and I thought it was a pretty amazing album! Children of Bodom continue to pump out some awesome melodic death metal and Alexi Laiho and Janne Wirman continue to shine very brightly. I think it's easily better than their first two albums but it's really close with their last one. I have to give the nod to "Follow The Reaper" so this latest offering will have to settle for 2nd place, but what a great album it was! Keep up the good work boys!