Something Wild [Enhanced]

Ah, the album that started all the fuss. Although COB are household names, back in 1997 this album ripped a black hole in the metal world and left most of us trying vainly to pull our jaws up off the floor. We can never really be sure who originated this style of music, as bands like Norther and Kalmah all started around the same time as well, but we can be sure that Something Wild was the worlds first realese of what has been described as extreme power metal. And metal was never the same again.

If you havn't heard of Bodom yet, shame on you, their early stuff's an unholy cross-breeding of the aggressive, thrashing and technical metal of Death's later albums with neoclassical power metal pomp (w/ full on keyboards!) of Stratovarious and the kinda of ultra melodius sweep picking that gives Yngwie Malmsteen's mullet its special sheen. Although the style has been plagerized to death, at the time it took the metal world by storm. Could you really be this cheeesy and this aggresive at the same time? Sure, we'd already had the Gothenburgers showing us death and melody could play nice together, but nothing on the scale of these Beethoven lovers. However, it does work, and bloody well if i may say so.

Through a slick synthesis of timeless classically-tinged melodies, red-raw aggression, atmospheric keyboards, the kind of guitar-hero virtuosity thought lost somewhere in the 80s and an altogether stunning drumming performace by Jaska Raatikainen, COB brough a new, fresh and exciting sound to the metal spectrum. The combination of steller musicianship and original (at the time) songwriting pulled off a major coup in the metal world which had hairy teenagers listening to Bach and taking piano lessons on the weekend. Just give it a whirl for yourself and listen; there's something really, really great going on on this album which, some 13 years later, still sounds bloody great to my ears.

Its also worth noting that this album went completly and utterly against the grain of its time, when guitar solos and keyboards were about as fashionable as scurvy and 'cool' was angsty nu-matal and grungy kerrang dribble. Bodom were at the forefront of bring trad metal sounds and the almighty guitar solo back to the forefront and should be rightly credited so!

While i think Bodom outclassed this album and went on to new heights with their next two releases, Something Wild is worth getting becuase it has its own unique sparkle of magic that other Bodom albums don't have. For one, this is without doubt the Finns at their most raw and chaotic, and despite the ultra-melodic Malmsteem melodies one can clearly discern a wiff of Death in the background. Songs like Into the Shadows and The Nail have some really dark melodies and an aura of painful desperation that isn't really heard on other Bodom cds. There's also some quite brilliant gothic and creepy undertones such as the use of harpsicord and organ keyboard effects (kinda reminds me of Castlevania on the SNES) which would be stripped from their sound. The power metal cheese, while present, is much more toned down then even Hatebreeder. While later albums were better written, more refined and technically more stunning, Something Wild has its own dark, raw, dangerous and dirty charm that i feel makes it a worthy purchase. Its probably the 3rd best Bodom album (after Follow the Reaper and Hatebreeder) and definitly much better then recent efforts.

Go on, pick it up! its both a pice of metal history and great album to boot!