Children of Bodom are one of the few metal bands who
actually sound like they’re having fun being a metal band. Not that other bands
aren’t having fun, but how many other
bands use keyboards as giddily, or scream lyrics as hilariously straight
forward as Bodom?(A real lyric: “Would you ever really think that I dug you, hit
me with a shovel if I do,” from the just as humorously/awesomely named
“Shovel Knockout.”) They never reach Iced Earth or Blind Guardian levels of
cheese (of which I’m grateful), but there is a lightness to Bodom that’s
refreshing. Because any humor and lack of pretense is a rarity in the metal
scene, their latest album, Halo Of Blood, is a bit of a letdown. It’s not a terrible
record, but here they play a little “heavier” and more seriously than in the past
and in the meantime lose what makes them unique.
