Children Of Bodom
Relentless Reckless Forever
Spinefarm Records
It’s always difficult to know what to make of a new Children Of Bodom record. Despite their consistently phenomenal musicianship and mastery of the art of the hook, the Finnish shredders sometimes struggle to elicit more than a shrug when announcing a new album, whatever the pre-release hyperbole tells us. Maybe they’re experiencing the backlash from their commercial success (as we know, some metalheads have a ‘laudable’ ability to discard their favourite bands once they’ve make a dent on the Billboard chart) or just from their consistency, but either way, the wider metal community doesn’t seem quite as excited anymore. And as good as it is, it’s difficult to imagine that ‘Relentless, Reckless Forever’ will change that much. Not that they could give a shit, we imagine.
‘Relentless, Reckless…’ is, essentially, ‘just another Children Of Bodom album’. From the melodic guitars and ear-piercing keys of opener ‘Not My Funeral’, through the groove-heavy thrash of the bizarrely named ‘Pussyfoot Miss Suicide’, and the brain-frazzlingly speedy ‘Northpole Throwdown’ the aggressive, raw-throated vocals, relentless percussion and classic horror-inflected keyboards are present and correct, right where you’d want them to be. Those who felt that the band had lost their way on previous record ‘Blooddrunk’ will be pleased to hear that COB seem to have got some of their metallic mojo back, sounding angrier and more driven than they have in a while, perhaps at the expense of some of the tightly arranged heaviosity of ‘Are You Dead Yet?’.
In all honesty, anything that gets COB out of the studio and back on the road gets a thumbs up from us – and the fact that this one happens to be a bit of a return to form is a tasty bonus. Fans definitely need this in their lives, and newbies looking for a jump-on point could do a lot worse.
Buy this album here
Review by Rob Sayce
