Review Summary: Bodom try to take a step forward and fall back to square one
Blooddrunk is a deeply flawed but somewhat underrated album from Children of Bodom. After paring back their trademark flashiness into
Are You Dead Yet?'s inconsistent approximations of groove metal, the band made the decision to follow that album up with a thrashier, more technical outing. This idea had a lot of potential, not all of which is lost on
Blooddrunk, but it lands for the most part as just another Children of Bodom album with a little less focus and a dubious ratio of hits and misses.
The biggest problem with the album is that the band are both too keen and too stale in clutching onto their trademark schtick. The whole package is more than a little contrived here. In the past, it was easy to get carried away with the music and forget about - or even get a rush of - how ridiculous their image and lyrics were; their death-from-Lake-Bodom brand was endearing kitsch.
Just go to hell by the edge of my scythe!, indeed. Children of Bodom pre-
Are You Dead Yet seemed to get the best of simply being themselves; much of
Blooddrunk sounds like Children of Bodom trying too hard to remember what this felt like. Something's off here; a large amount of the album sounds as though the band were trying to recreate the magic of previous releases by throwing f-bombs all over the shop and by riffing into empty space; this is nothing new, but it lands as uninspired and lets the album down.
The lowlights come aplenty, but a few stand out in particular. The title track starts off with an engaging keyboard part riff that, soon becomes apparent as having next to nothing to do with whatever the rest of the band plays; the track as a whole is comically disjointed and smacks of sloppy composition. "Lobodomy" is a generally horrendous song, incohesive beyond parody, and it conveniently exemplifies what we might call the post-meme state of Laiho's lyricism ("When talking out of your Bodom mouth...You motherfuckers want to give me a lobotomy?").
Perhaps the greatest tragedy is the extent to which Janne Wirman's keyboards take a step back. Once the figure in the shadows who would make the likes of "Mask of Sanity" so colourful, not to mention the perfect solo partner for Laiho, Wirman's parts are less prominent here and they often feel misplaced when they do crop up. In many ways his input is the lifeblood of classic Children of Bodom, and his involvement here is an ominous reflection of the album as a whole.
There are a few significant positives to be found here, thank goodness. Alexi Laiho's vocals have settled into a sweet spot, sounding perfectly scathing and doing an adequate job of supporting such incohesive songwriting. It's all too easy to overstate the messy parts of this album, but there are a few major standouts on display. For instance "Smile Pretty for the Devil" is a cut above, taking the thrash elements further than the rest of the album and features a fantastic keyboard solo. "Tie My Rope" is perhaps the most incendiary banger here, exploding in classic Bodom fashion and laying down some of their best riffs, even if the keyboards once again feel out of place. Finally, I'd be remiss not to pay tribute to the chorus of "Done With Everything, Die with Nothing"; this one's use of sustained root-octave chromatics sounds intense and dramatic in a way that doesn't quite correspond to any of the band's past work; an encouraging surprise.
Overall,
Are You Dead Yet? die-hards will likely enjoy
Blooddrunk to varying degrees, but I can't recommend it as a whole; it sounds far too disjointed and contrived, and - to be honest - it is alarming how quickly and how much this band have devolved since their last hurrah
Hate Crew Deathroll. Listen at your own risk.
