Children of Bodom
Are You Dead Yet?

THE REVIEW

Perfect center for Alexi Laiho's band. The Children of Bodom have rarely disappointed expectations since their debut with "Something Wild", a good album with great ideas developed decently. Songs like "Lake Bodom" or "Touch Like Angel Of Death" demonstrate that they are a Death Metal band different from the others. They do not reach the masterpiece level, so they try again with "Hatebreeder", which obliterates everything around it. Immortal "Downfall", "Bed Of Razors" or "Warheart". And here they are, in the pantheon of death metal, adored and revered. It's difficult to recover from such a shock, and indeed the mediocre "Follow The Reaper" doesn't take off much, despite songs like the title track and "Hate Me!". Laiho & company are aware of needing to implement changes, to experiment with something new, to stop being Stratovarius with a deep voice.
The controversial "Hate Crew Deathroll" presents old and new elements, disappoints and convinces, but it is not enough. Alexi changes his singing style, the guitars become heavier, and some see an industrial vein in all this. Songs like "Needled 24/7", "Triple Corpse Hammerblow" or "Angel's Don't Kill" are interesting, but there is still something to be reviewed.

With "Are You Dead Yet?" the Children of Bodom take another step forward, reaching what they did not achieve with "Hate Crew...". And thus here comes a second masterpiece, an album on par with "Hatebreeder" but fundamentally different in every part. The sound is compact, dirty, Alexi's growl now sounds more like a scream (some have compared it to a Nu-Metal singer, crazy), the guitars are imposing, and even the keyboard, which seems more excluded compared to previous works, acquires a more defined role than the previous album.

There is a lot of thrash in this album, as shown by songs like "If You Want Peace... Prepare For War!" or the single "In Your Face", which constitute the most violent part of the album. You will hardly forget the choruses of "Are You Dead Yet?", "Trashed, Lost & Strungout" (which we have already appreciated in the homonymous EP), "We're Not Gonna Fall". "Bastards Of Bodom" is the keyboard masterpiece of the album, where Warman gives his best. Instead, "Living Dead Beat" is the most electronically infused track, while the remaining "Punch Me I Bleed" and "Next In Line" are somewhat the more anonymous tracks, but in any case, they are respectable songs that close the picture in the best way. 5/5 with heads held high, hoping that they continue to evolve as they have done so far.