Alright, I’m willing to admit that I’ve never really been a Children Of Bodom fan. When I discovered them years ago, I was sure that I wouldn’t listen to them again any time soon. Strangely enough, Children Of Bodom is a band I’ve regularly come in contact with since I decided to never listen to them again – my best friend got into them very soon after my decision, so I eventually got bombarded with COB videos and songs from time to time.
So here we are in the year of 2015 and there’s a new Children Of Bodom album to be released next week. I truly wanted to give the band another chance to win me over with their ninth studio album I Worship Chaos, this being my second attempt on acquiring a liking for the Finnish band. Although the press seemed to be sold on their 2013-release Halo Of Blood, this is something I’m not able to relate to. Yes, they put a very fast, black metal influenced, well-made song on that album, but the slow, doomy track did absolutely nothing for me, like a lot of the material in between. I Worship Chaos, on the contrary, is a record I find very enjoyable, though, and that’s quite surprising, isn’t it?
Well, regarding my relationship to COB, it is. But everyone who did listen to I Worship Chaos will agree that the new material sounds very pleasing. The Finns have created an album that pretty surely answers both the loyal and the new fans’ expectations. Containing heavy, yet very catchy and distinctive tracks like “I Hurt” or melodic hymns like “Morrigan” and “My Bodom (I Am The Only One)”, the new record feels very much like (a very enjoyable) COB, while some songs feel out of character at first. According to Alexi (Laiho, lead vocals and guitars) and Janne (Wirman, keyboards), they “just went for it” and I think that those atypical songs turned out great. “Hold Your Tongue” has a hard rock feel to it and the band shines with the 90s gothic rock influenced “Prayer For The Afflicted” as well as with the dark, yet very dynamic “Suicide Bomber”. “All For Nothing” may be the most unusual COB track ever written and regardless of whether I like it exactly because of that or not, it feels very well-placed even though this probably won’t match your first impression of the song.
At this point, it may be helpful to mention that the new COB isn’t a dark rock record – with the thrashy title track “I Worship Chaos” and the old school death/rock’n’roll/thrash metal song “Horns”, the Finns present diversity and great skill while playing that new material with ease.
So if you can’t get excited about I Worship Chaos or about COB in general, I am sure that you’ll still find at least a couple of songs enjoyable. Just look at me: In my opinion, the whole record is very solid and greatly produced, which is above and beyond all expectations.
Check out “I Hurt”, “Horns”, “My Bodom (I Am The Only One)” and “Suicide Bomber” for sure.
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
Playing time: 44:20
Release date: 2nd October, 2015
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Website: www.cobhc.com
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