The "Let's guess who's the new axeman for COB" Thread

Some goods points there. And I agree that COB needs to work on their on-stage persona and not just Alexi but as a band. That said, I think they can be forgiven because, no offense intended, they are Finns. But since Alexi is Americanized, he might as well think about it. There are just a lot of issues there. And Alexi's voice is the least of them. People should at least grant him that he has improved enormously over the years.

One problem that keeps COB from functioning as unit on-stage is Janne. That guy is just never into it, ok, maybe for 1-2 minutes in an entire set. But otherwise he's wandering off stage, making faces, and just looking like he'd rather be somewhere else. Get the guy a Keytar, see if things improve. If not, record his bits and have him stay at home instead of on the road. The second issue is that the rest of the band also doesn't contribute much to a stage presence. I'm not sure if it's Alexi who demands that so he gets all the attention or whether it's just deference on the part of the others. Henkka just stares into the void but he is into the music. Roope used to interact with people, which was cool, but he also didn't quite look like he was into the music. Alexander was ideal in that regard, plus his presence allowed Alexi to relax.

And that seems to be the main problem in my view. Alex just doesn't come across as relaxed enough to enjoy things and to kick ass during solos. Sure, he's singing, and playing guitar, and playing crazy guitar, but still. He's been doing it long enough. Now he just looks uncomfortable, too worried about making mistakes or others making mistakes, not sure which, but it is leading him to making more mistakes than necessary. He should just trust that the other guys know what their doing, and trust his skills. Get rid of some of the monitors surrounding him. Some of that 80s arrogant guitar god persona that he tries to adopt doesn't suit him. He's got to talk in between songs. Problem is he says the same things during every show, every year, year after year. Set aside the scripted stuff and just go with the flow.

All this is why I was hoping they would get an American guitar player so that some confidence would rub off on Alexi, someone who could share the burden and pressure and at the same time project some good energy to the audience. While I do think it's cool they're staying all Finnish, I had to chuckle when you said "bring someone who creates excitement with character or looks or musical reputation" because I just don't see a Finnish guy fitting the bill. But then, maybe some of you guys know just the right person.

I'll have to think about your setlist theory. While a concert should be a wild trip, not so sure I want it to be some emotional rollercoaster like you propose. I just want to be blown away from the first minute till the last. COB has a bunch of great energetic and energizing songs, but many they don't play--All Twisted, Widdershins. At least Downfall is never missing, except from your list. I think if they'd put on more of a show, we'd be less concerned about what songs and what order they play.
 
Yeah. I just think Henkka's performance is really good and he looks healthy. Alexi just needs to eat some more fruit and make sure he wears the costumes that are so characteristic to him. Maybe the new guitarist should be someone who's young and charismatic. COB already have a questionable amount of cheerfulness for a metal band, so they need to find someone interesting who takes their music seriously but isn't necessarily a corpsepaint guy cos that's not their thing. As for Janne, they just need to do better songs and include epic unison solos, it was their speciality but they no longer do that. And yeah sometimes they have the exact same passage for a song they had back in 2003. Well, they didn't go in my desired direction with the last album so I shouldn't give a rats ass what they do. They should do an album that's got 3 minute songs which are full of unison solos, atmosphere and all kinds of heaviness and extremety, like these glimpses from the end of the world that come like comets and disappear leaving an unforgettable experience in their wake, packed with musical idea and epic flow. Trust me, it would put their slow-ass thrash songs to shame, can't stand those uninspired forced five minute drag ons. All they need is one cool riff and one nice melody for each song and everything should be derived from there, playing with drums, tempos, formulas and moods... more speed, more choirs, blasting drums and atmospheric riffs, maybe a dystopic theme for the album... well, just my thoughts.
 
