Band:	Children Of Bodom
Album:	Relentless Reckless Forever
Style:	Extreme power metal
Release date:	March 08, 2011
Guest review by:	Svneatr

01. Not My Funeral
02. Shovel Knockout
03. Roundtrip To Hell And Back
04. Pussyfoot Miss Suicide
05. Relentless Reckless Forever
06. Ugly
07. Cry Of The Nihilist
08. Was It Worth It?
09. Northpole Throwdown
10. Party All The Time [Eddie Murphy cover] [iTunes bonus]
11. Angels Don't Kill [Live at Bloodstock] [Japanese bonus]
12. Every Time I Die [Live at Bloodstock] [Japanese bonus]

[Digipak Edition Bonus DVD]
+ Was It Worth It? music video
+ Making of Was It Worth It?
+ Angels Don't Kill - Live at Bloodstock
+ Everytime I Die - Live at Bloodstock
+ The Rockhouse Method with Alexi Laiho - DVD trailer
+ The Rockhouse Method with Alexi Laiho - instructional DVD excerpt

Imagine a man walking down the road, traveling right down the middle, never wavering, never stopping. Maybe it's dark out, a slight echo to his footsteps. All of a sudden, the man stops. His ears perk up for a second, shrugs it off and keeps right on walking. That is about as close as Children Of Bodom are on this record to returning to their classic sound.

There are certainly more melodies on this album. However, they still aren't catchy enough to draw the listener in. Their rhythms have always been simple and a tad lackluster, but it was the haunting melodies that kept it from becoming boring. Without them, the album is just that... boring. It has some highlights. "My Funeral" is a ripping tune, the best off Relentless Reckless Forever. The song quality goes down from there.

I know they will never write another Follow The Reaper and I'm not even looking for another one. They wrote a decent heavier-thrash style album with Hatecrew Deathroll and at this point, I'd even welcome another Are You Dead Yet? (in fact that's looking pretty good about now), but it sounds like they're trying to sound like Slipknot or Killswitch Engage. The keyboard riffs (which were a staple in their music) are almost non-existent on Relentless Reckless Forever. I cannot hum a single keyboard part from memory on this album.

All in all, a snoozefest. It has a short run time, clocking in at about 40 minutes, but I get bored at about the 15 minute mark. It just has too few memorable moments. Don't get me started on the production....