CHILDREN OF BODOM — Follow the Reaper (review)

CHILDREN OF BODOM — Follow the Reaper album cover

Album · 2000 · Melodic Death Metal

4.5/5 · 2021-01-17
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After two albums with producer Anssi Kippo at the helm, CHILDREN OF BODOM adopted a completely new approach for their third album FOLLOW THE REAPER after choosing Hypocrisy lead singer Peter Tägtgrten to be the next producer after touring with his band in 1998. The band headed to Sweden’s Abyss Studios where Tägtgrten steered the band in a more polished direction. Firstly the band who had already forged a unique blend of neoclassical infused power metal along with death metal and other extreme metal genera focused more on the power metal side of the equation which allowed the once subordinate keyboard runs of Janne Wirman to become an integral part of the band’s overall sound.

FOLLOW THE REAPER focused on harder driving neoclassical melodies still inspired by Mozart but less in your face and sharpened with the instruments playing more independent roles making this third album a much more focused offering in comparison to the previous two albums. Likewise Tägtgrten trained Alexi Laiho to make better use of his raspy guttural growls thus giving him a more controlled style that could span out in a greater range. The album is notorious for various mixing jobs due to the band’s dissatisfaction but the overall effect is an extremely professional sounding extreme metal album that continues the band’s stylistic approach laid out on the debut album “Something Wild.”

CHILDREN OF BODOM came of age with FOLLOW THE REAPER and not only did the album soar to the top of the Finnish charts but also found a positive reception outside of the band’s homeland. Some critics even referred to the album as black metal with the happiest keyboards ever but still uncompromisingly brutal and to be honest that does sort of sum it up. The album is relentless with wickedly brutal guitar, bass and drum performances crafting power metal melodies only infused with neoclassical shredding tradeoffs between the guitar and keyboards only much more refined than the previous offerings. Likewise the keyboard acts as a fourth instrument with independent riffing roles that craft creative counterpoints whereas on the first two albums it remained somewhat in the background for atmospheric effects with occasional soloing outbursts.

With FOLLOW THE REAPER, the band toured the world extensively and experienced a warm welcome due to the album’s extremely strong melodic hooks augmented with a power metal bombast that was contrasted by death, black and metal elements that no other band had really put together in such a way before. As well as the aforementioned changes that solidified the band’s established sound, the compositions on FOLLOW THE REAPER are simply stronger and more varied than before however the neoclassical elements had been tamped down a bit in favor of stronger power metal displays that showcased the guitar and keyboard shredding in completely new ways. To give the album a darker feel, the instruments were set down to D tuning and Laiho’s vocals seem as strong as ever.

With another cover of the Grim Reaper designed by Canadian artists Graham French, the band had also established a visual continuity much like Iron Maiden did with its Eddie album covers with this one’s primary backing color set to stark blue something unusual for metal album covers of the day. For my money, FOLLOW THE REAPER is my pick for favorite CHILDREN OF BODOM album although each album shares the same extraordinary musicianship led by the guitar wizard Alexi Laiho with strong melodic hooks and rampaging metal orotundity. Personally i just find the dynamics to be better mixed and the compositions are nearly perfect with only a few moments of tedium seeping in. When i have the hankering to get my deathened power metal fix, this album is usually the one i head to.