Review by Luka on April 29, 2001.

A milestone metal record for the ages, written totally by the genius and dexterous guitar wizard Alexi Laiho (also from Sinergy) As soon as "Warheart"-the opening track-starts, the Children shift everything into high gear and don’t slow down until the very end.

Impressive riffs and melodies frame the songs while amazing solos (often at the very end of the song to leave you starving for more) by Laiho take the songs to a whole new level and fill in every crack. Hatebreeder delivers some of the best melodies I’ve ever heard, (e.g. intro to "Children of Bodom" or endings of "Bed of Razors" and "Towards Dead End") most played on very high notes by the lead guitarist that all seem like parts of a solo. The entire album is played on very high notes, yet the guitar tuning is shifted down an entire note, allowing Alexander Kuoppala’s rhythm to get really heavy when needed. Lots of distortion and the clean production give the guitars a real heavy metal feel, most notably in The one thing that doesn’t even come close to the perfection of the rest of the album is Laiho’s vocals, and less importantly, the lyrics. With a phenomenal album like this, annoying black metal growls just don’t cut it.
Yet the album this great doesn’t let anything anchor it down, it proudly stands tall in the metal world and will for a very long time. These Fins really know how to fucking rock! Pure perfection: 10/10!

Bottom Line: Speed, death, thrash, black, symphonic and power metal beautifully fused together to create a total metal masterpiece. There is no other band in the world like Children of Bodom and no album as perfect as Hatebreeder. Get this right now!

Rating: 10 out of 10