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Children of Bodom: Something Wild
 These guys can shred for a black metal band! From the opening seconds of track one it's all chops, tastefully and melodically played with a taste for everchanging riffs. In my mind lack of repetition is always a plus concerning any band not aiming for the dancefloor. Children Of Bodom keep it moving, restricting the longer prog tunes to two out of seven songs, and even then altering the dynamics and tempo of each several times throughout the songs' length. It's interesting to hear Wildchild's voice morph from Ihsahn-meets-Devin Townsend black metal vocals to the death-like grunts of Napalm's Barney during "In The Shadows".
Unlike many bands who are recently moving away from black metal altogether toward a more classic approach, Children Of Bodom still flirt unabashedly with the genre, particularly the blast beats and screeching vocals. However, rather than the atmospheric extended notes played by the keyboards on typical BM albums, Janne Wirman plays his synths closer in style to someone like Jens Johannssen from Stratovarius and Yngwie's old band (during his solo on "Lake Bodom" you can even hear a little Dream Theater knockoff).
Additionally, the guitars are much more likely to be playing melodic leads than rhythmic tremolo picking. At a mere seven tracks, a short but exciting EP from what could turn out to be one of Nuclear Blast's most significant signings. Unless you necessarily equate anything remotely catchy with emotion and happen to like your black metal cold and sterile, then Something Wild should satisfy your black metal cravings even if you detest the whole retro-thrash movement (which doesn't suitably describe Children Of Bodom's sound).
Track Listing
1. Deadnight Warrior
2. In the Shadows
3. Red Light in My Eyes, Pt. 1
4. Red Light in My Eyes, Pt. 2
5. Lake Bodom
6. The Nail
7. Touch Like Angel of Death
8. Silent Scream (Slayer Cover song-Deluxe Edition Bonus Track)
9. Don't Stop at the Top (Scorpions Cover song-Deluxe Edition Bonus Track)
Added: January 1st 2004
Reviewer: SoT Archives
Score: 
Related Link: More Information
Hits: 4932
Language: english
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Children of Bodom: Something Wild
Posted by Pete Pardo, SoT Staff Writer on 2005-01-18 19:42:37
My Score: 
With the release of Something Wild in 1997, Children of Bodom unleashed a potential that was quite enormous. Here was an extremely young band, creating intensely intricate death/black metal, that bordered on power and progressive metal due to the complex nature of the songs. This was thrash for the new era, led by Alexi Laiho's gravelly screams and wild & acrobatic guitar work, these guys merged "heavy" and "technical" like few bands were doing at the time. Sure, their songs were a little immature here, and at various points during the CD the band seemed to try to get too cute with some of the extended instrumental passages, but there's no mistaking the talent that was brewing on this major league debut.
The two part "Red Light in My Eyes" is a great example of atmospheric and technical death metal, with Laiho's tortured grumblings, loads of symphonic keyboards, and walls of heavy rhythm guitar and lightning quick solos. "Lake Bodom" reeks of neo-classical prog/power metal bands like Stratovarius, Symphony X, or Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force, while the band shows off their awesome chops on the insane workout of "The Nail".
Extreme metal for the new intellectual metal fan? Perhaps. Whatever you classify it as, Something Wild was the emergence of one of the most important new bands on the metal scene, and although they later honed their style on subsequent releases, this is where it all began.
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