Children Of Bodom Biography

Source: http://www.cobhc.com/page/index.php?id=theband




In the last eight or so years, Children Of Bodom that darted to international fame with their debut, 1997’s "Something Wild", has gone from being "this amazing band from Finland" to a household name in the metalscene. And that, of course, is obvious given the intensity, sheer quality of their material and the flawless execution.

Formed in 1993 and hailing from the city of Espoo, Finland, this young Finnish group took their name from one of the biggest murder mysteries in the history of their home town and Finnish crime: the murders at the Lake Bodom. After starting out as a thrash-metal combo, the founding members Alexi Laiho (guitars and vocals), Jaska Raatikainen (drums), Henkka Seppälä (bass) and Alexander Kuoppala (guitars) soon found elements of classic heavy metal creeping into their music. After taking in keyboardist Janne Wirman to complete their line-up, they honed their combination of old schoold black metal, classic heavy, and death metal vocals into the sharpest instrument of its kind and headed out to a studio record a demo tape.

After Spinefarm Records received Children Of Bodom’s demo, it didn’t take long for the company to figure out what they had in their hands back in late 1996. Soon the band was signed and ready to knock a few heads off.

The self-titled debut single "Children Of Bodom" went straight to number 1 on the Finnish charts and sold platinum. The debut full-length album "Something Wild" was released in Finland in 1997. The Bodoms supported Dimmu Borgir at the band's Helsinki show in November and were hailed as the new kings of Finnish underground metal by the press. Licensing deal with Nuclear Blast for central Europe was inked quickly and soon after Middle Europe the album was also released in Japan and Thailand.

Soon Children Of Bodom was flying all over Europe and writing new material that would become the "Hatebreeder" album, which was released in February 1999. On "Hatebreeder" their music had found its true shape: the album was faster, heavier and more versatile than "Something Wild". The single "Downfall" went gold and ruled the Finnish charts.

During the summer 99 Children Of Bodom toured Finland and Europe. In June they did three sold out gigs in Japan with Dark Tranquillity and Sinergy and recorded the live CD: "Tokyo Warhearts-Live in Japan". "Tokyo Warhearts" came out as a limited digibook-edition in Europe in October and all the 20.000 copies of it were almost immediately sold out. The buzz around the band was reaching new heights.

In 2000 the single "Hate Me!" went #1 at the Finnish charts and sold gold in Finland in just a couple of weeks. Platinum sales soon followed. While the single was topping the charts, Children Of Bodom finished their studio sessions at Peter Tägtgren's Abyss Studio, and the third album "Follow the Reaper" saw the light of day on the 30th of October 2000.

"Follow the Reaper" was a glorious mixture of their debut album's heavy riffing raw sound, combined with "Hatebreeder" monstrous technical metal acrobatics. The most noticable thing however was how much the band had improved as a unit and in bringing the personal levels of musicianship to a new high.

On "Hate Crew Deathroll", which was released in January 2003, not only did the band take their songwriting into new levels of aggressivity and heaviness but the way the songs were carried out pummeled everything they -or anyone, for that matter- had done into dust.

On "Hate Crew Deathroll" Alexi Laiho spits out his lyrics with vitriolic hate, the guitars (courtesy of Alexi and Alexander Kuoppala) shred everything in their wake with razorsharp precision while the rhythmsection (the demolition duo of Henkka T. Blacksmith & Jaska W. Raatikainen) pounds away like the world is about to end. As a final coup de gracé come the keyboards of Janne Warman, making sure the path of destruction is complete with the fervour and precision of a seasoned executioner on a killing spree.

In the Summer of 2003, Alexander Kuoppala left the band and was replaced by Roope Latvala, whose stellar playing had already graced countless of Finnish metal records. Being perhaps the most widely acclaim

Thanks to Murray for submitting the biography.

