Children of Pleasure (1930) Harry Beaumont, Lawrence Gray, Wynne Gibson, Judith Wood

One of the most refreshing things about Finnish metallers Children of Bodom is that they never cease to provoke their fans by doing exactly what they want to do when they want to do it. They take great pleasure in thwarting expectations at every turn. Ironically, this makes their (many) hardcore fans even more devoted. Holiday at Lake Bodom: 15 Years of Wasted Youth, a CD/DVD compilation that ranges from their debut offering in 1997 straight on through to 2011, contains 20 tracks from virtually every period in their existence. It's sure to piss off almost everyone for what's been excluded, though no one can argue that what's here is essential, with the possible exception of the previously unissued cover version of Rick Springfield's "Jessie's Girl"…

Children of Bodom came out of the heavy metal starting blocks in fine form. The group's debut, Something Wild, attracted much attention, as many listeners and critics marveled at the bandmembers' technical abilities, while others described Children of Bodom's music as fluffy and trite. Ultimately, the Finnish group's success within the commercially limited confines of progressive black metal quelled many naysayers, but not before the band received a few harsh reviews. With the huge amount of metal being released in Europe and America - and practically no radio outlets - good critical response was essential for late-'90s artists like Children of Bodom. And although some weren't impressed by the shifting arrangements and sparse keyboards of Something Wild, others refused to deny the musical accomplishment of the debut…

Four albums in and still whacked on speed, Finnish five-piece Children of Bodom continue with its highly entertaining, giddy, pogo-stick metal on Hate Crew Deathroll. Attitude-wise, CoB has become the Manowar of melodic death metal, willfully leaping off the cliff of over-the-top metaldom (not unlike Swedish supergroup Witchery) - which is refreshing, considering the poker-faced seriousness of most acts in the genre, and here, main Bodom-ite Alexi "Wildchild" Laiho keeps his tongue firmly in cheek while tearing through squirrelly cuts such as "Triple Corpse Hammerblow" and "Lil' Bloodred Ridin' Hood"…

With the presence of brutal riffs and keyboards, Finland's Children of Bodom sounds at times like Fear Factory fronted by a hardcore screamer, especially on their 2005 release, Are You Dead Yet? The group's fifth studio album (which was co-produced by Children of Bodom and Mikko Karmila, the chap who produced their previous outing, 2003's Hate Crew Deathroll) shows the quintet plowing full steam ahead, as the venom continues to bubble to the surface throughout. But the group also has an unmistakable prog metal edge to boot, as the tricky interplay between guitarist Alexi Wildchild Laiho (who also doubles as vocalist) and keyboardist Janne Warmen on "Punch Me I Bleed" certainly brings to mind Dream Theater…

Hatebreeder, the second release from Finland's Children of Bodom, is a louder, faster, and positively heavier release than the group's debut. Under normal circumstances, this type of evolution is a guaranteed upgrade for a metal band, but not all of Hatebreeder's elements are improvements on the blueprint established during Something Wild. Most noticeably, Alexi Laiho's black metal scream is more menacing and consistent, but this is a disputed topic among Scandinavian metal enthusiasts. Many listeners enjoy the music, but could do without the bloodcurdling vocal excess, while others consider it a critical element of any real metal statement. The value of so much throat splitting is subjective, but Laiho's refinement of the approach isn't…

Boy, whoever thought that technical metal was dead as a doornail during the mid- to late '90s has been proven dead wrong. Just a few years after this aforementioned era of "metal no man's land," technical metal has spread like a virus, via bands that share both an appreciation of the extreme aggression of Slayer and the technical proficiency of Iron Maiden. A fitting example of both of these metallic styles colliding as one is Finland's Children of Bodom, and especially their 2008 offering, Blooddrunk. All the ingredients from past Bodom releases are present once more - Goth keyboards, guitar acrobatics, and vocals that sound straight out of the torture chamber. These lads sure can play their instruments, as evidenced by such intense metal blasts as the title track, "Smile Pretty for the Devil," and "Tie My Rope"…

Black metal with the happiest keyboards the genre has ever seen, yet still uncompromisingly brutal. "Children of Decadence" could be Emerson, Lake & Palmer, for the love of Beelzebub; such is the level of complexity and prominence of synthesizers. The frightening Finnish fivesome does a nice job of mixing up tempos on this, the band's third studio disc, and manages to keep up the intensity in spite of (or maybe because of) the aural auditory mood swings. You won't even recognize the bonus track cover "Hellion," and it doesn't even matter.

Depending on where you vacation, the last thing you might expect from an album by a band named after a Finnish lake made infamous by a multiple homicide and titled Halo of Blood would be for it to be fun. Strangely enough, though, that's exactly the feeling that comes through on Children of Bodom's eighth album, which finds the Finnish band returning to deliver another dose of dazzlingly technical melodic death metal. Sure, the album is filled with lots of dark moments and macabre imagery, but listening to it is a bit like watching a fighter plane demo, which is to say it's loud, thrilling, and when enjoyed properly, it's likely to result in some hearing loss. Filled with big riffs and high flying solos, Halo of Blood is an album that's hard not to headbang along to…