Blooddrunk - Children of Bodom (2008)

Yesterday, the gang and I went over to Sgt. Peppers Steakhouse, followed by some cheap dessert treat at old McDonalds’ with its $1 Apple Pies and $2 Sundaes for my birthday celebration lol. As much as I was tempted to munch on my apple pie on a bench next to a smiling and waving Ronald McDonald, the kids’ playground was shut closed and was being cleaned by an Indian dude to my disappointment.

Another time, another time…


And look what I have here…


Muahahaha! It’s CoB’s “Blooddrunk” special edition with DVD!

I’ve always wanted to get my hands on one of these but they are rather hard to come by at record stores and they’re rather expensive due to the fact that they have to import all the way from fucking U.S.

I actually wrote a review on this record on my other blog, “Fortress of Attitude” (which is pretty much dead right now), but I only had access to shit quality ripped versions to listen to until this point. Since no one ever goes to that blog anyway, I thought I might as well repost them all here LOL.

For those of you who STILL aren’t familiar with the band, Children of Bodom (A.K.A. CoB) is a Finnish band with a musical style that cross all over various metal genres such as melodic death metal, thrash metal, and neo-classical.

Blooddrunk, released on the 9th of April 2008, is the 6th studio album by these fellas. Lyric wise, they touch the same subject as their previous albums but songwriting has become more progressive with intense use of keyboards and irregular time signatures at times. The riffs have become much heavier and thrashier compared to their old melodic ones which makes the album quite aggressive overall.

One of my personal favourites is the track “Tie My Rope”. As soon as I heard the blazing keyboard intro I knew that I’d love this one. When the guitars and drums kicked in I was reassured that this was going to be one kick ass ride.

Another favourite of mine is “Banned from Heaven”. This song is a very good example that metal songs needn’t always be fast and panicky to sound heavy. I believe slower tracks such as these allow the artist to demonstrate some depth instead of a showcase on “how fast I can play”.

But the best one from the album in my opinion is the title track “Blooddrunk” – this track is classic CoB. It retains quite a bit of the sound from the old records and that is quite noticeable from the northern Europe folk song/Irish riverdance - ish melody that runs throughout the song.

All in all, I’d give this album 4.5/5 stars. It is the most complete and refined album these talented musicians have put out so far, in terms of both songwriting and producing. Proving this right, the album went gold in Finland on pre-orders alone, and has also topped the Finnish charts beating its nearest rival in sales by 7 to 1.

Thanks again to Von and Reuben for the CD!