# Alexi Laiho (Children of Bodom) has died?! :(



## lewis

RIP to the man
41?

No idea what happened yet but a statement form the other members have been published through the Bodom fan page - 


Statement from Bodom After Midnight:
It is with heavy hearts and great sadness that we have to announce the passing of Alexi Laiho. We are absolutely devastated and heartbroken for the sudden loss of our dear friend and band member. Our journey together as a band had only just begun so there’s no words to describe the shock and the bottomless grief that all of us feel.
May your soul rest in peace, you will be eternally missed. We love you brother.
Our deepest condolences go to his family. No further announcements nor interviews will be given at this time. We kindly ask to respect our need to process and go through this terrible situation in privacy. Thank you for your understanding and support.
Daniel, Mitja & Waltteri

https://www.facebook.com/bodomaftermidnightofficial/

I loved their first few albums. So 2021 has instantly carried on where 2020 left off


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## Metropolis

Rest in peace, dude was one of the greatest influencers for me. Totally devastated and saddened.


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## Zado

Shocked. Haven't been a huge fan of the band in years, but this is shocking nontheless.


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## Humanoid

Yes. There was just info in the Finnish media that he has passed away last week.


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## IbanezDaemon

Shocking news. RIP Alexi.


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## akinari

No no no no no no no

I got the biggest wave of anxiety when I read his name, thinking to myself "please tell me he didn't fuckin' die."

The first 4 albums and the Inearthed demos were some of my favorites when I first got into extreme metal as a teenager, and last year or maybe late 2019, I rediscovered them after almost 15 years... I think I enjoy them now more than I did back then.

RIP Alexi.


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## narad

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck


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## feilong29

No way no way no way!! I can't even believe this. I have dreaded this day. The most influential guitar player of my life. Wow, RIP Wild Child.


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## MadYarpen

I can't find words. Will remember him, he is the one who inspired me to play guitar. What a devastating news. He was so young, starting new chapter. Fuck.


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## Sammy J

Damn man, this blows. Hadn’t paid attention to much they’ve done since “In Your Face”, but I used to really love this band once upon a time. Thanks for the music and the memories, Alexi. RIP.


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## lewis

Really sad. 
I know he hasnt looked that well for quite some time but this is still a huge shock.
When I was teaching myself guitar about 12 years ago, I well well into this band and he was an influence.

I saw them live in my local city one time and felt so sorry for them because whilst they were abit too drunk for my liking, they got bombarded with shit by the fans which pissed me off alot. I enjoyed it and seemed to know songs that no one else in the crowd did.


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## jaxadam

Unbelievable.


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## Louis Cypher

This is shocking he is way too young. I had such a huge phase of loving CoB, Hatebreeder through to Bloodrunk... few Twitter news updates say he had been suffering with health issues for the last few years. So sad as he was an incredible guitarist by his late teens


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## p0ke

Oh man, don't know what to say... The guy was the reason I really started to practice the guitar and it became more than a hobby thanks to that. What a shitty start to the year


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## Mprinsje

I listened to COB so much in my teens. I still love to play some of those songs and solo's.


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## gnoll

So sad to hear this 

His music has always been a very big influence on me, COB was one of the bands that got me into metal way back. I still remember the day a friend played Downfall to me when I was a kid, 20 or so years ago. I loved it instantly. Then I bought my own copy of Hatebreeder and listened to it lots, especially on summer nights and any time I had been to a lake.


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## Atefred

Way to start the year... Alexi was a total beast, will very much miss his music...


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## Flappydoodle

No word on the cause of death? 41 is super young. One article vaguely said long term health problems


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## nickgray

What. The. Fuck. I saw some documentary not too long ago, I think the recording of Hexed, I don't remember really, Laiho looked really skinny, but then he always kinda was, I remember thinking maybe he was sick or something. Fucking hell. I didn't much like CoB post Follow the Reaper, but the first three albums were legendary. Hyper-melodic, classicaly inspired blend of melodeath, a touch of thrash and power metal. I think only Kalmah's early albums had something similar going on, off the top of my head. They still absolutely hold up to this day. Rest in peace.


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## Crumbling

He looked great during the recorded Bodom After Midnight shows, this is a big surprise.


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## Avedas

Holy shit wow


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## Captain Butterscotch

what the fuck


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## p0ke

Flappydoodle said:


> No word on the cause of death? 41 is super young. One article vaguely said long term health problems



Nope, health problems is the only thing I've seen mentioned anywhere. Very surprising though, since he did look healthier than pretty much ever in the latest videos and pics.


