死神之子

Children of Bodom are a Finnish melodic death metal band from Espoo, Uusimaa. Formed in 1993 as Inearthed, the final line-up of the group upon their split in 2019 consisted of frontman Alexi Laiho, drummer Jaska Raatikainen, bassist Henkka Seppälä, keyboardist Janne Wirman and guitarist Daniel Freyberg. The band released ten studio albums, three live albums, two EPs, two compilation albums, and one DVD.

The band's third studio album, Follow the Reaper (2000), was their first to receive a gold certification in Finland. Subsequent studio albums acquired the same status. Their next four albums each debuted at number one on the Finnish album charts, and have charted on the United States Billboard 200. They are one of Finland's best selling artists of all time with more than 250,000 records sold there alone.

In 2019, Children of Bodom held their last concert in Helsinki, named A Chapter Called Children of Bodom, before disbanding. Laiho and Freyberg carried on as Bodom After Midnight in 2020. Founding member and main songwriter Laiho died in December of that year.

In October 2025, the surviving members of Children of Bodom announced that the band would reunite to perform two tribute shows for Laiho in February 2026, with Samy Elbanna filling in for him on vocals and guitar. The band announced a permanent reunion on 10 March 2026, including plans to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their debut album, Something Wild in 2027.

History

Formation and early years (1993–1996)

Guitarist Alexi "Wildchild" Laiho and drummer Jaska Raatikainen formed Children of Bodom in 1993 as Inearthed. They had known each other since childhood and shared an interest in heavy metal, especially death metal. Bassist Samuli Miettinen completed the initial line-up of the band. Inearthed recorded its first demo, Implosion of Heaven, during August of the same year.

Miettinen was the band's main lyrical composer for the two years that he took part in Inearthed, but his family moved to the United States in 1995, making it impossible for him to remain in the band. His last contributions to Inearthed were the lyrics of the songs from their second demo, Ubiquitous Absence of Remission. This demo was the first time they worked with producer Anssi Kippo at Astia-studios (Lappeenranta, Finland). On this demo, keyboards were incorporated into the band's songs for the first time. To achieve this, Laiho and Raatikainen played the keyboards separately and subsequently mixed the recorded track with the other instruments. Laiho, who had previously only composed the melodies of the songs, assumed the role of the band's lyricist.

At the time, Raatikainen played French horn in a local big band. During a rehearsal, he met Alexander Kuoppala, a trumpet player and guitarist. Kuoppala was invited to join Inearthed as a rhythm guitarist before the demo recording, but did not participate in the recording itself, as he was on vacation at the time. In early 1996, Henkka "Blacksmith" Seppälä, whom Laiho and Raatikainen knew from school, replaced Miettinen on bass as well as contributing backing vocals. The band recruited keyboardist Jani Pirisjoki.

With this line-up, Inearthed recorded their third demo, Shining. This demo did not impress record labels any more than the previous ones, and none took interest in the band. Despite their efforts, their music got little exposure and managed only to play at local events. As a last resort, the band recorded an independent, self-funded album.