CHILDREN OF BODOM
"Blooddrunk"
Released: April 15, 2008
Genre: Metal

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Even if it doesn’t leave you grinning in ghoulish delight as it does me, respect has to be given to a band that plays as well as Bodom. You won’t find better musicians in any genre today. This is pure, unedited metal.

HEAVY METAL IS a hit-or-miss genre. As much as I and many genre purists might pretend the contrary, there is a fine line separating what qualifies as excellence from complete, total junk. Even with bands that are generally above reproach, every day is a struggle from turning into yesterday’s news and today’s garbage.

Metallica failed that struggle. So have Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and innumerable others. Now that younger bands have matured, it would seem that they, too, will begin that process.

In the case of Finland’s Children of Bodom, 2005’s mediocre “Are You Dead Yet?” seemed to have signaled the start of such a decline.

The band's total dump of a live album, 2006’s “Chaos Ridden Years: Stockholm Knockout Live,” only served to further these suspicions.

As such, it was with great fear that I chose to listen to “Blooddrunk,” released on Tuesday.

To my great surprise and gleeful delight, “Blooddrunk” is not only better than “Are You Dead Yet” and “Chaos Ridden Years.” It annihilates Bodom’s entire back catalogue, all the while destroying almost every new metal album I’ve heard in the last five years, Behemoth’s “Demigod” being one exception. Not bad for a band that covered Britney Spears.

With a running time of just under 37 minutes, it ranks among one of metal’s shortest running LPs (the shortest I know of being Slayer’s 1986 opus “Reign in Blood” at around 29 minutes). It is difficult to develop any musical ideas in less than 40 minutes, and with most albums in general lasting upwards of an hour these days, a 37-minute record comes off as underdeveloped.

Fortunately, this is not the case. “Blooddrunk” contains no filler whatsoever. The barnstorming opener “Hellhounds on My Trail” (oddly unrelated to the Robert Johnson classic of the same name) sets the pace early, and the album doesn’t relent until the abrupt end of the warp-speed “Roadkill Morning.”

However, slowdowns do occur. “Banned from Heaven” confronts the listener with a similarly intense yet more paced experience from the rest of the album. “One Day You Will Cry” and the title track also provide occasional release from the Finnish barrage, but one quickly learns that Bodom’s slower tracks annihilate as much as their thrashers, simply at a slower tempo.

As always, guitarist Alexi “Wildchild” Laiho provides the insane guitar leads and rhythms that have defined the band’s career. Despite a strangely Big Lebowski-esque bowling accident that resulted in a broken shoulder, his shredding is better than ever. As an added bonus, rhythm guitarist Roope Latvala contributes no less impressive solos to “Done with Everything, Die for Nothing” and “Banned From Heaven.”

However, every album has drawbacks. Since the release of “Something Wild” in 1997, Laiho’s vocals have become more and more intelligible. This process came to a head on “Are You Dead Yet?” when he could, most of the time, be understood without referring to a sheet of lyrics. Oddly, on “Blooddrunk” he enunciates less than ever, making for some of the most incomprehensible lyrics I have ever heard. At times, I’m not even sure if he knows exactly what he’s saying. Imagine a metal version of “Louie Louie,” and you’ve got a pretty good idea of Laiho’s vocal precision.

Fortunately, Laiho manages to still put in a stellar vocal performance nonetheless. For a guy who cannot muster much range in pitch (he has nothing on Death’s legendary Chuck Schuldiner), he can put a surprising amount of mood into his unearthly growl. The chorus to “Tie My Rope,” in particular, has a much-appreciated touch of melody. Pretty good for a person who never actually attempts singing.

Lyrically, Laiho’s obsessions with death haven’t lessened from the band’s last release, and the vulgarity is heavily toned down. No more are there choruses proclaiming “I don’t give a flying f***, motherf*****!” On a similar note, there is only one reference to the 1960 Lake Bodom murders (from which the band gets their name), and only in the title of the track “LoBodomy.” Name-dropping the Grim Reaper has been similarly disposed of, and it’s all for the best.

“Blooddrunk” is truly a victory, if for no other reason than it once again sees the prominence of keyboard whiz Janne Wirman. After he was almost entirely cut out of “Are You Dead Yet?,” Bodom’s songs are once again filled with Wirman's extracurricular keyboard madness.

Tracks like “Hellhounds” simply wouldn’t be the same without Wirman’s insanely fast lines, and he also has the capability to sink into the background when the occasion demands it, such as on “Banned from Heaven.” Wirman’s restraint from using cheesy horror movie sounds also ups his credibility factor.

To put it briefly, this album must be heard. Whether you enjoy the genre or not, this is a band that will set the course of underground music for years to come, and I urge you to take a listen.

Even if it doesn’t leave you grinning in ghoulish delight as it does me, respect has to be given to a band that plays as well as Bodom. You won’t find better musicians in any genre today.

This is pure, unedited metal. Period.