Here as a part of their ‘Ugly’ world tour, Children of Bodom were far from ugly tonight as they shredded through an amazingly tight set. Frontman (and every girl’s dream guy apparently) Alexi Laiho led the charge from the Finnish lads, and the amps were set to 11 from start to finish.
Opening up with the carnage of new song Relentless Reckless Forever and fan favourite Are You Dead Yet no doubt made any doubters sit up and pay attention. Metal class was in session and Children Of Bodom wanted to cram like never before; this was serious stuff from a band that clearly thrives on performing. There was some furiously fantastic frenetic fretwork with Living Dead Beat, Bodom After Midnight, and In Your Face highlighting the band’s prowess on the stage. One could go so far as to call Children of Bodom a bunch of show-offs, but you certainly can’t begrudge them their well-deserved respect.
While the Big Top was far from sold out, the amount of cheering certainly made up for any shortfall in audience volume – not surprising given Children of Bodom’s crunching one-two of Angels Don’t Kill and Downfall to wrap up the main set, which also included Bodom Beach Terror, Hate Me, and Shovel Knockout. It was a knockout indeed; these guys aren’t the type to lose any momentum in their performance – it’s always going to be fast & loud.
After a brief break, Children Of Bodom returned with the pulverising encore of Blooddrunk and Hate Crew Deathroll – and the crowd went appropriately wild after such an epic night of metal. Now in their 18th year, this is an act that has broken new ground for incorporating different metal genres such as melodic metal, thrash metal, progressive metal, speed metal, and neo-classical metal. And for that, they are to be applauded.
