3. CHILDREN OF BODOM

Children of Bodom was formed in 1993 by guitarist Alexi "Wildchild" Laiho and drummer Jaska Raatikainen under the name of Inearthed. Both musicians had known each other since early childhood and had shared an interest in heavy metal, especially death metal groups, such as Dissection, Entombed, and Obituary. 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.

Samuli was the main composer of the band's lyrics 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 which was the first time they worked with producer Anssi Kippo at Astia-studios (Lappeenranta, Finland). In this demo, keyboards were incorporated into the band's songs for the first time. In order to achieve this, both 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, and during a rehearsal he met Alexander Kuoppala, a trumpet player and also a proficient guitarist. Shortly after the recording of their second demo, Kuoppala was invited to join Inearthed as a rhythm guitarist.

The bassist chosen to replace Samuli was Henkka "Blacksmith" Seppälä, whom Laiho and Raatikainen had previously known from school. Apart from playing the bass, Seppälä also often doubles as the band's backing vocalist. Also, the band recruited a musician to specialize on keyboards, whose name was Jani Pirisjoki. Both joined Inearthed in early 1996.

With this new line-up, Inearthed proceeded to record their third demo, entitled Shining. This demo did not impress record labels any more than the previous ones had, 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 decided to record an independent, self-funded album. Considering that none of the musicians had much money to begin with, it was an audacious move.

Laiho wanted to make use of the keyboards more effectively, but Pirisjoki was not attending rehearsals. Thus, he was fired and replaced by a friend of Raatikainen's, a jazz pianist named Janne "Warman" Wirman.

Wirman was the component which was previously missing from Inearthed. His presence allowed the band to assume the style which would later characterize Children of Bodom. With Wirman, the band successfully recorded their first album in 1997. Their debut, Something Wild, was supposed to be released by a small Belgian label, Shiver Records, but second vocalist Sami Tenetz (from Thy Serpent) acquired a copy of their album through the hands of Kuoppala. They both worked for the same company at the time. Shortly after Inearthed signed this contract, Spinefarm Records' boss immediately became interested in signing them for a country-wide release.[citation needed] The latter deal was much more attractive to 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.

The band was required to create a new name to sign up to Spinefarm Records. The contract with Shiver records had already been signed under the name of Inearthed. The answer to that problem came as the members looked for good names in their local phone book. When they stumbled upon Lake Bodom, they realized that it was a name with impact and one which had an interesting story behind it. A long list of possible names involving the word Bodom was then made, and they settled with Children of Bodom. The band's name is derived from the Lake Bodom murders.

Band members

Current members
Alexi Laiho – lead vocals, guitar (1993–present)
Jaska Raatikainen – drums, percussion (1993–present)
Henkka Seppälä – bass, backing vocals (1996–present)
Janne Wirman – keyboard, synthesizer (1997–present)

Current live members
Antti Wirman – guitar, backing vocals (2015–present)

Former members
Samuli Miettinen – bass, backing vocals (1993–1995)
Alexander Kuoppala – guitar, backing vocals (1995–2003)
Jani Pirisjoki – keyboard, synthesizer (1995–1997)
Roope Latvala – guitar, backing vocals (2003–2015)

Discography
Studio albums
Something Wild (1997)
Hatebreeder (1999)
Follow the Reaper (2000)
Hate Crew Deathroll (2003)
Are You Dead Yet? (2005)
Blooddrunk (2008)
Relentless Reckless Forever (2011)
Halo of Blood (2013)
I Worship Chaos (2015)