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## Esp Griffyn

Sad news, he has not looked a well man for some time but I didn't expect this.


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## slan

41 is way too young. Huge bummer.


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## USMarine75

I’m still devastated by Eddies death. But every time I watch an interview (and half of his live performances) he’s got a cigarette in his mouth. And he sounds like he’s either drunk, high, or both. And he was 65. 

But 41? Damn.


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## AdenM

Awful - I remember reading he had some issues with his pancreas, etc. in the past few years, but was hoping he was doing better after settling down a bit. 

He was definitely the reason I started trying to really push myself on guitar when I was first learning how to play. Hatebreeder and Follow the Reaper were game changers for me.


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## DrakkarTyrannis

Welp. Guess there won't be any confusion over the band name change anymore.


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## jaxadam

AdenM said:


> Hatebreeder and Follow the Reaper were game changers for me.



Loved both of those albums.


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## ElysianGuitars

Brutal news to wake up to. I listened to a lot of Bodom up to and including HCDR, most of my 20s was listening to them heavily. Alexi was only 3 years older than I am, died way too young. RIP.


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## aesthyrian

God dammit. Alexi was THE man when I started to get into guitar. Like, this guy was screaming while playing harmonized lead lines with Janne. He was unreal, almost bigger than life when I first got into CoB. What a unique individual and player who I know I'll never forget. R.I.P.


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## Robslalaina

"I was only 41 when I died" 

RIP Alexi


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## KnightBrolaire

I saw him do a clinic last year at Capitol Guitars. He looked like he was in bad shape even then, but his playing was still phenomenal. I always loved his playing.
RIP


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## manu80

yeah he was very skinny recently ...but what can you guess....sad news to start 2021
Really liked those 3 COB first albums....


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## decoy205

I’m the same age so this is terrible to hear. RIP Alexi.


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## jco5055

p0ke said:


> Nope, health problems is the only thing I've seen mentioned anywhere. Very surprising though, since he did look healthier than pretty much ever in the latest videos and pics.



hmm I mean he was like a BAD alcoholic for years (decades?) from what I understand, and looking back he did look pretty bad/gaunt in recent years overall (I just assumed some unfortunate aging, especially because his overall "persona" combined with him being young when they became popular etc he has always seemed youthful imo), but I wonder if he just had some long-term issues because of said drinking/lifestyle in the past, and that can just cause random organ failure and such once you are around 35-40 or older?

Unless he had something bigger like cancer, which would also help explain his often gaunt appearance...


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## Alex79

I'm quite sad about this. Besides his great chops, his contribution to writing modern metal music was incredible.

A couple of people have expressed disbelief at his age/health, but Alexi himself has talked in interviews about his health problems and stays in hospitals as a result of his excessive drinking.


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## p0ke

Sure, he has talked about health issues and all that, but I'm still having a hard time believing it could be fatal. Still, I'm not a doctor and don't know any better, so who am I to say... I think we'll get to know soon enough anyway.


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## Sumsar

Could it be Covid-19 or related? Though I guess they would just have stated that then. Smokers lungs and alcoholic liver and guts doesn't sound like a combination that would play nice with covid-19. Alternatively both of those cause cancer, so might be that.

Alexi was one of my early guitar heroes, and my first steps into heavier metal, coming from Nightwish and other similar bands, COB was my first step on a long road to extreme music back when I was a teenager.


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## Ataraxia2320

Sumsar said:


> Could it be Covid-19 or related?



The IG post mentions it was a battle with illness over the last 3 years so I don't think so. 

There have been rumours about liver problems for about as long so I would imagine it was that. I'm just speculating though.


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## p0ke

Sumsar said:


> Could it be Covid-19 or related? Though I guess they would just have stated that then. Smokers lungs and alcoholic liver and guts doesn't sound like a combination that would play nice with covid-19. Alternatively both of those cause cancer, so might be that.



Yeah, I'm pretty sure they would've stated Covid immediately if it had anything to do with it. The fact that they haven't stated anything kinda hints that the cause is still under investigation, I guess. I can't really help but think it might've been self inflicted...


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## Flappydoodle

jco5055 said:


> hmm I mean he was like a BAD alcoholic for years (decades?) from what I understand, and looking back he did look pretty bad/gaunt in recent years overall (I just assumed some unfortunate aging, especially because his overall "persona" combined with him being young when they became popular etc he has always seemed youthful imo), but I wonder if he just had some long-term issues because of said drinking/lifestyle in the past, and that can just cause random organ failure and such once you are around 35-40 or older?
> 
> Unless he had something bigger like cancer, which would also help explain his often gaunt appearance...



