Children of Bodom

Espoo-based Finnish Melodic Death Metal group Children of Bodom is an important reference when it comes to Melodic Death Metal. The band’s original name was Inearthed, but when signing with the Finnish label Spinefarm Records (a division of the German label Nuclear Blast) a few years later, they were required to modify it since they had previously used it to enter into a questionable contract with a Belgian label.
The murders of three young men in the early hours of June 5, 1960, on the shores of Lake Bodom in Espoo, Finland, where the band is from, was adopted as their band name and depicted in their songs, along with other themes that reflect resentment, anguish, resistance and toxic, bleeding “razor blade” relationships

The group’s final lineup, which included the charismatic Alexi Laiho (lead guitar, lead vocals), Jaska Raatikainen (drums), Henkka Seppälä (bass), Janne Wirman (keyboard), and Daniel Freyberg, was formed in 1993.
The band published ten studio albums, two live albums, two EPs, two compilation albums, and one DVD.

Follow the Reaper, the group’s third studio album, was the first of the group’s studio albums to be certified as gold in Finland. Their following studio albums also achieved this distinction. Their subsequent four albums debuted at the top of the Finnish album charts, achieving positions on the Billboard 200 in the United States. They rank among the top in Finland.

In December 2019, Children of Bodom played their last show at the Black Box in Helsinki, dubbed “A Chapter Called Children of Bodom”. This followed the announcement in November that, following this show, all band members except Laiho and guitarist Daniel Freyberg were leaving the band. After the match, it was revealed that, for legal reasons, Laiho would need permission from his former bandmates to continue using the name Children of Bodom.
In March 2020, Laiho and Freyberg announced their new band, Bodom After Midnight, named after the title of the second track on the album Follow the Reaper. Officially marking the end of Children of Bodom.

The band was initially heavily influenced by heavy metal bands like Black Sabbath and others; however, their discography demonstrates that no uniformity of style can be used to define their work. This is especially evident in their fifth album, “Are You Dead Yet?” which was the result of a constant transition of genres and has a very strong connection with industrial music. It ends with a paragraph.

Alexi Laiho is among the most missed “fallen heroes” in Metal history due to his charismatic personality and immense talent as a guitarist

About Lahio

Alexi Laiho (born Markku Uula Aleksi Laiho; Espoo, 8 April 1979, was a Finnish guitarist, composer and vocalist.
Laiho started playing the violin at age seven and the guitar at age 11. His first guitar was a “Tokai Stratocaster”.At fourteen, he founded his first band, Inearthed, with his friend Jaska Raatikainen in 1993. At sixteen, he dropped out of school and focused fully on guitar and composition. Inearthed is mostly pretty heavy Death Metal, and Alexi does vocals (he’s mainly inspired by Philip Anselmo of Pantera and Mille Petrozza of Kreator) and lead guitar (heavily influenced by Randy Rhoads and Yngwie J. Malmsteen notably) and, which already confirms his great talent, composes all the group’s solos himself.

In 2008, Children of Bodom played at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards. Laiho also received the Dimebag Award for “Best Shredder” and performed a track from the band’s 2008 album Blooddrunk.
He appears on the 2007 album Metal by Canadian thrash metal band Annihilator as a guest, performing a guitar solo for the song “Downright Dominate”.
Laiho has received widespread acclaim for his guitar work. In 2004, he was ranked number 96 among the 100 greatest Heavy Metal guitarists of all time by Guitar World, which also ranked him as one of the 50 fastest guitarists in the world. Additionally, Roadrunner Records ranked Laiho 41st among the 50 greatest metal singers of all time. Total Guitar magazine held a public vote to determine the greatest metal guitarist of all time; Laiho was voted number 1 among 20 metal guitarists, with more than 20% of the votes.

Albums studio
1997 : Something Wild
1999 : Hatebreeder
2001 : Follow the Reaper
2003 : Hate Crew Deathroll
2005 : Are You Dead Yet?
2008 : Blooddrunk
2009 : Skeletons in the Closet
2011 : Relentless Reckless Forever
Albums live
1999 : Tokyo Warhearts
2006 : Chaos Ridden Years – Stockholm Knockout Live