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Rating: Here is one of those many bands that for the past ten years have accustomed us to albums that are each time over-the-top, rich in brilliant, elusive, rare insights, difficult to categorize, splendid, and completely aware of how to find the right intersection between the fury of death and the impetuous melodies of power, but "Blooddrunk," however, even if it is not entirely to be discarded, feels much like a downfall, one of those dry, heavy, redundant ones destined to hurt a lot, especially those who have always followed them.
The latest work has recently been the subject of heavy criticism but at the same time has garnered endless success for Alexi's band, who, according to the latest interviews he gave, could never have expected and greatly appreciated the absolute support from their countless fans. Let's not forget that precisely with "Blooddrunk," our dear Alexi did not expose any reflections to his advantage to those interviewing him but limited himself to saying that the legendary melodic death metal once again worked on a "freaking and any" metal album. And that's where the only negative factor of the eponymous band lies. Although the entire band once again showed itself to possess an unpredictable technique while at the same time being precise to the limit of human potential, they find themselves in a situation that doesn't put them at ease in the places they will perform. None of the critics have ever understood the situation they are going through, but it is certain that the leader of COB, despite the technique remaining the same as in the past if not improved and becoming much sharper from every perspective, has shown a sort of "apathy" that the fans, first and foremost, could not explain to themselves.
With "Blooddrunk," we are facing a work that, although lacking an intro that would have been almost mandatory for an album of this caliber, still demonstrates a definite step back for the entire band that has somehow lost all that compositional freshness and all that essential energy that they have always continued to rely on. The question mark remains the same! Why have COB changed their attitude toward all those who have always loved them? Why should a band that, along with many others, was important to demonstrate how to "rock" at a concert find itself reduced to this miserable condition? What are the concerns that torment the mind of one of the most famous and loved leaders circulating in the metal world?
Let's say first of all that the "new" COB is a band that looks straight to the point, that has decided for once to leave frills and trappings in the basement, focusing solely on a violent, direct, even too essential sound. No intro, as we said earlier, no resounding trumpet blast introduces "Blooddrunk": one, two, three, four, and the first track starts fired like a bullet, far too linear to have been conceived by the same mind of a band that only a few years ago had revolutionized the world of metal with great masterpieces like "Something Wild" or "Hatebreeder." This time the primary goal set by the entire band was to infuse each song with a good dose of rage rather than finding a way to compose as they did with memorable tracks from the past.
Each song starts furious and full of energy, Wirman with his keyboards playing at creating atmospheres now dark, now darkly disturbing, ending up being, in the end, the only one trying to give a true touch of melody to the compositions. Laiho rages at maximum with his guitar, churning out solos one after another and trying to succeed in the attempt to be as "cool" as possible. Referring back to the discussion I started at the beginning and that might have seemed pointless to you, it is precisely from there that the general picture that emerges when listening to "Blooddrunk" is evident. Despite being able to extract songs of the highest value and level from this latest work, like "Lobodomy" or "Roadkill Morning," especially when they perform live, the entire band with this latest work has made a slip that we only hope is temporary.
Let's say that if this CD had been released by any new Finnish band, it most likely would have been received by the critics with applause and pats on the back, but since the name of a band belonging to one of the best realities that appeared on the metal scene in the last decade is on the cover, there is nothing left to do but sketch out and hope for their quick recovery. This is the price to pay for a band that has always treated us in the best way. Work that I would still consider barely sufficient.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Hellhounds on My Trail (04:00)
Watching the cunt
But before I'm into worries
I do better think fast
Step beyond the legs
Risk selfdestruction
One more sucker
Wait again
To the wrong turn
To the right direction
Too many fucking gonna turn
Going too fast
When you call me outrageous
As a questioner
No feelings - you destroy me H-A-T-E
We're welcome - we're on this show E-N-D
What the hell was that?
