Acclaimed guitarist Alexi Laiho from Children of Bodom passes away

Frontman of the popular Finnish heavy metal group Children of Bodom, Alexi Laiho passed away in December 2020. No specific cause of death was announced, though his bandmates mentioned long-term health complications as linked to the matter.

Recognised in 2009 as Best Metal Guitarist by the Guitar World magazine readers and as a “phenomenal song writer and one of the greatest guitarists of all time” by his bandmates Henkka Seppälä, Janne Wirman and Jaska Raatikainen, Alexi Laiho was undeniably a popular presence on the heavy metal scene. He founded the group in 1993 with Raatikainen, who is the drummer, and went on to sell more than 250,000 albums in Finland alone.

Following the last concert of Children of Bodom in December 2019, Laiho established a new band with members he had worked with previously. The new act was named Bodom After Midnight and, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, they could unfortunately not perform in the festivals they had been listed in.

Various musicians, such as Steve Vai and Sebastian Bach, have responded to the news of Laiho’s death by paying tributes to the late artist. Some songs that Laiho recorded with Bodom After Midnight are scheduled to be released posthumously.