Year: 2021
Total Time: 40:42
Label: Napalm
After CHILDREN OF BODOM broke up in December 2019 and the departure of Seppälä (bass), Wirman (keys), and Raatikainen (drums) from the band, Alexi Laiho found himself with a dilemma: stop playing music or carrying on. Of course, he did decide to keep going! So, in 2020, along with Daniel Freyberg on guitar, Laiho founded BODOM AFTER MIDNIGHT, the new face of CHILDREN OF BODOM, whose name he could not keep due to legal reasons.
After a few live performances towards the end of 2020, the band begins recording material for their debut with the help of Mitja Toivonen on bass, Waltteri Väyrynen on drums (Paradise Lost) and Lauri Salomaa on the keys. Fate, however, unfortunately had other plans for Alexi Laiho. Due to his unexpected death in January 2021, the band had only managed to record three songs. This material was then released a few months later as an EP by NAPALM under the title “Paint The Sky With Blood”.
The self-titled track that opens the EP shows us Laiho at its best. Classic Finnish melodies and fast drums take us back to the past of COB, back when the band was a mix of melodic black metal and power metal. That’s what “Something Wild” would sound like if it had a good production and was played by mature musicians. The production work is amazing. You hear everything crystal clear, without any instrument outweighing someone else’s. The song is a face melting composition, with several changes keeping interest; heavy guitars; up-tempo rhythms and of course the characteristic voice of Laiho.
“Payback’s A Bitch” that follows, starts with groovy guitars and then adopts a fast post thrash metal pace with classic COB melodies in the background on guitars and keys. Towards the middle of the song, we will meet a little more classical Heavy/Power part along with some beautiful solos. Another well written song, with enough changes and tempos to keep your head banging!
For the end, we have a tribute to the pioneers of the melodic Black Metal, DISSECTION. Alexi Laiho’s group updates the classic “Where Dead Angels Lie” with the addition of keys and the melodic aura of CHILDREN OF BODOM. The Finns manage to capture the Black Metal spirit of the original song, bringing it to their measure, thus showing how much influence the Swedes had, not only on COB but also on the entire melodic extreme scene.
It is a huge shame the loss of Alexi Laiho from the metal scene, as these three songs show that he was in great shape, inspired and with an appetite to continue to go even higher with his new band. It also seems that there was a willingness to return to the earliest sound of CHILDREN OF BODOM. Unfortunately, we’ll never know. Fans of Laiho and the melodic Death Metal sound, I think it is necessary to listen/buy this EP!
Rating: 666
Editor: Dimitris Benetatos
Related Link: BODOM AFTER MIDNIGHT – Facebook Page
