children of bodom skeletons in the closet

Released: 21 September 2009 Label: Spinefarm UK

Children of Bodom are well known for their love of covering songs from a variety of genres and have just released this compilation of all the ones they have done over the years plus a few new ones.

It would probably be hard to find a more varied collection of songs, which range from Slayer to Britney Spears tracks! Everything has of course been given the Bodom treatment so expect Alexi Laiho’s screaming vocals (barring a brief Billy Idol impression), lots of double bass drums and the obligatory keyboard solo!

There is a real sense of fun to this compilation and it is obvious that each track has been done for the sheer joy of the band being able to replicate some favourite tunes. Obviously some tracks work better than others, surprisingly the version of Andrew W.K’s She is Beautiful is probably better than the original whereas the version of Ooops!...I Did it Again will no doubt continue to divide opinion!

Another good thing about this album is there is an e-book to accompany it, which gives some background to the original artists and why Children of Bodom chose the song to record, a nice bonus to give listeners a chance to find out about the previous versions. Link to the e-book.

Definitely party music... get some drinks in and just go along with it but make sure you don’t take it too seriously they certainly didn’t and they know it!!

by Claudia Glazzard