Modern Classics- Children Of Bodom: “Something Wild”

It’s been awhile, but we finally found something in the album collection that could be considered a modern classic.

By now, many people familiar with melodic metalcore, melodic death metal, or those more into european styled metal are already familiar with Children Of Bodom. Some newer fans may not have heard their earlier, or even earliest material.

For those who haven’t heard Children Of Bodom, the best description that could be given is that they focus their sound heavily on Finnish styled power metal, with lots of emphasis placed on flashy guitar work and keyboards, with a slightly poppy sound, but with harsh vocals instead of clean soaring singing.

“Something Wild” has a focus that later albums would start to stray from, that being the classical music influence, especially through the guitar and keyboard runs. In comparison to almost all other Children Of Bodom albums, this one features the least flashy guitar solos, the least flashy keyboards, it’s the least produced, the loosest of all Children Of Bodom albums. You can tell that the fast songs and fast portions are being played to their limit, yet on successive Children Of Bodom records the band is able to outdo themselves in the race for faster tempos. Why would we here at Nile River consider “Something Wild” the best out of their discography? Despite being the least skilled Children Of Bodom album, it has an urgency to the craft of the songs. With this first album, we hear a youthful bunch of musicians experiment and forge a unique sound right out of the gate. It would be something that other bands in Finland would soon attempt to clone after Children Of Bodom’s success, and later would become the reason for some metalcore bands to get a keyboardist.

The album “Something Wild” created a stir upon it’s release, and while the timing of 1997 is generally unimportant in the underground world of extreme music, the 90's would provide the building blocks for the next generation of musicians.

9/10

Children Of Bodom
Children Of Bodom At Spinefarm Records