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Many interesting thing have been said.
1- I must agree that I completly forgot about Janne not "giving a flying fuck motherfucker" when he's on stage. And it's actually really pulling down the band's performance live. Something needs to be done about him. And Joonas, I don't think he will do anything like he used to do, Janne admitted that he isn't in the kind of "virtuoso" mood anymore, he has "grown up" haha.
2- As for the "ideal setlist" I really like the idea of the ambiant choice, but as it was said before, I also prefer to go to a concert to be blown away. I like powerful stuff live, not necessarly with atmosphere (which I love to have on cd though). But I'd prefer to have some headbanging old songs like Nails, Mask of Sanity, Lil' Bloodred Ridin' Hood, You're Better Off Dead, etc. Or even Trashed Lost and Strungout which I've always wanted to hear live.
3- For the talking between songs, I think it's nice he does it, but it's terrible that it's the same text over and over again. Just boring. Really boring.
4- I like Laiho's vocals now though I prefered the old "bad" ones.
5- I always thought Henkka was CoB's Sami in a more moderated way. As he always interacted with the audience. Even got to shake his hand in the middle of a song which would never happen with "Mr." Laiho.
 
Soon, we will all know who's the new scythe of Bodom or as they anno said "Now, the end is drawing near...";)
 
Well, what is Janne supposed to do when he's not playing? Wave his hair? Them saying they've "grown up and they didn't know what they were doing in the past" is just a defense to not accept the reality they did better music when they were kids. They should find nostalgia to their past and be willing to explore new dimensions, cos what they do with IWC doesn't materialize the potential of this band musically. What they need is dark riffs and epic melodies, unison solos, screams and more speed. My philosophy is we need to exploit our full potential as human beings. If you have keys to do a masterpiece in your life, you have to do it.
 
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^ +1

That's exactly it. They need to find the nostalgia in the music they made soon 20 years ago. They talk about not wanting to make the same album again and again but I find their albums from AYDY to IWC more similar than their first 4. And they won't be able to reinvent their music every album as they seem to think. Maybe Alexi can't find the time (to avoid saying lazy) to practice enough to make the epic music he did with early Bodom and Sinergy.
 
Hatebreeder01 said:
^ +1

That's exactly it. They need to find the nostalgia in the music they made soon 20 years ago. They talk about not wanting to make the same album again and again but I find their albums from AYDY to IWC more similar than their first 4. And they won't be able to reinvent their music every album as they seem to think. Maybe Alexi can't find the time (to avoid saying lazy) to practice enough to make the epic music he did with early Bodom and Sinergy.
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According to Arcane and some others on this forum the older songs are easier to play, so the amount of practice Alexi does nowadays shouldn't matter.
 
Well, I never understood this. I can play so many songs from the new albums so easily while I'm still strugling a lot to learn the early ones... So maybe I'm weird but I think the first album were more technical.
 
IDontKnowWhatToWrite said:
Well, I never understood this. I can play so many songs from the new albums so easily while I'm still strugling a lot to learn the early ones... So maybe I'm weird but I think the first album were more technical.
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The riffs have become harder I think. At least the intro in SKO is pretty damn insane, and the verses in Ugly were a real challenge back in 2011 when I tried learning it. As a comparison, the riffs in SNBN, COD and ETID are all relatively easy. The melodies may be different. Then again, I'm not the best person to talk about this as I play my own stuff 90% of the time and thus can't play all that many songs by others. ETID is the only song from Bodom I can play from start to finish.
 
I think the problem is that some of you guys think that composing is sitting down and saying "alright, let's make an album like FTR which is what some fans really want." And then a couple of months later, you have FTR2. I don't think it works that way. The creative process is a little different, it's not entirely under your control. Even if you sat down pen and paper and guitar in hand to create FTR2, what you end up with ultimately could be very different and not sound like FTR at all, it could be brilliant or it could suck balls. And the way Alexi has been explaining IWC confirms it, you can only create what comes out of you at the time. And from the perspective of any artist, you've already done FTR, your over it and past it. Why would you even want to create FTR, again? You want FTR, well it's already been done. The kind of stuff you guys are asking is what leads to some pretty ugly stuff. COB could have hired some producer who thinks he knows everything, handed him IWC, and he could have re-arranged stuff and added FTR elements to it and butchered it completely so it doesn't please anyone. Stuff like this has happened and it's not pretty.
 
Well, I found SKO relatively easy to play, but maybe it's just a matter of habits. As for Ugly I struggled a bit but I can play it now without any problems. While I always struggled with N24/7, COB or even YBOD. But yeah there are some pretty simple songs in the first album, but they are not that many. BBT, BOR and that's all I can think of.
 
