Children of Bodom

Children of Bodom's symbol is the Grim Reaper, and they often refer to themselves as the Hate Crew. With an organised management, (Kamikatze records), Cunning Dorx has become a more professional youth band out of a not so serious school band experiment. Roope successfully finished the world tour and took part in the recording of the Trashed, Lost & Strungout single. Ever since then, he has been playing regularly with Children of Bodom and seems to have assumed a permanent position in the line-up that will record the band's upcoming album. The band has obviously improved since regular rehearsals are part of their routine. This formation was introduced in Moscow on the 16th of August. The Cunning Dorx started a new beginning and their 'revival' turned out well, mainly through the engagement of several new artists and involvement in new projects, doing a great deal for the realisation of their musical aims. Alexi's bandmate from Sinergy, Roope Latvala (founding member of Stone, one of the bands which started the heavy metal movement in Finland) then replaced him as a session player, until a more permanent solution could be found. Moreover, rumours that the band was going to break up persisted until their first album Flauschangriff was published in 2001.

This tour had many sold-out concerts and was a defining point in their career, but it was also accompanied by an unexpected annoucement: Alexander decided to quit the band for personal reasons, giving no warning and right in the middle of the tour. The then-emerging lack of motivation held back any progress of the young band and consequently diminished their audience. With their rapidly increasing success, Children of Bodom recorded another album, and their first complete world tour began in 2003 and lasted until late 2004. At the end of June 1995, a demo tape was created, including four songs which were also sung at concerts with other bands, such as Rank, Kurort, Back to the Saltmine, Racial Abuse, and Distorted Picture. The band gave this album the name of Follow the Reaper and recording sessions took place between August and September of 2000; the album saw a worldwide release in early 2001. That is why in most of their songs, there are no lyrics to speak of. The band wrote eight new songs for the album, and while on the studio, decided to add an extra track, which was hastly composed and whose lyrics were improvised by Alexi; that track would eventually receive the name of Kissing the Shadows. According to this view, it does not matter what they are singing as long as the melody fits.

For their next release, the band decided to make use of Peter Tägtgren's Abyss studio in Sweden, instead of the Finnish ASTIA studio from Anssi Kippo, in which they had recorded all of their previous releases, including the demos from IneartheD. This would make them an instrumental band. With only two albums recorded previously, the band managed to play a technically flawless concert, seamlessly reproducing and at times improving on their songs. Alfons, their most productive songwriter, has always seen the human voice as just another instrument. In one of these shows, the album Tokyo Warhearts was recorded. Most of their lyrics appear to be in English but they don't really mean anything. In late 1999, Children of Bodom was finally able to tour with Janne on the keyboards. The success of the Downfall single and of the Hatebreeder album allowed them to make three shows in Japan with the veterans from In Flames and with Sinergy. The style of the Cunning Dorx has always been out of the ordinary so that the musicians were forced to make up neologisms like "Eclectic Iconoclasm" or "Post-Modern Alternative" themselves to give the musically minded at least a vision of their technique of mixing every thinkable genre, as exemplified in the song "Yuka-Hey", where Rap melts into 1970s Rock and Reggae.

The band showcased the song Towards Dead End for the first time during this tour. A fact which actually helped them to maintain a broad musical perspective and provide the basis for creating their own characteristic style. Alexi's then-girlfriend Kimberly Goss (from Sinergy and ex-Dimmu Borgir and Therion) played with them this time around. This means that there is an abundance of influences on their style, from Reggae to Alternative Rock, and from Rap to Jazz. Their second tour happened in September of the same year, but once more Janne was not able to play with them. The Cunning Dorx play what they call "Post-post-modern Electrical Rock". This odd genre is due in part to the varied backgrounds of the band members, who had previous played in Alternative Rock, Hardcore Punk, Blues, Jazz and even Celtic folk bands. He was replaced by Erna Siikavirta - a female pianist who is a friend of the band's and who curently plays with the teatrical band Lordi - for the duration of the tour. The remaining lineup included Christof Ulreich (vocals), Alfons Bauernfeind (guitar), Patrick Peklar (drums) and Albert Bock (bass).

They played together with Hypocrisy and a few other bands such as Covenant and Agathodaimon, but suffered from the absence of Janne, who was busy finishing his studies. By the time of their first album release, Beno Unger was officially not part of the band anymore, although he continued to record and perform with them later on. Children of Bodom's first tour happened in February of 1998. Some gigs on a larger scale, a charity concert among them, enlarged their fan base considerably. The video directed by Mika Lindberg had a slim budget of €1000, but managed to convey the band's style well through the use of simple scenery, in which they play at night, in the cold. A studio session followed, the result of which was the sound carrier "That's for Pedestrians". Something Wild was officially released in November of 1997, and for promotional purposes the band recoeded a music video of the song Deadnight Warrior. Leading in this connection were once again Beno Unger and Alfons Bauernfeind.

However, their success was such that the Nuclear Blast label approached them with a contract for an European release; the deal started in the following year. This experience motivated the Cunning Dorx into writing and presenting their own musical pieces, instead of playing cover versions of well-known songs. With the intention of promoting the upcoming release of Something Wild, the band opened one of the shows from the black metal band Dimmu Borgir. Their first public concert took place in the country disco, Train; the gig was a success. In late 2004, Finnish police arrested the survivor, who is the main suspect of commiting the crime. The career of the band members started with a contest and several performances within their circle of friends, where their first devoted fans came from. The murders have remained one of the most widely-discussed cases in Scandinavian history and remained unsolved for more than fourty years. The initial repertoire contained covers of Nirvana, R.E.M., and Soundgarden songs, and some of their own songs written by Beno Unger.

