Review / Multiple Authors
Children of Bodom
Hate Crew Deathroll

Century Media (2003) — Shane, Sean, Zed

Children of Bodom – Hate Crew Deathroll cover artwork
Children of Bodom – Hate Crew Deathroll — Century Media, 2003

This album is definitely one of the "odd men out" on this site. That is a good thing though. Sometimes you need a change of pace. The cheesy orchestra keyboard hits can get to you sometimes. The guitar work is fucking amazing. Constant double bass through the record. The vocals aren't all that bad either. Sometimes they can sound pretty bad but they are tolerable most the time. After listening to this I know I want to play Maniac Mansion really bad...

When I first heard I was going to be reviewing this album, I automatically assumed I would hate it. My metal tastes hardly expand past a few Iron Maiden and Judas Priest records. While the lyrics and vocals are a little hard to get into for me, they aren't hard to get past. The guitar work involved some amazing metal riffs that you'd have to be Wes from AN not to end up playing air guitar. The keyboard work helps to give the songs an almost videogame soundtrack feel. This is fun stuff in the very least.

So metal it has its own element on the periodic table! You can quote me on that B') I'm not familiar with metal enough to differentiate death metal, black metal, and cash money metal from each other, but I can tell this is good metal. Already I've used the word metal seven times in this review, and that probably means something if you know what I mean! The finger tapping solos that are used on this are so metallic and high that they sound like they came from a Nintendo game. There's more chugging than a frat party at Chico, which is a LOT! The vocals bother me at times, but they are only there 50% of the time. The horror intro to "Triple Corpse" was a nice change of pace, and the synthesizer adds some fun sounds. If you like metal at all, check this out. Even if you don't like metal, check this out.

8.0 / 10Zed

Children of Bodom – Hate Crew Deathroll cover artwork
Children of Bodom – Hate Crew Deathroll — Century Media, 2003

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Average score across three writers

7.3 / 10 — Shane, Sean, Zed • February 25, 2004

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