Children Of Bodom- I Worship Chaos

Release date:
October 2nd 2015
Record label: Nuclear Blast

When I was a teenager Children of Bodom played a big role in my life and those of my friends while we started exploring the world of metal. Back then, they had ‘only’ released three albums and just stepped out of the underground to become a world class band. Now, fifteen years later, they are about to release their 9th full length and there probably isn’t a metalhead on earth who hasn’t heard of them.

Throughout the years I sometimes lost track of the Finns. Especially Relentless Reckless Forever and Halo Of Blood just couldn’t get me excited for some reason; but now with the release of I Worship Chaos they totally won back. The album had to grow a bit on me, but after endless spins, I can say that I fell in love with it.

Because of the departure of guitar player Roope Latvala, this is the first album the band recorded as a quartet. This also means that beside taking care of the lead guitar as usual, Alexi Laiho had to record the rhythm guitar for the album as well.

The album kicks off with I Hurt, and immediately we get the typical and now ‘classic’ Children of Bodom sound. The song is heavy, fast and filled with melody. It mainly focusses on Laiho his capabilities, but also has enough room for teamwork between him and Janne Wirman on keyboards, and the heavy sounds of the bass (Henkka Seppälä) and drums (Jaska Raatikainen).

The album has a few songs that has a bit more of a thrashier sound. My Bodom (I Am The Only One) for example continues in the line of I Hurt, but has more thrash and even the 80’s sound. Yet it is still symphonic and has a very catchy chorus. The first couple of times I heard Horns I tend to scream INCOMING! Because this song has so much similarities with ‘In Your Face’ from the Are You Dead Yet album. This song screams Children Of Bodom thrash!

Morrigan is a slower, very atmospheric song that leaves more room for Wirman his keyboard majesty which really makes the song. It is one of the better ones on the album.

Other favorites are Hold Your Tongue, All for Nothing and Widdershins. Hold Your Tongue has an extremely catchy opening riff which sticks through the song and has that good old Rock ‘n Roll feeling. It still has that typical atmospheric Children of Bodom sound, including Laiho his signature line: what the fuck.

The last two songs of the album dive into a bit different sound, one that is darker and more atmospheric. I can’t help but thinking they could perfectly fit on a Dark Tranquility album. All For Nothing gets close to being a ballad. It is emotional, deep, dark, atmospheric and combined with Laiho his vocals really pierces through your soul. Widdershins stays in line with All For Nothing, but speeds up again and has a lot more power
More darkness can be found in Prayer For The Afflicted. The song is slow, heavy and filled with emotion.

I Worship Chaos, is a great and typical Children Of Bodom album. It contains elements of the previous albums, but also sounds a bit more like the older times every now and then. The sound is hard, dark and heavy, yet symphonic and atmospheric. Big chance that it will get fans who wandered off back to the Bodom trail again.

Rating: 9/10
Tracklist:
1. “I Hurt”
2. “My Bodom (I Am the Only One)”
3. “Morrigan”
4. “Horns”
5. “Prayer for the Afflicted”
6. “I Worship Chaos”
7. “Hold Your Tongue”
8. “Suicide Bomber”
9. “All for Nothing”
10. “Widdershins”

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