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Children Of Bodom
A forerunner of Children Of Bodom, IneartheD, began in '93. The Espoo, Finland group started with "Wildchild" Laiho and Raatikainen. Miettinen completed the line-up with the group recording a demo, "Implosion Of Heaven." Miettinen served as the group's lyricist but left the band to move to the U.S. in '95. His lyrics were used on the group's second demo, "Ubiquitous Absence Of Remission" which also had Laiho and Raatikainen adding keyboards. Now Laiho, who'd previously focused on the music, added lyrics to his duties.
In '96, the group added Kuoppala (rhythm guitar) and Miettinen's replacement "Blacksmith" Seppälä, who had been an art school friend of both Laiho and Raatikainen. The increased use of keyboards necessitated Pirisjoki's recruitment.
A third demo, "Shining," also failed to garner any label interest. In addition, Pirisjoki had a tendency to skip rehearsals. This rather annoying trait got him bounced with Warman stepping in - greatly impacting the group's sound. Having put out a self-released album IneartheD finally caught the attention of a Belgian label. After being signed but not provided any promo budget the group then heard from Spinefarm Records. Since they were already under contract the band needed a new name in order to record for Spinefarm.
Checking a phone book they came across Lake Bodom - site of some dreadful murders - and that led to renaming themselves Children Of Bodom.
"Something Wild" hit in '97 and led to two European tours. Spinefarm also released a compilation, with a couple new tracks, that hit the top of the Finnish album chart. '99's "Hatebreeder" provided the opportunity for another round of European tours before the group embarked on a brief run through Japan.
"02's "Follow The Reaper," recorded in Sweden, did well but it was '03's "Hate Crew Deathroll" that became the group's first gold album. They were named Finnish Band of the Year and made their debut North American trek. There they received an unexpected and hardly welcome surprise mid-tour. Kuoppala decided to pack it in. When a replacement guitarist declined, Latvala signed on.
The EP "Trashed, Lost & Strungout" contained the single "In Your Face," and other songs that later appeared on the "Are You Dead Yet?" album. The set garnered some additional attention due to a cover of Britney Spears' epic "Oops!... I Did It Again." The live DVD Chaos Ridden Years - Stockholm Knockout Live arrived in '06, six months after it was recorded in Swedish city. Back on the road, Children Of Bodom took another crack at the U.S. as part of the Unholy Alliance tour with Slayer and Mastodon.
Just when things are on the upswing, life sometimes life just takes a weird turn. In early '07, Laiho slide down a bowling lane, after trying to stop from going over the line. Instead of nailing a difficult 7-10 split he slammed into a wall breaking his shoulder. He was out of action for six weeks causing the cancellation of festival shows and tours. But the group returned to action with the '08 release of "Blooddrunk" which moved just under 20,000 copies in its first week to land at #22 on the Billboard Album Chart.
It's not unusual for a band to record a cover or two. However, it's very rare for a name group to release an album of covers. Predictably, the reworked songs were by artists the group admired. Hard to figure that was happening on the aptly named "Skeletons In The Closet," a collection of covers - some previously released. Children Of Bodom took on Kenny Rogers & The First Edition's "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" and Britney Spears' "Oops! I Did It Again." There was also the Country classic "Ghost Riders In The Sky" and the neo-Country Creedence Clearwater Revival chestnut "Lookin' Out My Back Door." More expected were versions of Suicidal Tendencies' "War Inside My Head," Anthrax's "Antisocial" and Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell."
Children Of Bodom, a Metal/Death Metal outfit, can blast and rail with anyone but they also deliver majestic riffs and high drama. Pick up Children Of Bodom at "Follow The Leader" then roll forward to "Are You Dead Yet?" and "Blooddrunk."
"Skeletons In Closet" is right out of left field. "Lookin' Out My Back Door" raises the question, "is the world ready for banjo Metal. Sure, AC/DC made a bagpipe work but this is a bit of a stretch.
Not surprisingly, Children Of Bodom does best with the Metal covers. The pop and Country shots, aside from being a novelty, simply don't work but "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" is amazing.