Children of Bodom is an extreme metal band made of rockers Alexi Laiho (guitars & vocals), Jaska Raatikainen (drums), Henkka Seppälä (bass), Janne Wirman (keyboards) and Daniel Freyberg (guitars). They just released a new video for the track, “Grass and Clover” a song that moves fast on guitar, vocals, and drums. With thousands of page views already on youtube, fans from Nicaragua, Bulgaria, South Korea and the world over are thrilled about the song and new album, Hexed which comes out March 8, 2019 via Nuclear Blast Records.
Laiho describes the new track, “Under Grass And Clover” is the sound of COB on fire and has been my favorite song since it was written. It’s fast, melodic, heavy and dark but also short and sweet. Someone told me that it’s kinda like old school Dimmu Borgir and AWK and that’s pretty damn cool in my books so we must’ve done something right.”
Children of Bodom formed in 1993 by lifelong friends, Laiho (guitar/vocals) and Raatikainen (drums) the band was originally formed under the name Inearthed. Currently, they just wrapped a lengthy Finnish tour this past October/November. The tour was titled, ”No Place Like Home” with a different set each night.
Regarding the band’s upcoming 10th album Hexed, Laiho commented, “People have said that the album is generally catchier. So I started thinking about that, perhaps the song structures are easier to grasp on initial listen. But there’s some crazy shit in there, almost progressive or at least technical. There are certain melodies across the album that could have come from jazz songs, although they’re completely metal with us, of course (laughs).”
The band’s debut album Something Wild in 1997 and then released their second album, Hatebreeder in 1999. Their third album, Follow the Reaper came out the following year. In 2003, they were named Finnish Band of the Year at the Finnish Music Awards after they released Hate Crew Deathroll.
In 2005, they released Are you Dead Yet? but touring was cut short when Laiho injured his shoulder, which forced the band to take a break as he recovered. They kept producing new material and came out with Blooddrunk in 2008, followed by Relentless, Reckless Forever in 2011 and Halo of Blood in 2013. The band also joined Rob Zombie, Amon Amarth and Mastdon at the Mayhem Festival.In April 2015, the band announced a new album called I Worship Chaos.
Back in 2017, Children of Bodom hit the United States with their Down and Dirty North American Tour. Regarding the last US tour, Laiho commented, “Remember guys, this will be a once in a lifetime experience seeing us playing all kinds of obscure tracks off the first album, stuff from the 2nd & 3rd albums that we ain’t played in over 15 years and the general rule really is that there will not be a single song newer than the Hate Crew Deathroll tracks so it’s all about old school COB!”
Pre-order the new album Hexed here. Fans all over the world can add this to their Christmas wish list.
Hexed Tracklist
01. This Road
02. Under Grass and Clover
03. Glass Houses
04. Hecate’s Nightmare
05. Kick in the Spleen
06. Platitudes and Barren Words
07. Hexed
08. Relapse (The Nature of My Crime)
09. Say Never Look Back
10. Soon Departed
11. Knuckleduster
12. I Worship Chaos (live)
13. Morrigan (live)
14. Knuckleduster (remix)
Photo Credit: Owen Ela
Leave a Comment