Children of Bodom Album: “Follow the Reaper [PA]”

"Follow the Reaper" contains few surprises for those who are familiar with Children of Bodom's two previous albums, "Something Wild" and "Hatebreeder." For those not familiar with Children of Bodom, shame on you! This band is one of the more exciting metal bands around today, combining harmonies derived from Bach and Vivaldi with an aggressive guitar and (especially) vocal sound.

The synthesizers tend to be a little more diverse on "Follow the Reaper," both in terms of tones used and the sorts of harmonies played. Children of Bodom have moved slightly away from the strictly baroque approach of their first two albums into traditional progressive and melodic metal territory - "Bodom after Midnight" is a good example of this trend. But the way Children of Bodom combines these elements is certainly UNtraditional. This is pretty much breakneck, Dionysian music for those moments when you just want to jump up and air-guitar madly until out of breath.

I have to note that the lyrics are basically terrible. Children of Bodom have never been known for their poetic expertise, but "Follow the Reaper" sets new lows with random profanity and cliches about how great alcohol and suicide are. I doubt the band takes these lyrics seriously - in interviews they tend to see themselves just as over-the-top entertainers. Some will not be so entertained.

Overall, I would rate this album slightly below "Hatebreeder," but it still makes my "top ten metal albums of 2000" list. There are slightly fewer great musical moments, and as mentioned, the lyrics are worse. These best parts of this album, in my view, are the extended guitar-synth harmonies, as found on songs like the title track and "Children of Decadence."

I'll admit, this is my first foray into the realm of the Gothenburg/Nordic melodic death and/or black metal sound that's all the rage these days with satanists worldwide.

One word to describe my feelings: THANK GOD I BOUGHT THIS. Okay, that's 5 words, but you get my point. I was so worried about getting past the vocal growling that often overshadows this amazing genre of music that I nearly shot myself in the foot before giving the entire disc a listen. I think it took roughly 13 seconds of the first track before I was hooked. By the time the pulsating, driving riffing and keyboard work on "Children of Bodom," I had an early entry (for me) for best album purchased this year.

Do yourself a favor, don't bypass this just because you're afraid of black/death metal like I almost did. Is this even black/death metal? I have my doubts. It's more like Jericho/Keeper era Helloween mixed with Saga/Asia style keyboard work mixed with well, guttural screaming vocals. I'm sure there's some purists out there who are experiencing rising blood pressure at my amateur analysis, but that works for me. I was shocked that something this hard, this BRUTAL could be so instantly hummable. I've had numerous songs going through my brain like a 5,000 mph sledgehammer all day long, causing more than one person to look at me strangely, let me tell you.

Alright, enough of me. Just get all this!

I love metal. Ever since I was a freshman in high school when my cousin, a professional violinist who I've always looked up to in terms of music, introduced me to it back in the days. One of the bands that he hooked me up with was Children of Bodom. I'd say this is CoB's best album, but it's a very difficult choice. The music that this band produces is truly amazing, and this album is a perfect highlight of their career.

Each track is its own, no repeating riffs, no dull moments. What I find most amazing is that this band can change the moods of each song many times in a 3-5 minute range. The only band that I think does a better job than CoB is Opeth, but they use an average amount of 10 min per song to do this. This is what makes CoB so intense. They're not the heaviest, or the fastest, or the loudest band. But they are one of the most solid bands I have ever heard in my life. If you like metal, no, if you like rock in general, you would dig Children of Bodom.

Follow The Reaper is one amazing album. God, what a band. This has got the absolute best guitars I've ever heard. Alexi's vocals and guitars come close to that of Dave Mustaine. If you want to hear some truly talented guys, get this album.

I'm not going to write a big long review on the band's bio, but I am going to write what I think of this album. I use to listen to nu-metal(and I still do it bit because most of it is just angry music it helps let my anger out), but then someone introduced me to this band and so checked out this CD.

I didn't get my face blown off at first because I'm not use to this music, but I tell ya, it got my attention. The growling I must say wasn't appealing to me because I was more use to the screaming/shouting stuff, but now I realize how skill it takes to maintain such voice through out a whole concert and not lose their voice.

The guitars... there's no way of discribing how talented they are and how good they sound. They are not boring solos that never end, but catchy symphony sounding. I checked these guys out more throughly, and they are so young! I started playing guitars, and this stuff gave me something to practice instead of the usual boring chords.

Even though I didn't go like "wow this the best stuff ever" when I first listen to it, it kept me going for more listens.

Now I've had this CD for 3 years and every time I listen to it it blows my face away. I never get sick of this CD, and this has helped me into the REAL metal category.

Before I leave this review, must say: Kissing the Shadows is the best song I've ever heard, and any Bodom fan should feel the same, or at least acknowledge it's greatness.