Are You Dead Yet?

With the presence of brutal riffs and keyboards, Finland's Children of Bodom sounds at times like Fear Factory fronted by a hardcore screamer, especially on their 2005 release, Are You Dead Yet? The group's fifth studio album (which was co-produced by Children of Bodom and Mikko Karmila, the chap who produced their previous outing, 2003's Hate Crew Deathroll) shows the quintet plowing full steam ahead, as the venom continues to bubble to the surface throughout. But the group also has an unmistakable prog metal edge to boot, as the tricky interplay between guitarist Alexi Wildchild Laiho (who also doubles as vocalist) and keyboardist Janne Warmen on "Punch Me I Bleed" certainly brings to mind Dream Theater. And since it's nearly impossible to hear any new European metal band from the mid-'90s onward and not hear an unmistakable Iron Maiden influence, the guitar work between Laiho and Roope Latvala in "Bastards of Bodom" certainly brings to mind Dave Murray and Adrian Smith. Although they may often be lumped in with the majority of other European "extreme metal" bands, there is definitely a progressive air that surrounds Children of Bodom.