Revisiting: Children of Bodom's Hate Crew Deathroll

 

Hate Crew Deathroll by Children of Bodom

Release year: 2003

Last Time I Listened To It: Hate Crew was my soundtrack for part of a long drive out to Island Park Reservoir last summer. I listen to it pretty regularly but with Alexi Laiho passing away last week, I decided to throw it on, along with a couple of other Bodom records.

I grew up on metal, but there was a time, mostly through the 90s and early 2000s, when I didn't spend a lot of time listening to metal. That came from my perception that there weren't any good new metal bands. I mean, there was NU metal, stuff like Korn and Limp Bizkit, but I didn't see a lot of cool new metal bands that played thrash or more extreme brands of metal. 

It was a couple of years after that time that I stumbled across Shadows Fall in a guitar magazine article. From there I found Lamb of God, followed soon after by a number of other killer American metal bands. Better still, I found European bands, In Flames, Opeth, Arch Enemy and a whole host of amazing bands from Scandinavia. 

It was during that time that I discovered Children of Bodom. I bought their Hate Crew Deathroll without having heard the band before because I remembered their name from an article I'd read. I put the CD in my car stereo and was hooked before the end of the first track, Needled 24/7. 

I quickly picked up most of Bodom's discography. Are You Dead Yet?, Follow the Reaper and Relentless, Reckless Forever quickly became personal favorites as I picked them up. But there's nothing like the first time a band's music washes over you and hooks you. That makes Hate Crew Deathroll a standout among standouts.

The Verdict: Hate Crew explodes at you with Needled 24/7, a song that encapsulates what Bodom were at that point in their career. From the quick riffing to the sci-fi sound effect keyboards in the verses, Needled jams a whole wall of sounds into a four-minute package. It's fast, fleet and catchy as Hell, featuring a killer solo from Laiho that's equal tasteful licks and acrobatic shredding.

Sixpounder follows, its drop-C-tuned riff grinding like when you drag a cinder block across concrete. Angels Don't Kill is a masterful slow burn of a song. Throughout, the band fuse melody, brutality and cheesy synthesizer sounds so effortlessly, you can't help but be drawn in. It's like someone took death metal, thrash, prog, and power metal, threw them all into a blender and pulsed that motherfucker until they had something smooth and tasty.

As for standout tracks, the aforementioned songs are great, but the album is killer front to back. It includes my personal favorite Bodom track, You're Better Off Dead, one of the best don't-fuck-with-me anthems I've ever heard. The title track is a straight-up kick in the pants. Along with Laiho's impressively inspired playing and screeching vocals, drummer Jaska Raatikainen's drums shake your soul in the best way possible and keyboardist Janne Mirman's licks are so skillful while at the same time giving the music everything from a spooky edge to a welcome sense of humor.

My favorite thing about Bodom is how they always sounded like they were close to the edge, like they were barely containing the chaos within the band and they were mere seconds from losing control. While Hate Crew Deathroll is produced to a finely-polished point, that chaos is there just under the surface. And that's why this record still gets me hyped, even fifteen years after hearing it for the first time.

Best Songs: Needled 24/7, Angels Don't Kill, You're Better Off Dead, Hate Crew Death Roll