There was a lone survivor, who has lived a relatively normal life afterwards. In May the four of them came to an agreement about the band name "Cunning Dorx", and the first rehearsals took place soon afterwards. The story of the Lake Bodom murders goes as follows: on the night of June the 4th of 1960, three teenagers were murdered while on a camping trip to the lake. Alfons Bauernfeind joined a few weeks later. A long list of possible names involving the word Bodom was then made, and they settled with Children of Bodom. The band was founded by Christof Ulreich, Beno Unger and Patrick Peklar, then schoolmates in Unterschützen / Burgenland in April 1994. When they stumbled upon Lake Bodom, they realised it was a name with impact; one which had an interesting story behind it. The Cunning Dorx are an Eastern Austrian Alternative Rock band.

The answer to that problem came as the bandmen looked for good names in their local phone book. For the band to be able to sign with Spinefarm Records, they were forced to change their name, since the contract with the Belgian label had already been signed under the name of IneartheD. The later deal was much more interesting for the band, since the Belgian label was offering them close to no help, to the point where they would have to distribute and sell the album themselves. Their debut - Something Wild - was supposed to be released by a small Belgian label, but Sami Tenetz (from Thy Serpent) got hold of a copy of their album through the hands of Alexander shortly after IneartheD signed this contract, and sent it to Spinefarm Records' boss, who immediately got interested in signing them for a country-wide release.

Janne was the component that was missing for IneartheD to assume the style that would later characterize Children of Bodom. With him, the band successfully recorded their first album in the year of 1997 and got a professional deal from it. So he was fired from the band - albeit not in a hostile manner - and a friend of Jaska's, a talented pianist called Janne "Warman" Wirman, assumed the position of keyboard player. Alexi wanted to make use of the keyboards more effectively this time around, and Pirisjoki just wasn't fit for the task anymore. As a last resort, the band decided to record an independent album, funding all of the production costs themselves, a daring move considering that none of them had much money to begin with.

It was a harsh time, in which - despite all of their efforts - their music got no exposure and they only managed to play at small events. This new demo didn't impress record labels much more than the previous ones had, and no label took interest in the young Finnish band. With this new line-up, IneartheD recorded their third demo, named Shining. The person chosen for that role was Jani Pirisjoki.

For some time, Alexi and Jaska played and recorded the keyboard sections of IneartheD's songs separately and later mixed the keyboard track with the other instruments, but in 1996 they felt the need of adding a musician to specialize in keyboards. When the band was about to record their second demo, Alexander was invited to join them and soon became an active member of the band. Jaska played a French horn in a local big band at the time, and one day - during rehearsal - he met Alexander Kuoppala, who was a trumpet player and also a good guitarist. From then on, Henkka also started doubling as the band's backing vocalist.

Despite the slight age difference, they got along well and soon Hennka became the band's new bass player. In junior high, Alexi and Jaska got to know Henkka "Blacksmith" Seppälä, who was one year younger than them. Alexi, who previously only composed the melodies of the songs, assumed the role of the band's lyricist. His last contribution to IneartheD were the lyirics of the songs from their second demo, Ubiguitous Absence of Remission.

Samuli was the main composer of the band's lyrics for the two years he took part of IneartheD, but in 1995 his family moved to the USA and there was no way for him to continue in the band. The band recorded its first demo - entitled Implosion of Heaven - on that same year. Having known each other since childhood and sharing the same interest for heavy/death metal bands such as Stone, Entombed and Obituary, they formed the original line-up of the band that would later become Children of Bodom together with bassist Samuli Miettinen. The band was founded in 1993 by guitarist Alexi "Wildchild" Laiho and drummer Jaska Raatikainen under the name of IneartheD.

Children of Bodom is a Finnish band from the small town of Espoo which is one of the precursors of the melodic death metal style. Waiting, by King Diamond. Somebody Put Something In My Drink, by Ramones. Silent Scream, by Slayer.

Shot In the Dark, by Ozzy Osbourne. K. She Is Beautiful, by Andrew W. Rebell Yell, by Billy Idol.

No Commands, by Stone. Mass Hypnosis, by Sepultura. Latomeri, by Klamydia. Hellion, by W.A.S.P.

Don't Stop at the Top, by Scorpions. Bed of Nails, by Alice Cooper. Aces High, by Iron Maiden. Trashed, Lost & Strungout (2004).

You're Better Off Dead! (2002). Hate Me! (2000). Downfall (1998). Children of Bodom (1997).

Shining (Demo, 1996). Ubiquitous Absence of Remission (Demo, 1995). Implosion of Heaven (Demo, 1994). Hate Crew Deathroll (2003).

Follow the Reaper (2001). Tokyo Warhearts (Live CD, 1999). Hatebreeder (1999). Something Wild (1997).

Samuli Miettinen - Bass. Jani Pirisjoki - Keyboards. Alexander Kuoppala - Rhythm guitar. Jaska Raatikainen - Drums.

Henkka Seppälä - 5-string bass. Janne Viljami Wirman - Keyboards. Roope Latvala - Rhythm guitar. Alexi Laiho - Vocals, lead guitar.