ASHLEIGH MATTERN
Editor-in-Chief

Thrash, black metal, death metal, heavy metal, power metal — whatever you call it, it rocks, and Children of Bodom are kings of the genre.

COB had their first headlining show in Saskatoon on Oct. 1 at the Odeon.

Preceded by lacklustre but solid performances from Skeletonwitch and The Black Dahlia Murder, the Finnish metal band delivered a stellar show. They played a great selection of the best songs from across their collection of albums and rounded off the night with favourites, “Every Time I Die” and “Hate Crew Death Roll.”

Lead guitarist and singer Alexi Laiho has an engaging stage presence and distinctive singing style. Laiho is aware of the crowd and the energy in the room and responds accordingly. One of the most endearing moments (if you can call any moment “endearing” in a metal show) was when Laiho flung bottles of water to thirsty moshers.

Part of COB’s draw is their unique sound. They have been described as melodic death metal and this particular sound is due to both Laiho’s quick fingers and their inclusion of keyboardist Janne Wirman.

A nice touch to the set-up had Wirman playing the keyboard at an angle so the crowd could see what he was doing. And, as always, I thoroughly enjoyed the duets between Laiho and Wirman.

Though I didn’t experience the mosh-pit myself (a nasty mosh-pit-caused concussion a few years ago convinced me to leave the moshing to bigger, braver people) it looked like a ripper, especially when COB hit the stage.

Safely tucked away in the back with sweaty moshers taking a break and people too old or too drunk to mosh, I had a good view of everyone who walked through the door. Since Skeletonwitch and Black Dahlia Murder didn’t grab my attention, I spent my time waiting for the main attraction by people watching.

For an all-ages show, the crowd was surprisingly mature, which was refreshing. There’s nothing worse than a bunch of hormone-high teens crowding a place (see any hip-hop show). The teens who did show up were probably outcasts at their school and, if my theories are correct, the adults at the show were the grown-up versions of those kids. I felt right at home.

It was the night of the black band T-shirt and spontaneous head-banging. Did someone phone everyone ahead of time and tell them to wear a black T-shirt and jeans? If so, I missed the memo. Standing at the back dressed like an indie-rock kid, I stuck out like a sore thumb.

Watching people head-banging was endlessly amusing. Almost everyone who walked in the door after the show spontaneously whipped their hair around or did the “really fast nod” head-banging. Since constant head-banging can only really be done by the professionals, audience members would resort to only the occasional spurt when the mood hit them.

My biggest complaint about the show has nothing to do with any of the bands that played. What bothers me is that the Odeon has been hogging all of the best shows for some time now, and if they don’t sell enough tickets they don’t open up the seating space upstairs. I spent most of the night jealously guarding some of the only leaning space in the room and, being of a petite build, had to balance precariously on a ledge if I wanted to see the stage.

As mentioned before, the opening bands were good but not great. There certainly were fans in the crowd for both Skeletonwitch and Black Dahlia Murder, and their music was enjoyable, but both bands have a cookie-cutter death metal sound. There are hundreds of bands that sound exactly the same.

As for the main attraction, COB met my expectations as one of the best metal bands out there. In the past, I have only seen them as an opening band and — while as headliners they gave the same quality and energy as they had as openers — it was refreshing to listen to them play a full set.

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photo Angela Boatwright