Here it is, the new single from Children Of Bodom. I will state that Children Of Bodom is my favorite band, so I suppose someone like myself would be more critical than a casual fan. I liked Follow The Reaper a lot, it wasn’t as good as Hatebreeder, but I wasn’t really expecting that either, so in other words I was not disappointed. However, I was disappointed with the first single from Follow The Reaper, which was Hate Me! It wasn’t a bad song, but I’ll tell you one thing, aside from the W.A.S.P. cover, it was my least favorite track on Follow The Reaper. So how does You’re Better Off Dead fair? In short, I think the song is very solid and well done. Children Of Bodom have sort of changed their sound again, not a drastic change, mind you, but they appear to have dropped all Black Metal influences from a musical standpoint. No blast beats, no semi-raw production, etc, so in a way it’s not a far stretch from Follow The Reaper, however, they seem to be more Power Metal-ish musically(keep in mind this is based from one song, so the rest of the upcoming CD may be different). Meaning that the guitars are even more Power Metal like, and the chorus is actually very catchy- and this was a big surprise to me! The tone of the guitars is still a lot heavier and darker sounding than typical Power Metal, and furthermore, the odd melodic Death Metal influence still shows up, so you know what, I’m going to consider these guys extreme Power Metal from now on, because lets face it, Children Of Bodom play with a lot of power and energy, so why not?

The best aspect about You’re Better Off Dead is the leads, both from the guitars and keyboards. They are very well done, pretty much at Hatebreeder level; I was very impressed with how intricate and well placed they were. I haven’t done an exact count but I think there is something like 4-6 leads here, and none of them are pointless wankery either. The other track on this single is a Ramones cover called Somebody Put Something In My Drink. Personally I can’t stand The Ramones at all, but surprisingly, this cover is not bad. Nothing amazing, but it was kind of fun and catchy for some strange reason; it's much better than the W.A.S.P. cover they did last time, which I can’t say I liked very much.

All in all this single shows great promise for the next Children Of Bodom release, that is assuming you liked Follow The Reaper. If you were one of those people who liked Hatebreeder but not Follow The Reaper, then I would say there is a chance you will be disappointed once again, but we’ll see I guess. If you’ve never liked Children Of Bodom, you might want to listen to the single and start with a fresh opinion, because their sound is starting to move away from the Black/Death Metal with neo-classical influences that was present on Something Wild, and to a lesser extent on Hatebreeder. They are more catchy and accessible now, with Alexi Laiho's vocals being further refined. Personally, I would have preferred that they kept on the same path that they started with Something Wild and Hatebreeder because it was more unique and intricate, but this will have to do- which isn’t really a bad thing because I still find Children Of Bodom a very enjoyable band to listen to at this point.