It's a battle name
Tied down everything long before
Blaming all the suckers
I don't give fuck
Till they're coming down
Where I go
Or he's gonna stop me
And when I hear the voice
So you better take care of me now
Knowing that I've always gotta come back
Till the end of life has arrived
Things happen while I grow
No one to catch my fall
Becoming dull is all I know
Resurrection - friend or a foe
No feelings - you destroy me H-A-T-E
We're welcome - we're on this show E-N-D
Gone too fast
I'm caring about the truth
So tell me how
Fuck this I wake
I've been loved before right now
After I've been down
Well if you don't need to
Resurrect a shadow of myself
No feelings - you destroy me H-A-T-E
We're welcome - we're on this show E-N-D
No feelings - you destroy me H-A-T-E
We're welcome - we're on this show
Remember me, seventeen
Come on, get you going
Have I told you I would return
Come on, get you going
Gotta get on the way
But the butcher
You're allowed to lie
I disapprove my body
Eat my dinner
You dull stupid role model
Who's about to rock
Things happen while I grow
No one to catch my fall
Becoming dull is all I know
Resurrection - friend or a foe
Friend or a foe
02 Blooddrunk (04:05)
They say drinking is a way to die
But at the end...Dying is a way to drink
That's why...
Unquenchable thirst burns you inside
The ruins of already burnt out mind
Inexhaustable craving for something
You're already Dieing
Degenerate drunk with a razor blade
Strung out spilling your own blood
Exterminate scars already made
Ready for another drink, can you wait?
Detoxing, here come the withdrawals
whispering Maybe you've gone too far
Deep within things are getting hot
Can't deny, take another shot
Blooddrunk - Wasted again
Inside all the pain will fade
Blooddrunk - You call me insane
Degenerate bloodrunk with a razor blade
Degenerate drunk with a razor blade
Strung out spilling your own blood
Exterminate scars already made
Ready for another drink, can you wait?
Blooddrunk - Wasted again
Inside all the pain will fade
Blooddrunk - You call me insane
Degenerate bloodrunk with a razor blade
Blooddrunk - Wasted again
Inside all the pain will fade
Blooddrunk - You call me insane
Degenerate bloodrunk with a razor blade
03 Lobodomy (04:25)
Slashes to Slashes, Dust to Dust
With the blade in my hand, kill you, I might
Forget about falling, it's for poor distant punks
I tell you I'll see the pain after I see the trunk
So you really thought I just came
To the gutters forlorn to be tamed?
I'm at the end of, my rope your Tying
This is just dreaming of might
Hallucination, your in for shit!
I dare you to look at me, I'm a pshyco freak!
You motherfuckers wanna give me, a lobodomy?
Fuck no, then you know who I am?
Well we're about to fucking see
You started messin with death
No one said?
I'm a Maniac
Fuck yeah, you have no power to ask why!
Then I will give you a turn
When talking out of your bodom mouth
At night I bark, scream or shout
So really thought I just came
To the gutters forlorn to be tamed?
You motherfuckers wanna give me, a lobodomy?
Fuck no, then you know who I am?
Well we're about to fucking see
You started messin with death
No one said?
I'm a Maniac
Fuck yeah, you have no power to ask why!
Then I will give you a turn
I'll never give a fuck that
These poor bridges are burnt
Fuck no, fuck all that shit
Now then, would you all just let me go
05 Smile Pretty for the Devil (03:53)
Live the years of danger live on the road
To the point there's nothing to lose
Regrets all you want it to be!