I totally agree with you dthmtl3 (damn your name dude XD ). I think we can only hope Alexi goes back to this kind of thing naturely, without forcing it. Nobody can say it won't ever happen again. Especially when you hear the last 2 albums, everybody expected something much worse after BD and RRF. And we got 2 awesome albums, sure different, but still awesome.
As for FTR, as you said it so well, we already have it and we should be happy they did it back then, because it could have never happened as well ^^
 
ESA1996 said:
According to Arcane and some others on this forum the older songs are easier to play, so the amount of practice Alexi does nowadays shouldn't matter.
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I know, but I was thinking mainly of the solos. Perhaps that's just my bias since I don't play their new stuff, but to me the soloes Alexi did with Sinergy and early Bodom are harder.

dthmtl3 said:
I think the problem is that some of you guys think that composing is sitting down and saying "alright, let's make an album like FTR which is what some fans really want." And then a couple of months later, you have FTR2. I don't think it works that way. The creative process is a little different, it's not entirely under your control. Even if you sat down pen and paper and guitar in hand to create FTR2, what you end up with ultimately could be very different and not sound like FTR at all, it could be brilliant or it could suck balls. And the way Alexi has been explaining IWC confirms it, you can only create what comes out of you at the time. And from the perspective of any artist, you've already done FTR, your over it and past it. Why would you even want to create FTR, again? You want FTR, well it's already been done. The kind of stuff you guys are asking is what leads to some pretty ugly stuff. COB could have hired some producer who thinks he knows everything, handed him IWC, and he could have re-arranged stuff and added FTR elements to it and butchered it completely so it doesn't please anyone. Stuff like this has happened and it's not pretty.
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I agree on what you say that you can only write what comes out naturally or what is in your heart. Atleast if you want to make soulfull music.
It's probably possible to ''just sit down and write this or that album'', alot of mainstreem music (which is usually shit) is written custom-made for a specific artist. And I don't mean Alexi should try to ''just make FTR2'' but I believe an artist can decide which direction to go and what feelings to look for to color the music. If he ever gets nostalgic about his early work I think it would be reflected in the music he is yet to compose.
Right now I don't think he want to make music similar to HB/FTR and he hasn't been willing to do so for 15 years.
 
Hatebreeder01 said:
I know, but I was thinking mainly of the solos. Perhaps that's just my bias since I don't play their new stuff, but to me the soloes Alexi did with Sinergy and early Bodom are harder.



I agree on what you say that you can only write what comes out naturally or what is in your heart. Atleast if you want to make soulfull music.
It's probably possible to ''just sit down and write this or that album'', alot of mainstreem music (which is usually shit) is written custom-made for a specific artist. And I don't mean Alexi should try to ''just make FTR2'' but I believe an artist can decide which direction to go and what feelings to look for to color the music. If he ever gets nostalgic about his early work I think it would be reflected in the music he is yet to compose.
Right now I don't think he want to make music similar to HB/FTR and he hasn't been willing to do so for 15 years.
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This is true. You can decide to create a melody or a riff, fast or a slow, angry or evil (Or something else). Epic, lonely, and sad (Or a mixture as they tend to overlap) are the emotions I find hardest to achieve, evil is the easiest.
 
Hatebreeder01 said:
I agree on what you say that you can only write what comes out naturally or what is in your heart. Atleast if you want to make soulfull music.
It's probably possible to ''just sit down and write this or that album'', alot of mainstreem music (which is usually shit) is written custom-made for a specific artist. And I don't mean Alexi should try to ''just make FTR2'' but I believe an artist can decide which direction to go and what feelings to look for to color the music. If he ever gets nostalgic about his early work I think it would be reflected in the music he is yet to compose.
Right now I don't think he want to make music similar to HB/FTR and he hasn't been willing to do so for 15 years.
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And I don't think any sane person even wants him to try. It has to come naturally, plus his throat is done. We just wish he'd find the epic flow of ideas into the music again. But in terms of what can be pre-determined, I'd want him to do 3 minute songs with lots of speed and richness, instead of the long slow songs. Sound should be darker and style should be more horror-oriented, plus they should do soloing that drifts and slices from guitar to keyboard to unison. My dream is they would do this album that sounds like a night in the misty moonlight where hundreds of imps hunt you and you wonder if there's a way to hide.
 
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