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BACK
 CHILDREN
OF BODOM
On a Roll with the Hatecrew
By Liam Savage
Like the reaper’s hand that grips the scythe handle on their
album covers, Children of Bodom have had their grip on the metal
community over the last couple of years. With the band’s breakthrough
third album Follow the Reaper in 2000, and their latest output,
Hatecrew Deathroll (Century Media), they have become an "it"
band in the metal world; one that comes up in regular talk of the
new breed of European metal, and is talked about as a new influence
for up-and-coming bands. Not too bad for a band that only has four
albums out.
Regarding Hatecrew Deathroll compared to the last three albums (1997’s
Something Wild, 1999’s Hatebreeder, and 2000’s Follow
the Reaper), frontman Alexi Laiho gives his thoughts on the progression
of their multi-layered sound.
"Well as far as the production and the way it’s played,
I think the whole thing is just more aggressive and a lot heavier.
It’s just something that we really wanted to do. We just wanted
to make it as rockin’ and slammin’ as it could ever be,
and we did a lot of stuff that we haven’t done before, like
for example we doubled most of the rhythm guitars, which gives it
a bigger sound, and we used tons of keyboard sounds which haven’t
been used before. We just didn’t want to rely on the basic
strings, choirs, and bells type of thing. Of course we have that
too, but with each part we just wanted to try something different.
There’s some stuff that might sound like an industrial or techno
kind of thing, but it doesn’t matter. The new album is also
more straightforward and in your face than any of the albums before."
The new album comes across to most listeners as harder and more
aggressive than the last album, but did the band think that they’d
want to make it a bit heavier than the previous albums?
"Yeah, that was about the only thing that we really planned
to do. Of course the sound isn’t really important, but we had
some distorted bass which we put pretty high up in the final mix,
and that gives it a kind of dirty punk-rock sound, and I think it
has a cool impact in there. I just think there’s a lot of extreme
metal bands that after a few albums turn out to be totally something
else like Depeche Mode. And my point of view is that it sucks; I
mean it’s just not a smart thing to do. If you’re not
into metal anymore, then just break up the band and do something
else. I mean the old fans aren’t going to dig it, that’s
for sure. It’s really hard for metal bands to gain fans because
of the pop scene."
Listeners and critics alike have always had questions regarding
the band’s sound because it incorporates so many metal styles.
How would Laiho describe their music?
"It’s hard to define it really. There’s a thrash
and speed thing going on and some black metal influence, and ’80s
heavy metal, which is used in the guitars a lot with the riffing.
And there’s some punk rock and some hardcore going on in there
too, so it’s everything kind of put together. That’s really
all I can say. There’s not really any power metal in it with
the swords and dragons and steel and honour-type stuff," he
laughs.
And of course we can’t forget the influence it’s had on
certain bands, but is it fair to say they are cloning the sound,
or merely being influenced?
"A lot of people have actually told me that there are bands
that sort of sounded like us, but I haven’t really paid attention.
It’s a funny thing because people always want to categorize
you with labels, and I don’t see any power metal in our sound.
I mean of course we have some black metal influences in there. But
there are some bands that have the same kind of sound going on,
and if they say that we’ve been an influence to them or something,
then that’s flattering and it’s not something to get pissed
off about."
With a new licensing deal through Century Media for Hatecrew Deathroll,
the band is embarking on its first North American tour in support
of Dimmu Borgir, Nevermore, and Hypocrisy. It’s been a long
time coming for the band, and they aren’t taking it lightly.
"Tons of people ask why we haven’t played there, and we’ve
been trying to get hooked up on a good tour, because I was sure
when we played in Milwaukee [Metalfest in 1999] that nobody would
know who we were at all, and we had a really good crowd in there
with a lot of people. I know we aren’t much in North America
because we haven’t sold a lot of albums, but if you get on
a good tour with a great band that you can open up for then you
can get up there and kick ass. It’s not like we don’t
care about what’s going on there, but things just haven’t
worked out too well with that."
With an amicable split with original guitarist Alexander Kuopalla
happening recently, and not letting that fork in the road getting
them off track, the band looks forward to their future with a positive
mindset regarding the sound of the band.
"I think there’s a lot we can do with this sound because
we’re not stuck with any labels so we can pretty much do what
we want. Like for example on the new album there’s that song
‘Sixpounder’ which I think is something different than
we’ve done before, and it wasn’t something that we thought
was experimental or anything. But songs like that will happen for
the next album as well. It is important that you don’t do the
same album twice, but at the same time don’t go and change
everything about your music."
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