Artist: Children of Bodom
Title: I Worship Chaos
Genre: Death Metal
Release Date: 2nd October 2015
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Album Review
The CHILDREN OF BODOM are old hats in the business, that’s for sure. After the loss of famed guitarist Roope Latvala earlier this year, they recorded their ninth studio album ’I Worship Chaos’ as a four-piece and have to prove now that they still got it going on after 2013’s ’Halo of Blood’ which was seen as return to the classic COB-sound that had been missed by many in the predecessors.
The opener to the album, ’I Hurt’, wastes no time. Symphonic elements as well as thundering bass and drums heathen up the beginning before the riff-heaviness takes over and leads to a COB-typical chorus. ’My Bodom (I Am The Only One)’ easily keeps up with the pace the opener has set and mixes thrash elements with melodic death metal, perfectly accompanied by Laiho’s distinctive vocals. ‘Morrigan’ is a really interesting surprise. The keyboard-sound carries the song and coming along almost Goth, it reminds of NIGHTWISH with its catchy melody. The combination of the vocals, the keys and the guitars is on point, and the song is nothing but addictive.
The next track, ‘Horns’, brings back the vigour of the first two songs. Aggressive and a little bit experimental the three and a half minutes do nothing but punching you in the face and before you can say knife, ‘Prayer for the Afflicted’ begins with a slow keyboard-intro that sets up the pace for the whole song. You could describe it as some kind of power ballad with rough growls instead of melodic singing and lugubrious lyrics. The title track ’I Worship Chaos’ kills the mood of its predecessor and punches you in the face with its straightforwardness, and ‘Hold Your Tongue’ keeps that up, asking politely to ”Shut the fuck up”. The bridge and chorus in this one are melodic and quite catchy and it’s definitely one of my favourites of the album, along with ‘Morrigan’ and the follow-up, ‘Suicide Bomber’. This song changes its own pace a lot and is very interesting, even has kind of Pagan-y keyboards sometimes; Laiho’s vocals make it a round thing altogether.
‘All For Nothing’ is one of the slower tracks again. The whispered and hoarse-sounding vocals in the beginning as well as the piano-sounds in the back throughout the song make it a 80s like ballad - not least because of the heavy guitar solo in the last third. But of course it does not come along without a galloping chorus that, for me, sadly dismembers the song a little. The last track, ‘Widdershins’, dashes to a successful finale of the album, although it’s end with slowly dying disturb signals is a wee bit too long for my taste.
Conclusion: nice! CHILDREN OF BODOM as they should sound like, but still with pleasant surprises throughout the album. With my absolute favourite song of them being ‘Bed of Razors’ (album ‘Hatebreeder’ from 1999), ’I Worship Chaos’ definitely hits my taste, but I have to say that I would’ve wished for more variety after all. The second half of the album is pretty consistent which is not a bad thing, but one or two more distinctively stronger songs would’ve made it perfect.
Tracklist
01. I Hurt
02. My Bodom (I Am The Only One)
03. Morrigan
04. Horns
05. Prayer For The Afflicted
06. I Worship Chaos
07. Hold Your Tongue
08. Suicide Bomber
09. All For Nothing
10. Widdershins
Line-up
Alexi Laiho – vocals, guitar
Janne Wirman – keyboards
Henkka Seppälä – bass
Jaska Raatikainen – drums
Website
www.cobhc.com / www.facebook.com/childrenofbodom
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 8
Sound: 8
Total: 8 / 10
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