Are You Dead Yet? - Children Of Bodom

'Are You Dead Yet' is for me another fantastic album from Finnish metal band Children of Bodom. Released in 2005 as their 5th studio album, it offers a more contemplative side to the band, with songs like Punch Me I Bleed (apparently inspired by a line from the Spider Man films, hinting that even the most apparently strong people and figures are still human and have human emotions, etc) and 'Are You Dead Yet?' (which is apparently inspired by a low point in singer and lead guitarist, Alexi Laiho's, life, in which he found himself looking in the mirror and asking himself; 'are you dead yet?') And yet, this is another fantastic Bodom album, with the amazing and ...  Read the complete review

If 'Hate Crew Deathroll' represented the start of Children of Bodom's decline, this is an even lower point, and the worst thing is that it's not even all that bad, just depressingly mediocre. The band is still clinging desperately to some threads of its original, once-distinctive sound, but has now moved on to a slower, duller and more insultingly angst-ridden style of melodic death metal. The slower tempo is perhaps the most disappointing aspect of all, lacking any of the excitement of previous Bodom releases and failing to compensate with any particularly memorable groove riffs, reaching its dullest moment in the plodding 'Punch Me I Bleed.' Janne Warman's ...  Read the complete review