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Official CHILDREN OF BODOM book to arrive in August

15-04-2025

The official CHILDREN OF BODOM book will be published in August via the London, U.K.-based publisher Rocket 88.

The book tells the story of the Finnish melodic death metal pioneers as an oral history in which bassist Henkka Seppälä, keyboardist Janne Wirman, drummer Jaska Raatikainen and early guitarist Alexander Kuoppala plus other former members, their friends and colleagues recall the 30-plus-year history of their career.

For the first time, members of the band tell the story of CHILDREN OF BODOM in their own words. HenkkaJanne and Jaska recall the founding of the band with their lost brother, guitarist/vocalist and main songwriter Alexi Laiho and the struggles, adventures and triumphs they experienced in the more than 30 years that followed. Drawing on personal memories and new interviews with the band conducted by Finnish best-selling author and longtime friend of the band Timo Isoaho, the official CHILDREN OF BODOM book tells the whole story, warts and all, of the groundbreaking melodic death metal band.

The book is available in two deluxe editions; the Signature is signed by HenkkaJanneJaska and Alexander, and preordering gives you the chance to have a name printed in the book — only at childrenofbodombook.com.

HenkkaJanneJaska and Alexander said in a statement: “Since we stopped making music and suffered the tragic loss of our brother Alexi, we’ve been remembering so many great times that we had together, and you can now read about those times in this book. It tells the full history of CHILDREN OF BODOM in our own words.”

CHILDREN OF BODOM‘s final concert took place on December 15, 2019 at the Black Box in Helsinki Ice Hall in Helsinki, Finland. The show was released as a live album.

Alexi Laiho passed away on December 29, 2020 in his home in Helsinki, Finland. He died of alcohol-induced degeneration of the liver and pancreas connective tissue. Furthermore, Laiho had a cocktail of painkillers, opioids and insomnia medication in his system. He had suffered from long-term health issues leading up to his death.

Laiho and Raatikainen founded CHILDREN OF BODOM in 1993, and the band was one of the most internationally acclaimed metal acts in Finland up until their very last farewell concert. In 2020, Alexi put together BODOM AFTER MIDNIGHT, which recorded three songs and shot one music video, all of which were released posthumously.
Besides CHILDREN OF BODOMLaiho had played in such acts as WARMENSINERGYKYLÄHULLUT and THE LOCAL BAND. Awarded with a Metal Hammer Golden God and several other international prizes, the guitarist was also the main star, leading a group of one hundred guitar players at the Helsinki Festival in 2015 in “100 Guitars From Hel” — a massive concert piece he composed.

Last year, RaatikainenSeppälä and Wirman discussed publicly for the first time the circumstances that led to the band’s split and ultimately Laiho‘s death. In an interview with Finland’s Helsingin Sanomat, the three surviving members of CHILDREN OF BODOM said the real reason for the band’s breakup was not that they wanted to stop touring in order to spend more time with their families, which is how Laiho explained it to Helsingin Sanomat in November 2019. Instead, what caused the group to split was Laiho‘s substance abuse, and that is also what eventually killed him a year after they went their separate ways.

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