Please click here to submit the latest Children Of Bodom biography




re:to dac/ and Re: depressing | Reviewer: dac | 4/22/10

thats whats up man. keep on playin, im suprised to hear that you can play the solo for bed of razors before evertime i dies solo, i think the everytime i die solo is easyer, but thats just my opinion.


also, to the guy who wrote under my last comment: if you dont like the band dont listen to it, ur wasting ur time talking shit about it, because if u had a pair of balls and a dick you would like this band

---

Alexi, Children of Bodom and Guitar | Reviewer: nick | 1/12/10

to dac:
ive been playing gguitar for 2 and a 1/2 years now and i can play most of there songs except for the solo's :(
im getting there though, i can do the bed of razors solo and half of the everytime i die solo :D

go children of bodom!! ill be seeing them when they come to australia this year :D

---

hahah | Reviewer: dac | 11/30/09

actually children of bodoms stuff isnt real hard to play. after your fourth year of playin guitar you sould be able to atleast play to the majority of follow the reaper, and after your 7th year of guitar playing you should be able to shred like alexi does, hes not that great for how long hes been playing, but he is creative as hell.

---

Depressing | Reviewer: Athiestnomore | 5/18/09

If this is the direction of change that these Europeans want to move in I am disgusted. I like a lot of Finish music, but why do all these Atheists make Satanist music. If they don't believe in Satan don't write about him. I listen to bands that lift me up and have lyrical Christian meaning like Shiny Toy Guns. For anyone who feels alone and that there is no music out for them listen to them. They are moving in the right direction.

---

Friends of your | Reviewer: TOM PASI | 5/18/09

first i would like 2 thanks 2 sing365.com 4 ur kindly suport several information.wat i means is...actually i love listening children of bodom song but my review is.. i don't know wat 2 say.but i can only say 'LONGLIVE CHIKDREN' when i was alone i use 2 think when should i bcom like them especially 2 play a guiter like them. Any help 4 me?please

---

COBHC For Life!!! | Reviewer: Phoebe | 3/16/09

OK! First of all: Zeenith, don't be so foolish! ;)) these guys aren't on drugs or something like that! yeah, they drink and they smoke (by the way, Janne doesn't smoke), but they're not with the drugs! their music is not their way to escape, music is their whole life!they were born for it!if you are afraid of death or of hate and others like that, I can't understand how you've survived this far!:))death isn't something good or bad;death simply exists;death is what forces people to live and it's worth living only because there is an end!bottom lines,COB saved me from depression,despair and insanity!they gave me a lot of strength in my times of need!I'm sorry about one thing:that I'll never be able to tell them how much they helped me survive!:)back in 2005,I heard they separated, but I found out it wasn't like that and I was reborn!:)and one more thing:when pain is too deep, hate takes it all away!my best wishes to all COB fans in the world!DON'T ever give up on COB, guys!;)\m/

---

OMG | Reviewer: IBO | 1/4/09

COB is a pretty good band. Hatebreeder is an amazing album, and among the top in my vinyl collection, but they are definitely not the best out of Finland. Listen to Stone! They are the best band to ever come out of Finland and are actually a huge influence Children of Bodom; such a large influence in fact that the guitarist from Stone, Roope Latvala, is now in Children of Bodom. You can really hear Stone's influence in Children of Bodom's work, especially their old stuff; they even covered a Stone song. NO COMMANDS!

---

cob is the shit | Reviewer: Anonymous | 9/25/08

Man I went to see the live last friday !! The 19th man they had their best sound I swear their cds sounds exactly like their live stuff man its the only band I seen playing like that !!! And alexi its the best fuckin guitar player and vocalist man he makes all those solos and squils look so easy !

---

Alexi's death | Reviewer: Fahim | 1/14/08

Hey wats the shit about Alexi's death? I m going to their Concert on 8th march in ASRORIA , LONDON......I dont think its his bloody ghost that's gonna perform there

---

@ Zenith | Reviewer: Anonymous | 12/9/07

you my freind are retarted, the music style is a mix of allot of things one of them being death metal. ofcorse the lyrics are going to be about death and pain.

---

Reviews By Pages:   1    2    3    4   

The following area is only for review,

• Children Of Bodom Albums
• Children Of Bodom Lyrics