Thar she blows (well, hopefully not)

I feel a little like I've caved, but also gone in a different direction. Let's see what everyone thinks.


Album of the week - Tokyo Warhearts by Children of Bodom. I've already mentioned this album before, but I don't think a brief note gives it the credit it deserves, so I'm giving it a full expose. Everything about this album is amazing - if I had to pick one metal album to live with the rest of my life, this would be a top contender. It's my favorite Bodom album by far - though a lot of later stuff is absent, this album is decked out with classics - Lake Bodom, Bed of Razors, and others. This was back when "Warhearts" was going to be a new album. There's not a song on this album that isn't good. While there's not a lot to be said for the stage presence on this album - Alexi Laiho is not Jimmy Urine - for some reason I find the death growl announcement of each new track intoxicating. And, as Alexi points out, Tokyo loves "fucking heavy-metal!" The sound quality on this album is superb - unlike live albums that have shoddy production and require overdubs, this album sounds like a straight-up studio production - and at the bands request, there were no overdubs, making it even more extraordinary. The group even adds some fills, licks etc. into songs where they're not found on studio albums. Just amazing.

And, in a bizarre twist, the track of the week is - War of Razors from this same album. A live only track that basically consists of a duel between Bodom guitarist Alexi 'Wild-Child' Laiho and the amazing talented Janne 'Warman' Wirman. I could not have any more respect for these two musicians - and in case I haven't mentioned them enough, check out the band Warmen as well - it's a side project from this very same CoB keyboard player, and takes all the delicious power metal sound of Bodom, only more melodic, less growling, and more instrumental songs. For intros, I reccomend their album Accept the Fact - very, very good. As for the track in question - the guitar solo at the end is one of the best and most delicious things I've ever heard. Everyone should listen to this slightly over two-minute masterpiece.

I'm not sure if this is a cop-out or not - but this album certainly warrants being album of the week. I hope everyone ends up liking it.

Megaupload link is here. OMG!