Metal Underground.com

A long-standing stalwart of the European metal scene, Children Of Bodom sallies forth every few years to drop another musically solid (but lyrically less so...) album that generally won't break any boundaries but will also generally please fans. Here we are two years after “Halo Of Blood” and the cycle continues with “I Worship Chaos.” Get ready for punishing riffs, gang chants, and a bunch of unnecessary cries of “mother fucker!” and “shut the fuck up!” across the disc.

“I Worship Chaos” is pretty much what any fan has come to expect over just shy of 20 years of Bodom. The album is usually mid-to-fast paced, slightly on the technical side, and has the classic interplay between keyboards and guitars that's been on every album.

On the changing side, “I Worship Chaos” was recorded as a four piece without former guitarist Roope Latvala, so there's a slight shift in the guitar tones, but overall it sounds like the last few releases. The speed also gets taken down a notch for “Prayer of the Afflicted” and the atmospheric “All For Nothing,” which is an anomaly for the usually frantically paced Children of Bodom.

The keyboards do have a bit less of a presence overall as well (not really showing up at all until the end of the second track), but there's still plenty of classic synth-heavy material here. Meanwhile the expected unnecessary outros pop up with the odd slowing down sound effects at the end of “Widdershins” and the in-studio laughing and talking at the end of the title track.

There's nothing outright bad on any of these songs, and if you got into “Halo of Blood” or “Blooddrunk” there's more of that sound to tide you over, but on the other hand there isn't much that's exciting and will grab you over any other Children of Bodom release. “I Worship Chaos” is solid, dependable Bodom with only minor changes, so existing fans should make a point to pick it up while anyone who stopped paying attention around '05 can continue to do so.