I can't believe someone is still going with this "come on, they can't make the same album again and again." Like I've said countless times, they USED TO MAKE DIFFERENT ALBUMS, now they're doing the same thrash album again and again and it's getting boring, they should've steered into some exciting musical direction after AYDY but what happened was they made Blooddrunk and RRF instead, which are like "we didn't have time or energy this time to make anything epic so we came up with this to keep this going for another few years."
It's like they're trying to be two different bands at the same time and the mix is quite confusing. I'm sure if they started now they would not be "Children Of Bodom." What they COULD do is make music that's both shitloads heavier and darker, while also being shitloads more atmospheric and mythical. Then incorporate that into a fitting album artwork theme with the Lake/forest/Reaper. Emotion is extremely important in making heavy riffs sound mean as well. I just don't think rapid use of the sixth string equals heaviness or that icecream keyboard melodies instantly equal emotion. What I think should happen is someone should have a deep conversation with Alexi about vision, emotion and passion in music, and an outsider to tell him what are the key elements in COB's music, cos he's probably too close to it himself. If I'd go to him, I'd suggest to instead of melodic thrash to write atmospheric brutality. I'm just a creative guy, I'm not gonna start suggesting what scales to use or anything like that.