Total speculation about Alexi. But to answer your question, yes, alcohol abuse can definitely kill you by 41. The liver is remarkably good at regeneration, but repeated use leads to alcohol-induced hepatitis (inflammation) and cirrhosis (scarring). The main symptoms are feeling really shitty, fatigue, large amounts of weight loss, loss of appetite, ascites (super painful fluid buildup in the abdomen).

If you combine with other drugs, that would accelerate it.


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## Seabeast2000

Flappydoodle said:


> Total speculation about Alexi. But to answer your question, yes, alcohol abuse can definitely kill you by 41. The liver is remarkably good at regeneration, but repeated use leads to alcohol-induced hepatitis (inflammation) and cirrhosis (scarring). The main symptoms are feeling really shitty, fatigue, large amounts of weight loss, loss of appetite, ascites (super painful fluid buildup in the abdomen).
> 
> If you combine with other drugs, that would accelerate it.


Also the heart gets abused through one if these mechanisms IIRC.


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## Bdtunn

So sad! hate crew and are you dead are two of my more listened too albums. RIP


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## Manurack

Fuuuuuuuuuuck no! Laiho was one of my favorites shredders of all time after I discovered Children of Bodom! I saw them open for Lamb of God on April 10, 2009 on the Wrath North American World tour. 

I was in front row and they kicked ass live! I was literally just 10 feet away watching Alexi shred those solos! RIP.


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## TonyFlyingSquirrel

Tragic indeed, and a stark reminder.
1+1=2.
Drugs/Alcohol/tobacco = death.

I choose life. I want to make it to the rocking chair, pass peacefully in my sleep surrounded by my wife, son, and grankids.


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## Lorcan Ward

I’m gutted : (

My biggest musical influence and favourite guitarist. Those early albums motivated me to really buckle down and get better at guitar. I can still listen to them start to finish to this day enjoying every second. 

He will be remembered!


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## bostjan

Far too young. He will be greatly missed.


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## BusinessMan

The first official bruh moment of the year. Saw them live once back on 2012 I think. Great show dad to gear this news? RIP

Will definitely be listening to some cob today


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## Edika

Ah man it come up on my Facebook feed and on the metal news sites and thought that can't be right! I wasn't aware of his health issues but I haven't been following Children of Bodom or Bodom after Night that much lately. 
RIP and far too young, such a great player!


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## Sermo Lupi

Ah, man. This is terrible. 

Alexi was such a musical guiding force through my teens in the early 2000s. Back then, I was a fan not only of his work with Children of Bodom but also with Sinergy. Most of my internet bandwidth was probably downloading live CoB videos off of P2P clients. Actually, I distinctly remember how much this process was eased when YouTube launched in 2005. 

He was a guitar player that I went out of my way to _watch _a lot. His mixture of lead guitar player and front man just seemed like the epitome of cool. My first custom guitar was an RR; it was not a copy of his Jacksons, but was absolutely inspired by his image. Alexi Laiho was insanely influential for a lead guitar player who was 'just' in a band. He was a legend. 

I guess I'll wait for more details to come out before saying anything else. I do wonder though, in hindsight, the CoB breakup was partly initiated by his band mates wanting to put CoB on hold while Alexi recovered. 

All the best to his friends and family. This is really sad news. I feel like the energy has been sucked right out of me.


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## OmegaSlayer

I remember the hype surrounding the release of Something Wild, and in those days some metal magazines had Promo CD compilations for upcoming releases
There was "Deadnight Warrior"
Needless to say I purchased Something Wild day 1, I was 19 at the time and was blown away

Many are maybe too young to remember, but Alexi attempted suicide already after SW release by swallowing pills (damn Finnish suicidal tendency) and was in a coma for like a week

I saw him in the Hatebreeder tour with In Flames (promoting Colony) and Dark Tranquillity (Projector)
I hanged with him a bit after the gig and he gave me the impression of this wild warrior on stage, while he was so chill, humble and almost scared of people off-stage

Haven't follow CoB after Follow The Reaper, as I didn't liked the new direction they took, but the first two records are solid in my heart

This guts me tremendously
Hyvästi Alexi


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## possumkiller

God damnit. There goes any hope of a Korn on the C.O.B. collaboration project.


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## groverj3

One of my first guitar heroes.

I can't tell you how many hours during my high school days I sat in the basement playing riffs and solos from Follow the Reaper.

I would assume this is related to alcoholism over the years.

41 is way too young. Only 10 years older than me. Insane...


