Review Summary: A great coming together of their earlier pwoer metal sound and their later thrashier sound, luckily avoiding the missteps Blooddrunk took.
From hearing the first single "Was It Worth It?", I first answered with a simple "not really". The song reeked of the more mainstream, dull sound that Children of Bodom have been heading towards ever since "Hate Crew Deathroll". So therefore I had very low expectations for the new album.
Fortunately, this led to a very enjoyable listening experience.
From the opening track, "Not My Funeral", it's clear that Children of Bodom have decided to bring back the more keyboard, lead guitar oriented power metal influence that wasd so prominent in their earlier releases. But they haven't just rehashed their old sound. What they have managed to successfully do is to mix that sound with the more thrash approach they had on "Are You Dead Yet?". That album was definitely a good listen, but didn't have enough of the cheese that their older releases are full of. Whereas the new album definitely has a nice mix. Both guitar and keyboard solos are manic and melodic, and the riffs are as thrsashy as they were on AYDY. Also Alexi seems to have tuned his vocals in a little more, to also mix the old and new sound.
Obviously there are a couple of songs that will incite yawns all over the board, but this is definitely a good release. If you're a fan of the older material like Follow the Reaper and Hatebreeder, you'll appreciate the power metal influence. If you're a fan of Are You Dead Yet, you'll appreciate the heavier, thrashy sound. Luckily, not a lot of the blandness of Blooddrunk seems to have seeped through, so this album should please most Children of Bodom fans.
Standout tracks:
Not My Funeral
Ugly
Cry of the Nihilist
