Children of Boredom

Sometimes a little bit of masturbatory metal revelry is just what the doctor ordered. In the case of Swedish power/melodic/technical metal maestros, that prescription comes filled in the form of Blooddrunk. A 40-minute rampage through crunching riffs, chain-gun rhythms, climaxing guitar crescendos, and the occasional lovely keyboard flourish, Blooddrunk provides a fix for just about every metal addiction there is. And just like any good addiction, the 10 tracks collected here come in fast, embed themselves in your nervous system, and leave you lying naked on the floor of a bus terminal bathroom, shivering and begging for more. The relative brevity of these songs, with only one (barely) scraping five minutes, allows the band to hit again and again, like some wonderful sucker punch to the eardrums.

Particularly heavy hitting are the title track and "Banned from Heaven." The former begins with an almost mystical keyboard riff, adding a prismatic sheen to the punishing rhythms and fierce guitar attack that follows. The result is like an oil slick on a lake of fire. "Banned" is the album's longest track and puts its five minutes to good use in providing a bit of breathing room. This is about as slow as Children of Bodom get, and the balladeering works quite nicely with their often flowery guitar work. Don't get too comfortable, though — "Roadkill Morning" answers right back, reminding you of why you're here in the first place.