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## Kaura

I haven't felt this anxious/shocked since Chester Bennington decided to join the upstairs orchestra. Conveniently, my tomorrow's shift got cancelled so time to get loaded and play every CoB song I know on guitar.


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## ArtDecade

He lived on the edge for a long time, but you never expect someone that young to go so soon. He will be remembered.


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## NosralTserrof

Wow. 

Def was one of my favorite bands in high school. :/


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## r3tr0sp3ct1v3

This one hurts. A lot. COB is what got me into harder music. Fuck RIP dude


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## Musiscience

Huge RIP. This is so unexpected and hits me hard this morning. He was a legend to in my eyes during my teen years and had defined what melodic metal and leads should sound like. 

I'm really shook. What a young age to go too. My thoughts are with his friends and family. Damn...


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## Decimater1

SUPER sad news. Dude was a master of creating catchy metal riffs and choruses. 

The Are You Dead Yet? album was super influential to me and many of my friends.

Agreed that he never looked super healthy, but still very shocking this morning to find out.


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## Ralyks

Unfortunately, having followed him since probably sometime aroubd Hatebreeder, I feel like this is a case of all of the damage he did to his body finally caught up to him. My other fear is possibly losing the C.O.B. name affected him more than we thought.

Either way, tragic. He seemed like a decent dude despite his substance issues, and obviously a monster player.

Rest in power, Alexi.


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## TheBolivianSniper

The one player that really drove me to get better, wow. EVH was not fun but personally Alexi has been a massive driving factor in how I practice and an inspiration, since I come from a similar place musically and after reading his interviews it gave me a lot more confidence to continue playing. His style and riffs were one of a kind. 

There's not a single album I can listen to back to front and love every song besides Are You Dead Yet, and COB isn't even my favorite band.


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## zappatton2

Jeez this is horrible! I feel like I've had this band in my life since I was a youngster, yet he was even younger than me!! 41 is way too long, rest in peace Alexi. Guess I know what I'll be listening to this morning.


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## mitou

He was so influential and unique in a way that I don't think most people even realize. A classically trained musician who combined neo-classical power metal and black/death metal with a weird DIY punk mentality. And there was a bit of 80s hair metal thrown in there too. All done with an extremely high technical proficiency before he even turned 20. 

Bodom is still some of the most fun stuff to play on guitar and Sinergy will always be one of my favorite bands as well.


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## NeglectedField

COB were definitely one of those gateway bands for me in my late teens. Even if I cringed at it later in life, they had an inspiring amount of badassery and nothing can take that away.


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## mastapimp

I discovered them right before Hate Crew Deathroll came out at a time when I was pushing myself to play faster and more challenging stuff. I quickly bought their back catalog as well as the Sinergy CDs, tuned a guitar to D-standard, and got to work learning as many riffs and licks as I could. CoB ticked a lot of boxes for me. They had the neoclassical element that I felt had grown stale w/ Yngwie, the death metal speed and intensity, and the 80s glam rock sleaze of Motley Crue, and it all came together really well for a unique sound. I was lucky enough to see them perform live a few times in support of HCDR and AYDY and they were incredible back then. Was really looking forward to hearing his new project post-CoB and hope that some music was far enough along that it'll be released. RIP Alexi.


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## MrBouleDeBowling

Damn... 

I haven't listened to COB in a very long time. But when I was in highschool, everybody was into metal. Children of Bodom were INSANELY popular. Our guitar teacher even added COB song in the book he put together for the class to keep the kids interested (I believe he was a fan aswell). Anyone who was even slightly into playing guitar looked up to Alexi. He was a legit superstar for us.

That one hits me in the feels.

RIP Wildchild


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## BlackMastodon

I remember all the metal kids in high school loving CoB andooming up to Alexi as a guitarist, myself included. Guy was an absolute legend by such a young age. This hits especial hard because it's not even one of the classic Legends, 41 is so fucking young.  

Haven't listened to them through most of my adult life but I think I'm gonna queue up some of the classics on Spotify today. 

RIP to one of the greats.


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## works0fheart

Between Sean Reinert, Sean Malone, and now Alexi, holy fuck this last year has sucked so much. I can remember the first time I heard Children of Bodom, and it was after reading a guitar world article mentioning his name. I looked his music up on limewire or bearshare or whatever other cancerous download service was out at the time. I was hooked. Hearing songs like Black Widow, Kissing the Shadows, and Touch Like Angel of Death for the first time blew my young mind. Before 'Bodom, all I'd listened to and practiced guitar-wise were Metallica songs. CoB completely changed everything I knew about what metal was at the time. They were my introduction to shred and death metal in general and afterwards I remember sifting through similar bands like Norther, Kalmah, In Flames, Dark Tranquility and Wintersun, just trying to scratch that itch that Alexi's playing had laid upon me lol. I idolized this man to say the least. I thought his Jackson's and ESP's were so fucking cool and it's what I regularly play on to this day. I do have other guitars, but my Alexi Blacky with a SD Nazgul just has a tone to it that no other guitar in my collection can come close to. 

