Band:	Children Of Bodom
Album:	Halo Of Blood
Style:	Extreme power metal
Release date:	June 2013

01. Waste Of Skin
02. Halo Of Blood
03. Scream For Silence
04. Transference
05. Bodom Blue Moon (The Second Coming)
06. The Days Are Numbered
07. Dead Man's Hand On You
08. Damage Beyond Repair
09. All Twisted
10. One Bottle And A Knee Deep
11. Crazy Nights [Loudness Cover] [Limited Edition Bonus]
12. Sleeping In My Car [Roxette Cover] [Limited Edition Bonus]

The singles released for this album, "Transference" and "Halo Of Blood", set off a storm of anticipation and excitement around this album due to the fact that these songs sounded reminiscent of the Children Of Bodom's classical and often most cherished early albums. But now that the album is out and the dust is settled, does Halo Of Blood really live up to the hype?

Not quite. Unfortunately the two previously mentioned singles are the best songs on the album and while other songs often do have a good dose of that classical Bodom past, they also have a (un)healthy serving of the sloppy melodeath-mess Children Of Bodom has become.

In fact, this album is essentially a stitched-together medley of Children Of Bodom's entire discography, distilled down into 10 tracks. There's a Hatebreeder-esque intro here, an Are You Dead Yet? riff there, topped off with a Bloodrunk breakdown. These sort-of Frankenstein combinations plague the album, so while a song might start off sounding very promising, twenty seconds later and it's a piece of crap.

"Transference" and "Halo of Blood" are definitely surprise treats considering the material the Hatecrew has been shelling out as of late, but even these tracks can't prop up the entire album. When put into the greater context of Bodom's early discography, they sound like they would belong on the B-Side of Something Wild rather than Something Wild itself. And that's the tale of the album, "Days are Numbered" is nothing more than a Hatebreeder rip-off and even "Waste of Skin" has a weak and Slayer-derivative chorus.

So, while yes, this is arguably the best album since Hate Crew Deathroll, being the fifth best Children Of Bodom album is not a very tough feat. And I would even place the lackluster Are You Dead Yet? above this one, at least that album had a voice of its own.