Children Of Bodom, the band that darted to international fame with their debut, 1997's Something Wild, has gone from being "this amazing band from Finland" to a household name in the metal scene. And that, of course, is obvious given the intensity, sheer quality of their material and the flawless execution.

Formed in 1993 and hailing from the city of Espoo, Finland, this young Finnish group took their name from one of the biggest murder mysteries in the history of their home town and Finnish crime: the murders at the Lake Bodom. After starting out as a trash-metal combo, the founding members Alexi Laiho (guitars and vocals), Jaska Raatikainen (drums), Henkka Seppälä (bass) and Alexander Kuoppala (guitars) soon found elements of classic heavy metal creeping into their music. After taking in keyboardist Janne Wirman to complete their line-up, they honed their combination of old school black metal, classic heavy, and death metal vocals into the sharpest instrument of its kind.

After Spinefarm Records received Children of Bodom's Deadnight Warrior demo, it didn't take long for the company to figure out what they had in their hands back in late 1996. Three demo spins later, the band was signed and ready to knock a few heads off with their debut album Something Wild. In their following albums Children of Bodom perfected their sound. Their mu ... (read more)