Finland's Children Of Bodom are among the most popular of the new generation of thrash/death/power metal bands coming out of Scandanavia at an alarming rate. Featuring the breakneck guitar pyrotechnics of Alexi Laiho, the band marches along, putting out album after album of 80's influenced metal. Following less than two years after their last album, Hate Crew Deathroll, the band is back in form with yet another short (37 mins) piece of aggression.

The one thing to keep in mind when listening to any Children of Bodom album is that singing is secondary. The band doesn't exist to sing, or to write lyrics, so trying to analyze those aspects of the band is useless. They serve as nothing more than an excuse to thrash and headbang. Do they manage to do that?

"Living Dead Beat" fades in with a synth line, before opening up to a syncopated riff. The first thing that sticks out is that the band apparently liked Metallica's "St Anger", as the undustrial drum sound has carried over to Europe. Alexi's voice sounds like it always does, which is good or bad, depending on if you happen to like it. The song actually has a bit of a hook in it, which is a nice change for a song from the band. The chorus has a stop/start chugging guitar which is different than their typical fare. Of course, a metal song wouldn't be a metal song without a guitar solo, and Alexi gives us a typical one, with nothing memorable about it.

"Are You Dead Yet?" kicks right into gear from the start, finding a mid tempo groove, and not going for all out thrash. The verses are a plodding group of blastbeats, before moving in to a typical CoB melodic passage. One thing you can say about Alexi is that he likes what he's doing, since many of his riffs and harmonies seem to be carried over from one song to the next.

"If You Want Peace...Prepare For War" is a full scale 80's thrash attack, bringing to mind the heyday of Slayer, Anthrax and Metallica. In place of a real chorus, we instead get a melodic guitar passage which sounds exactly like the passages from the previous song. The solo section features a nice back and forth battle between Alexi and the keyboardist, which then brings us right back to another rendition of the supposed chorus before letting the song go.

"Punch Me I Bleed" opens with a moody and slow guitar figure, a bit in the vein of Tony Iommi, as the song stays in the mid tempo crunch established in the intro. The guitars sound heavier as they drone through the verses, and the atmosphere concocted is an interesting change from the all out thrash of the previous number. The chorus is unintelligible, but features a decent melody, with a lovely subtle guitar harmony buried in the mix which sticks out as a new addition to the CoB playbook. Alexi gives a more melodic solo in this one, continuing the mood much more effectively than he usually does.

"In Your Face" is the first single from the album, and a good pick for one. It opens with a lock-step riff that would feel at home on a Fear Factory album. A keyboard line fills the background as the guitars come to life. The verse is utterly forgettable, as both the riff and the melody don't stick out, but Alexi is able to kick in into gear for the chorus, which merely repeats the line "I don't give a flying fuck" over and over again, making this an odd choice for a single.

"Next In Line" sounds more like a classic CoB song, but played at a slower tempo. This is the first song to eschew muted riffs, opting instead for a more harmonious approach. The effect, when coupled with the other songs on the album, make this song seem larger than it really is.

"Bastards of Bodom" is built on hard chugging guitars, and a more prominent bassline than previous songs. Alexi goes through the same tricks as usual, before kicking into a start/stop chorus which works better than most of his efforts.

"Trashed Lost & Strungout" begins with a blazing guitar riff which then gets completely buried under another typical CoB melodic passage. Many guitar squeals are heard before anything memorable happens, which consists of a too-short keyboard solo. The song returns to its paces, which are less appealing the second time around.

"We're Not Gonna Fail" sounds like a better version of a Black Label Society song, as the introduction riff features a sludgy feel. The song reaches it's apex with background vocals calling out "HEY!", in what is the single best vocal moment of the record.

The bottom line with this record is that it's exactly what you would expect from these guys. Every riff sounds like you've already heard it from them before, which just might be the truth. It's impossible to deny that Alexi is a great guitarist, but his writing skills could use some polishing. He has a tendency to write one good riff, and then recreate it with different variations to come up with five other songs. This means that if you like one of their songs, you're going to be a fan of the band, but it makes the release of each new album less and less important, and you feel you already have it sitting on your shelf.

Further making things a bit perplexing is the choice of drum sounds on this album. The industrial sounding snare is distracting, but not because of the tinny sound of it. That was the case on Metallica's "St Anger", but on this record, the snare is set far too high in the mix, and it's noticably louder than any of the other drums. This is a bit jarring, as each hit of the snare acts like a hammer striking down.

This album is not as atmospheric as "Hate Crew Deathroll", nor as all out fun as "Follow the Reaper" (with the best horror-cheese keyboards I've ever heard), which means that it has nothign to set it apart from the rest of the band's catalog. It's good enough for what it is, but there's nothing exciting about it.

Rating: 82/100