Children Of Bodom
Hate Crew Deathroll

THE REVIEW

With "Follow The Reaper," Children Of Bodom seemed to have embarked on an experimental path a bit too soon for the wishes of the fans, who were literally addicted to the masterpiece "Hatebreeder."

In 2002, however, "Hate Crew Deathroll" was released, which indeed represents a reversal in trend compared to the Power-Death metal of the early albums, but in my opinion, in terms of songwriting, we are faced with another masterpiece. Generally, the album presents a leaning towards Thrash concerning guitar rhythms, while Wirman's keyboards alternate between Black bases in the style of "Something Wild" and the usual ultra-fast improvisations very close to the "green" album.

The CD thus opens with "Needled 24/7," a track dominated by a continuous and furious double bass drum, noteworthy also is the keyboard work, which at some points seems close to Industrial; the chorus is phenomenal. "Sixpounder" presents itself with a decidedly Nu-metal riff (something I don't see as negative, contrary to many people who write about metal on this site), making it the heaviest song on the album. "Chokehold (Cocked’n’Loaded)" takes COB towards a Death metal strangely pure for their standards. The next track "Bodom Beach Terror" brings us back to the Black atmospheres of "Something Wild" and the genuine malevolence that marked COB's debut. "Angels Don’t Kill" is probably the most inspired track on the album, featuring a dark and grinding riff interspersed with more airy parts that are very Heavy until the central part, where Alexi flies on his guitar's keyboard and then, together with Janne Wirman, performs one of those "Hatebreeder"-like riffs that few can match in evoking emotion.

The following two tracks "Triple Corpse Hammerblow" and "Better Off Dead" perhaps best embody the innovations of this album: heavy riffs between Thrash and Nu and a more intense drumming than usual, countered by decidedly Power keyboard solos. So is the next track, which reminds me of the first one. We arrive at the title track: the start reminiscent of "Bed Of Razors" (Hatebreeder) should not fool us, because we are facing the most Thrash and least melodic piece of the record. It concludes with a nice cover of "Silent Scream" (Slayer).

In my opinion, the most exciting album from COB. Without a doubt, the best remains "Hatebreeder," but this demonstrates that the five Finns rock big time even when they don't focus solely on melody and exasperated technique, but indeed, they try to evoke emotions with their music.