In the blink of an eye you're fighting
Look at me chump, champ is my name
Were you going to all laugh? I'll Always be
Five Times I've died its all the same
Got only myself to blame
Never begged for you to rescue me
Then again I never could find you
But you leave me ripe to choke
Who gives a fuck and your the devil
And now, war will find you
This hour, you should live in hell
Funny, you don't seem that big time
Memorize that your better
When your smiling pretty for the devil
Ten times I've died its all the same
Well I got myself to blame
Never begged for you to rescue me
Then again no one could find you
Because you leave me ripe to choke
Who gets the fuck and your the devil
And now, war will find you
This hour, you should live in hell
Funny, you don't seem that big time
Memorize that your better
When you smile pretty for the devil
06 Tie My Rope (04:14)
Yeaw! Urg! Did everyone that we charmed how 'bout you check the rim of life Pain, that nothings gonna be down where you walk the rocky road! The way that you won't touch yourself, motherfuckin' dream! Your mother is old but know how it's a brick of brick Yeah! My life a roadmap of pain Oh Yeah! My life's a lot full of shame Tie my rope, one more time! Did every bit I know destroy you last night I never thought I broke my greatest toy in another fight Looking for hair that will pop me tomorrow, why am I looking, oh why? Because that's good you're a real bowman, brick of brick Yeah! My life a roadmap of pain That's right! My life's a lot full of shame Tie my rope! Tell me why, so I can quietly bitch and moan To this light, that I'm not going down! Hanging by, the rope you tie for me! Lift me up, while I'm still alive! Tell me why, so I can quietly bitch and moan To this light, that I'm not going down! Hanging by, the rope you tie for me! Lift me up, while I'm still alive! Tell me why, so I can quietly bitch and moan To this light, that I'm not going down! Hanging by, the rope you tie for me! Lift me up, while I'm still alive!
08 Banned From Heaven (05:04)
It's a color that I can not show
When I could easier pose
But you probably knew that I was lost
Did you think that I would right now
Show you things I have lost?
Swim if you're diving for a human being
Yaow!
I blame myself for every second
That i was gripped by some foe
Standing for the only one, for you
To kill me by your left toe
What even can I say, get me out
I was the one who sold
My body and soul to the devil
No one that I know when I say
"I am the one" would lie
Since when we spoke I stream with fire
Wake up in a pool of blood
Locked up, when you get banned from heaven
Looking I just saw me dripping down blood
Don't worry, I'll get up to get down where I belong
Banned from, Heaven
Banned from, Heaven
Banned from, Heaven
Banned from, Heaven
Wake up in a pool of blood
Locked up, when you get banned from heaven
Looking I just saw me dripping down blood
Don't worry, I'll get up to get down where I belong
Wake up in a pool of blood
Locked up, when you get banned from heaven
Looking I just saw me dripping down blood
Don't worry, I'll get up to get down where I belong
09 Roadkill Morning (03:33)
A swine
An addict
A slave
To that accel forward
Till you just burn, till wreck
And now your falling
Pain potions getting well
Though they hammer you into the ground
Bastard of Bodom, reporting
That sharp pain always go's away
How did I get here once again?
I have to shoot to survive
Otherwise screech "I wanna fucking die"
But I need the bottle and I'll be fine
To the final hammering
Suffer internal
Wanna feeling? and be fine?
On the verge, were never scared
Everything is through with me
This time it's got inside
Bow down to the points of life
Take a scream down Bottom Limb Drive
From the tip of a glass, I'm feeling fine
A have barely come to the point,
To make a motherfucking sure bitch
Wanna wish
Mix beer with pure wine
Seem so bland you sucker punk
Cant see my jumper cables on my junk?
Why would you worry 'bout me?
Fucked up rolling on the floor
Going down like a whore
Just like lightning from the sky
Anything roadkill morning, break down and cry
Seem so bland you sucker punk
Cant see my jumper cables on my junk?
Why would you worry 'bout me?
Bastard of Bodom, reporting
That sharp pain always go's away
How did I get here once again?
I have to shoot to survive
Otherwise screech "I wanna fucking die"
I need the bottle and I'll be fine
Fucked up rolling on the floor
Going down like a whore
Just like lightning from the sky
Anything roadkill morning, say goodbye and DIE!
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Other reviews
By Unforgiven
The duo Laiho/Wirman delivers really interesting and engaging guitar and keyboard solos, with good taste both in terms of technique and musicality.
"Blooddrunk" has a strong hold on the listener thanks to an easily digestible refrain.
