Follow the Reaper

Follow the Reaper is the third studio album by Finnish melodic death metal band Children of Bodom, released in Finland in October 2000 by Spinefarm Records and in 2001 internationally by Nuclear Blast Records.

"Everytime I Die" redirects here. For the band, see Every Time I Die.

Follow the Reaper
Studio album by Children of Bodom
Released	October 30, 2000
Recorded	August–September 2000 at The Abyss
Genre	Extreme metal power metal[1][2] melodic death metal[2][3] speed metal[2]
Length	38:14
Label	Spinefarm, Nuclear Blast
Producer	Peter Tägtgren, Children of Bodom
Children of Bodom chronology
Tokyo Warhearts (1999) Follow the Reaper (2000) Hate Crew Deathroll (2003)
Singles from Follow the Reaper
"Hate Me!" Released: May 2000

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
Sputnikmusic	[1]

The album is the first to use a power metal-influenced sound in addition to the symphonic metal elements from previous albums—present mainly in the keyboards, vocals, and fast tempos. Many songs on the album became live setlist favorites, such as "Everytime I Die", "Hate Me!", and the title track. The song "Mask of Sanity" is a remake of the song "Talking of the Trees" from their early demo Shining (released as IneartheD).

Follow the Reaper was recorded and mixed at Peter Tägtgren's Abyss studio in Sweden, instead of the Finnish Astia-studio from Anssi Kippo, in which they had recorded all of their previous releases, including the demos from IneartheD. On this album, Children of Bodom used D standard tuning (D,G,C,F,A,D), which was also used on Hatebreeder.

The album features sampled quotes from the 1990 film The Exorcist III.

A deluxe edition featuring two bonus tracks was released in 2006.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Alexi Laiho.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Follow the Reaper"	3:47
2.	"Bodom After Midnight"	3:43
3.	"Children of Decadence"	5:33
4.	"Everytime I Die"	4:02
5.	"Mask of Sanity"	3:58
6.	"Taste of My Scythe"	3:58
7.	"Hate Me!"	4:44
8.	"Northern Comfort"	3:47
9.	"Kissing the Shadows"	4:32

Reissue bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
10.	"Don't Stop at the Top" (Scorpions cover)	Scorpions	3:24

Japan reissue bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
10.	"Shot in the Dark" (Ozzy Osbourne cover)	Ozzy Osbourne, Phil Soussan	3:38
11.	"Hellion" (W.A.S.P. cover)	Blackie Lawless	3:02

Nuclear Blast deluxe edition bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
10.	"Hellion" (W.A.S.P. cover)		3:02
11.	"Aces High" (Iron Maiden cover)	Steve Harris	4:30

Re-release bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
10.	"Hate Me!" (Original single version)	4:47
11.	"Hellion" (W.A.S.P. cover)	3:02

Personnel

Children of Bodom Alexi Laiho – vocals, lead guitar Alexander Kuoppala – rhythm guitar Janne Wirman – keyboards Henkka Seppälä – bass Jaska Raatikainen – drums

Production Peter Tägtgren – production, engineering Children of Bodom – production Lars Szöke – assistant engineering Mikko Karmila – additional treatment Mike "Count" Jussila – mastering

Additional personnel King Sami Saramäki – graphic design J. S. Karjalainen – assistant photographer Toni Härkönen – band photographs

References

1. "Children Of Bodom - Follow the Reaper (album review 5)". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 2016-10-16. So what you will about the albums of DragonForce (though their take on the genre is slightly difference, yeah, just a little on the slight side), Kalmah, or Norther, but in my humblest of opinions, Children of Bodom's Follow the Reaper represents the height of the extreme power metal genre, and a definite classic.
2. Anmeldelse af Follow the Reaper på LivingForMetal.com
3. Marco Sebastianelli. "Children Of Bodom - Follow the Reaper" (in Italian). Retrieved May 1, 2019.
4. "Follow the Reaper". AllMusic. Retrieved 2012-02-16.