Sonata Who?
It would appear that in some cases the sword is most definitely more powerful than the pen. Sonata Arctica, with their brilliantly written songs and beautiful vocals, left a huge crowd in varying states of sheer bliss. Surely, Children of Bodom can’t top that?
An hour later, it was time to find out if they could, and the answer was yes. Alexi and co quite simply laid waste to Sonata’s attempts within the first song. Sonata may have had the element of surprise, what with Bloodstock being their first UK show, but Children of Bodom have proven once more that they’ve racked up some ferocious stage presence from their years together as a band.
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Alexi quite simply ordered the crowd to follow the songs, and Children of Bodom have the unique ability to change their music depending on the crowd’s chanting or silences, something most bands can’t do. The problem with a few of the bands had been that, despite playing perfectly good music, they had simply been overwhelmed by the huge amount of people, and had either tried (and failed) to take control, or simply fizzled out towards the end of each song. Children of Bodom never had this problem, because they never lost the crowd. The whole band had the crowd eating out of their hands, effortlessly causing massive chants and huge cheers with the slightest of calling, something bands like Primal Fear and Edenbridge never found the ability to do.
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However, despite his astounding guitar playing and the ability to bark vocals like a dog in a vice, Alexi was not the man of the night. Keys master Janne Warman looked positively mellow whenever Alexi challenged him to a solo duel, yet during some of the more ferocious Bodom songs, he was screaming along with the crowd and he connected with them, something that some of the less experience bands failed to do.
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Children of Bodom have spent a long time in mainland Europe, and as a result they are at the forefront of metal there. Now it’s our turn. We demand to see Sixpounder, Warheart and Downfall just one more time.
To view all photos taken during this set click here. There are 18 available.