Children Of Bodom

Skeletons In The Closet

Written by: PP on 12/10/2009 23:38:45

Finland's Children Of Bodom aren't just one of the best melodic death metal bands around, they're also renowned for their covers which have surfaced every now and then as bonus tracks on different versions of their studio albums and other releases, b-sides or even leaked bootlegs on various file sharing platforms throughout their career. While many of them are quite easy to come by if you know your way around torrents, some of them aren't, and this is where the band (or Spinefarm?) come in with "Skeletons In The Closet". It's a collection of covers from all over their career and a couple of brand new ones added for good measure. Die hard fans probably already own many of these, but for those of us who don't - like the undersigned - it is as good a place as any to start.

Scorpions, Sepultura, Slayer, Iron Maiden, Poison, and Suicidal Tendencies are among the list of famous artists receiving a Children Of Bodom treatment to their sound, so the focus of the record seems to be in seminal 80s heavy metal tracks for the most part, with a couple of oddities scattered around here and there (including covers of Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell" and Britney Spears' "Oops! I Did It Again"). As opposed to faithful note by note renditions of the originals (why do some bands do that, what's the point?), all songs now sound like they were written in Gothenburg by these Finnish lads, which is awesome especially because the melodies are still clearly recognizable in the midst of Alexi's growls. Another positive is the track selection, because instead of opting for reworking some of the more obscure material by the selected artists, CoB mostly go for the biggest classics, ensuring that everyone will be familiar with the originals, which is kind of the point with doing covers.

I'm sure that in some cases fans of the bands will cry something akin to "SACRILEGE!!" at the Bodom guys, but the truth is that most tracks have been rewired rather well. "Looking At My Back Door" (Creedence Clearwater Revival, 1970), "She Is Beautiful" (Andrew W.K, 2002), "Hellion" (W.A.S.P, 1986) might actually sound better than the originals in some ears...I don't have the balls to suggest "Aces High" in this context. And with 18 tracks overall, you have lots to choose from next time you're trying to troll some 80s heavy metal warriors. Nevertheless, the album entertains the listener for a few spins, which is when you'll starting asking yourself if you wouldn't rather just have another CoB studio album instead?

7

Download: Aces High, Looking At My Back Door, She Is Beautiful
For the fans of: Melodeath covers of 80s classics, Children Of Bodom
Listen: Myspace

Release date 22.09.2009
Spinefarm / Universal

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