Children of Bodom have been around the block a few times. Now in their 20th year, the Finnish metallers will release their eighth full-length, 'Halo of Blood', in the UK on June 10, and once again they have turned in a diverse collection that flits between the genre's various extremes.
Rubbing shoulders with the melodic death metal that made their name are influences from black metal and thrash, with the band still absolutely committed to pushing themselves into uncharted waters. “That's how we started and that's how we'll always be," admitted bassist Henkka Seppälä. "You can't get that out of us."
'Halo of Blood' was recorded at Danger Johnny Studio in Helsinki, some 20km from the band's hometown, Espoo. Produced by Mikko Karmila, who previously worked with the band on their 'Hatebreeder', 'Follow the Reaper' and 'Hate Crew Deathroll' albums, the record offers some of the band's fastest, most aggressive material and also a new, slower sound at times.
“There's fast stuff and really, really slow stuff,” Seppälä said. “We've never really done the slow stuff before. We don't know what the fans will like, but we'll see.”
The band's frontman, Alexi Laiho, admitted in a recent interview with Premier Guitar that recording in Helsinki represented a risk for the band, given their previous preference for seclusion during the recording process, but in truth they didn't skip a beat. “We're very, very happy with the record actually,” Seppälä said. “The process was really convenient.”
Despite its summer release, 'Halo of Blood' is an album informed by the cold. Its artwork - created by long-time collaborator Sami Saramäki - shows a reaper clad in white and walking a frozen lake, while Seppälä believes that the writing process was influenced by the weather outside their windows as much as any new musical discoveries.
“There's a little more black metal influence in the writing style,” he said. “Maybe it's just because we were writing during the winter time, but it's quite dark. Dark and cold. Atmospheric.
“People describe it in different ways. In my opinion it's new stuff, but I've heard some people say it sounds like the old stuff, somewhere inbetween the third and fourth album. For me it's impossible to say. We never try to go back, we always want to go forward.”
After celebrating the release of the album, Children of Bodom will hit the road. The band will play tracks from 'Halo of Blood' live for the first time on June 7 before sprinkling the material throughout the setlist for a run of US shows alongside Rob Zombie, Mastodon and Amon Amarth as part of the Mayhem Tour.
After their trek across the states, they will embark on their longest-ever European tour. With 55 dates spread over 24 countries – including seven UK and Ireland gigs in October - it's going to be a marathon effort, but Seppälä is desperate to get underway after a lengthy spell in the studio.
“It's been a really long time since the last show,” he said. “It will be nice to do the whole summer in the states and then two and a half months, almost, in Europe. We're really, really excited.”
Mon October 7th 2013 - BOURNEMOUTH O2 Academy Bournemouth
Tue October 8th 2013 - BRISTOL O2 Academy Bristol
Sat October 12th 2013 - SHEFFIELD O2 Academy Sheffield
Sun October 13th 2013 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE O2 Academy Newcastle
Mon October 14th 2013 - MANCHESTER Manchester Academy
Tue October 15th 2013 - LONDON O2 Shepherds Bush Empire
We don't run any advertising! Our editorial content is solely funded by lovely people like yourself using Stereoboard's listings when buying tickets for live events. To keep supporting us, next time you're looking for concert, festival, sport or theatre tickets, please search for "Stereoboard". It costs you nothing, you may find a better price than the usual outlets, and save yourself from waiting in an endless queue on Friday mornings as we list ALL available sellers!
