Review Summary: Brutal riffs, shredding solos, aggressive vocals, melodious keyboards. This album is truly Something Wild.
Children Of Bodom
Something Wild
Debut albums are a crucial point in a band’s career. It’s a band’s first real chance to say
“Hey, this is who we are and this is what we do”. So, naturally if a band wants their debut to make an impression upon people it should be something unique, something out there, something that’s straightforward and in your face. That’s exactly what Children Of Bodom’s debut album
Something Wild is. Lead by powerhouse track
Deadnight Warrior this album is a nonstop assault of sizzling power metal perfection. This album is chalked full of melodic flair, but has extremely harsh vocals which provides an interesting contrast. All the while this contrast is happening you’re also being bombarded with stimulatingly fierce riffs. All that combined with some shoddy production, which only furthered this album harsh atmosphere, makes this album a tasty treat for any metal enthusiast.
This album’s major downfall is the lyrics. Frankly, there’s not much to say for them. I’ve failed to discern any direct lyrical messages here. There’s a lot of talk of shadows, gloomy nights, death, angels and other assorted things you would typically expect from an angst metal outfit. The only track seems to have a direct message is
Don’t Stop At The Top. It preaches that, well, you shouldn’t “stop at the top”, but continue to strive for perfection even if you’ve reached the top. It’s actually a quite motivational track, which was something I wasn’t expecting to be found anywhere in this album. So, in a nutshell, the lyrics
are bad, but is anyone really listening to this for the lyrics, anyways? Besides, there’s rarely a moment you can tell what the hell Alexi is screaming, so it really doesn’t impact the album much at all.
The album’s strong point was definitely the guitar work. This is the first time I’ve ever listened to an album and enjoyed the riffs just as much of the solos. There’s not a track you can listen to that isn’t absolutely infested with brash, in your face riffs. Take for example
Lake Bodom. That track has a spectacular opening riff. It perfectly displays how this album manages to be ruthlessly powerful and still maintain a consistent melodic flair. Even the verse parts were excellent. Usually verse riffs tend to be more simplistic, but that’s not the case here. Throughout the album splendid riffs can be found nestled snuggly under Alexi’s vocals. For evidence of this listen to
Don’t Stop At The Top. The verse’s are chalked full of distorted, galloping sixteenth notes coinciding nicely with hammer-ons and pull-offs. I know I said I enjoyed the riffs as much as the solos, but I wasn’t trying to imply the solos weren’t of phenomenal quality. They were. Although, most of them weren’t very lengthy all the solos were great and brought a sort of climactic feel to tracks. Pretty much all of them were scale orientated, rather than bend orientated but that didn’t bother me in the least. I usually enjoy bend orientated solos because of the emotional feel they embody, but that would have seemed out of place here. This isn’t really an emotional album. Passionate, yes, but not emotional (yes, there’s a difference). Listen to
Deadnight Warrior for prime examples of these short, scale orientated solos.
The guitar doesn’t deserve all the instrumental merit, however. The keyboard had a very strong showing in the album. It was undeniably the largest provider of the melodious atmosphere I mentioned earlier. This can be seen in any track, but I think
Deadnight Warrior would be the best illustration of my point. After the first verse there’s a terrific little keyboard riff. That appeared to be the keyboard’s job for the album. It had little riffs here and there to bring songs up to the next level. I guess you could call it the icing on the cake. I’ll just tie the bass in here since it didn’t have too much impact on the album. Don’t get me wrong, it was satisfactory stuff. It just wasn’t up to the caliber of everything else. The most noteworthy moment the bass had was the intro to
In The Shadows. It had a nice rhythmic riff to open the track off. The tone could have been better, but I doubt it would really bother anyone out there. I’m just a little picky when it comes to bass.
The vocals are what separate this band from most other power metal bands. They’re more suited to the genre of extreme metal. (Like I said earlier) This provided an intriguing contrast, which more than made up for Alexi’s questionable screaming technique. That being said, he’s not like Matt Heafy bad, just around the average mark. Nevertheless, this didn’t really bother me. Alexi’s vocals may not be of an extraordinary caliber, but they’re extremely intense and filled to the brim with aggression. As a result, they played a key role in molding this albums atmosphere.
Metal and shoddy production go hand in hand and this album is no exception. It’s aggressive overall feel was furthered many times by this album’s slapdash assembly, but at times it was a negative thing. Most notably being the track
Don’t Stop At The Top. It was a good song, but at times the production killed the mood. Most of these occurrences can be found in the early going. It just had a really rigid feel to it. It took very little away from the song, but was certainly noticeable.
To sum this up, this album is a culmination of brutal riffs, melodious solos, well harmonized keyboard parts, on par bass work and hard-hitting vocals. More than a worth wile listen. It’s something amazing, something spectacular, something ferocious,
Something Wild
The Band: Alexi Laiho- Lead guitar, lead vocals
Roope Latvala- Guitar
Janne Wirman- Keyboard
Henkka Seppala- Bass
Jaska Raatikainen - Drums
Pros: Vocals
Guitar work
Keyboard
No Filler
Cons: Awkward spoken intro in “The Nail”
Overall Rating: 4.5/5
