Children of Bodom

Children of Bodom

http://www.cobhc.com/
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Alexi Laiho (vocals and guitars),
Jaaska Raatikainen (drums),
Janne Warmen (keyboards),
Henkka Seppala (bass),
Roope Latvala (the most acclaimed Finnish guitarist ever).

IN THE same way that the Olympics shifts from country to country, so the 'Rock 'n'Roll Capital Of The World' is forever changing town. In the '80s it was Los Angeles, the Wild West Coast, in the '90s it was Seattle, City Of Grunge, and now in the Year Of Our Lord 2005, it's Helsinki.

In fact, it's Finland in general. A country of just five million inhabitants, a vast percentage of whom appear to be in guitar-heavy bands – bands with the instinctive ability to combine the drama of rock music's colourful past with the more cutting edge manoeuvres of a fresh millennium. What's more, these are rock bands who actually look the part – as in long hair, sombre attire, and guitars that are as likely to be Flying V'ed as not.

Enter Children Of Bodom: a five-piece outfit from Espoo in Finland who, since the latter part of the '90s, have been building a reputation as a genuine market leader. Originally called Inearthed (a fledgling set-up with a series of demos to their name), COB can be as downright brutal as any of the extreme metallers when the situation demands. But what places these guys right at the sharp end of the pack is the way they can suddenly dish up huge swathes of melody & instantly memorable choruses – plus of course a degree of musicianship that has seen vocalist/guitarist Alexi Wildchild Laiho front-paged on guitar mags around the world.

Over the past eight years, Alexi & Co. have recorded & released four full studio albums ('Something Wild', 1997; 'Hatebreeder', 1999; 'Follow The Reaper', 2000; 'Hate Crew Deathroll', 2003), plus the live album 'Tokyo Warhearts' (1999). At a time when the creation of quality catalogue appears to be happening
less & less, COB are not only well ahead of the game, but now poised to unveil Studio Album No. 5 – a near flawless ten-track outing that is sure to push the Finnish Five to a whole new level of international success, both critically & commercially. The UK version includes a cover of Billy Idol's Rebel Yell.

Titled 'Are You Dead Yet?' and produced by the band & Mikko Karmila, who also put his stamp on the 'Hate Crew...' sessions, eight of the tracks here are brand new (songs such as 'Living Dead Beat', 'Bastards Of Bodom' and lead single/video 'In Your Face'), whereas 'Trashed, Lost & Strungout' will already be familiar to fans, having initially seen the light of day on the 2004 EP of the same name.

With a video for 'In Your Face' having just been filmed with Katapult Productions, the ultra-cool team behind all of the recent Rammstein clips, 'Are You Dead Yet?' is certain to attract major media attention on a genuinely global scale – especially as the band's on-the-road schedule in support of Album Five (including key festival appearances such as the recent Earthshaker event in Germany) already has them fully committed until the Summer of 2006.

As things stand the band will be playing the Gates Of Metal Festival in Sweden in August & the Metalway Festival in Spain later the same month; after that, they travel across to Australia & Japan (where 'Hate Crew...' has now passed the 40,000 mark, pushing catalogue sales worldwide to half a million plus) in September/October. US, Canadian & European shows will, of course, follow...

At a time when the rock scene appears to be returning to more traditional values, Children Of Bodom – a young band with a wealth of experience and a ready supply of great songs – are perfectly placed to be one of the acts-with-an-attitude over the next 12 months, and indeed beyond. The Children are the future, it's official. read less

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