Alexi Laiho

Alexi Laiho was the guitarist, vocalist and main songwriter of Children of Bodom, a band founded in 1993 in Finland, initially under the name Inearthed. His writing brought together melodic death metal, thrash, neoclassical keyboards and the direct influence of guitarists such as Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai. From Something Wild to Hexed, the group built an immediately recognizable sound, marked by duels between guitar and keyboard, speed and the contrast between elaborate melodies and extreme vocals. Laiho became one of the great guitar heroes to emerge in metal in the 2000s. His technique combined aggressive picking, neoclassical phrasing and a strong sense of composition, without separating virtuosity from identity. At the same time as Children of Bodom, he was part of bands such as Sinergy and Kylähullut, participated in recordings by other artists and projected an image on stage as influential as his way of playing. The nickname “Wildchild” summed up the public figure well, although it also anticipated a self-destructive relationship with excess. After Children of Bodom ended in 2019, he formed Bodom After Midnight and began preparing a new phase. Alexi died in December 2020, aged 41, leaving three recordings released posthumously on the EP Paint the Sky with Blood. His career was short for the extent of the influence he achieved: Laiho helped return protagonism to the guitar in a generation dominated by modern metal and showed that extreme technique could still carry personality, danger and memorable songs.