CHILDREN OF BODOM
Live at DirecTV Music Hall, São Paulo, Brazil
November, 25th 2001
Review and photos by Thiago Martins
South American Field Agent for Metal-Rules.com
I'm not used to going to gigs on Sundays. This one, I think, was my
first one on this day. The place was the good old Palace, or as they call
it nowadays, DirecTV Music Hall. As I got there, the opening band was
already playing, a Brazilian act called Monster. Well, they did a great
promotional work for their album THE NIGHTMARE CONTINUES, and I was a bit
curious to listen to them. They sometimes play hard rock, sometimes
traditional classic metal, sometimes thrash metal, sometimes something
near "mallcore." Personally, nothing really made me pay a lot
attention, except for their very good version of Judas Priest's
"Diamonds and Rust", the fast version. They also did a cover of
Medageth's "Countdown to Extinction", but I really don't care
about it.
Children of Bodom was the next to play. Those Finnish guys have
impressed me with their debut, SOMETHING
WILD. After that, I haven't followed their career, but I was always
trying to listen to some of their songs and so on. So, I didn't know many
things about them.
I didn't like very much their last effort, FOLLOW
THE REAPER. I think they have played a lot of songs off it (honestly,
I don't know their setlist correctly), but they seemed better than when I
heard. Alexi Laiho has good vocals, and it's interesting the way it
contrasts with the keyboard lines of Janne Warman and all their melodic
instrumental. Their sound is a bit like a power melodic metal, but more
aggressive than most of the bands of this style.
They played great songs like "Lake Bodom", "Silent
Night, Bodom Night", "Bodom After Midnight", "Warhearts",
and "Deadnight Warrior". Even when the band had some problems
with the equipments of Alexi Laiho, the other guys done greatly playing an
instrumental piece just to keep the crowd warm. Well, except for this
problem, the sound was getting better as the gig was developing. In the
end, it was perfect.
Ok, there were some boring parts in the gigs: the individual solos-
mainly the Jaska Raatikainen drum solo and a 'keyboard versus guitar: who
can play faster' part. But the guys really did a great job, they have a
great stage performance, running along the stage during all the gig,
always trying to interact with the crowd. Sometimes I didn't understand
the mind of those boys. During the gig, the keyboard player Janne Warman
left the stage a lot of times, or he played like "oh, look how easy
and boring those parts are, but I'm having fun anyway". It was funny
to see that he seemed more interested in his beer than in his keys, but he
did a good job - although I don't like his style of soloing.
To finish the gig, the band played the almighty song of their last
album "Every time I Die" and, to make a very fun ending, they
did a cover for Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take it".
Their rendition to this song was faster and more aggressive, but the
crowd, as during all the gig, reacted well, singing, jumping, screaming.
After all, this concert was really good, but I think that, comparing to
what I have seen this year in Brazil, well, I've seen others very much
better. But at least I had a great Sunday night.