Man, I really can't say enough about this guy. I would sit around listening to Tokyo Warhearts, playing Morrowind on the original Xbox at night, grinning ear to ear at the sheer awesomeness that were those versions of Downfall and Touch Like Angel of Death, getting myself all hyped to wake up early and practice sweeping and various CoB riffs until it was too late for me to play guitar again. Outside of his playing, he was a lovable goof ball and I loved watching the outtakes and whatnot from Chaos Ridden Years of him and the band. 

Reading Daniel Freyberg's post about their last moments together truly broke my heart this morning and brought me to tears. 41 is way too young and while I know people use this phrase a lot, it truly did feel like it couldn't/shouldn't be true, and I just wanted to wake up and find out it wasn't. I don't think any band will ever have the impact on me that Alexi and the guys in 'Bodom did. Time to blast every piece of music he's laid hands on all day. RIP Alexi.


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## Ordacleaphobia

Wow, that's insane.
I never really listened to CoB, but despite that, was still well aware of what a monster Alexi was and how he played as a guitarist. Crazy. Way too early.

It has been an absolutely ruthless year for the greats. Reinert, Peart, DOOM, EVH, Sean Malone, now Laiho....god, man; I really hope 2021 is a better lap around the sun.


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## Mathemagician

One of the guitarists who was most influential on my taste in music. Follow the Reaper album in particular. RIP to a fantastic songwriter and guitarist.


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## arasys

When I woke up to this year's first Monday, this was the first thing I saw. What a way to start 2021, it feels almost like the continuation of 2020 right now. 

I am never going to let go of my ESP Blacky, ever. First time I heard Children of Bodom was 19 years ago, and as a middle school kid I was like "bands like slipknot and korn are not cool, or fast enough compared to this!" (you know how opinioned most of us were when we were kids ). 

It feels like I lost somebody I knew for almost two decades, it feels weird and sad. Hard to put a finger on it.


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## HeHasTheJazzHands

I still can't comprehend how we EVH and Alexi Laiho in the same year. I really can't.


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## technomancer

Absolutely terrible, 41 is way too young. RIP 

The only thing I've seen is that he had ongoing health problems...


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## BenjaminW

I’ve never been a fan of Children of Bodom, but Rest In Peace to a man who’s been a huge influence to lots of people on this forum.


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## maliciousteve

Absolutely gutted. He was a big inspiration for me when I first saw Bodom in 2003. I took guitar playing much more seriously after that show. I wasn't much of a fan of their recent albums but everything up to Are You Dead Yet? was played thousands of times. He was my EVH.


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## MaxSwagger

I remember when I was a kid first getting into guitar and going to my cousins to download some songs. I had not been introduced to heavier styles at that point and accidentally downloaded “Follow The Reaper” by COB instead of Blue Ouster Cults “Don’t Fear The Reaper”. It changed my life. One of the most jaw dropping musical experiences of my life and I am forever grateful. RIP Alexi


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## Decimater1

MaxSwagger said:


> I remember when I was a kid first getting into guitar and going to my cousins to download some songs. I had not been introduced to heavier styles at that point and accidentally downloaded “Follow The Reaper” by COB instead of Blue Ouster Cults “Don’t Fear The Reaper”. It changed my life. One of the most jaw dropping musical experiences of my life and I am forever grateful. RIP Alexi



YES. I remember limewiring random "Death metal words" and hoping it was decent

"Uhhh yea, type in Gore, Blood, and death mp3"


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## Riffer

Damn, 41. It's crazy to think that when he was 20 years old nobody knew that he was already pretty much half way through his life. AT 20!!! Fuck man that sucks so much. Loved his playing.


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## Kaura

Riffer said:


> Damn, 41. It's crazy to think that when he was 20 years old nobody knew that he was already pretty much half way through his life. AT 20!!! Fuck man that sucks so much. Loved his playing.



And to think what he already accomplished when he hit his 20´s. Like at least two albums released. I'm now around the same age Alexi was when they released Are You Dead Yet? To think they already had 4 albums under their belt while I have none really makes at least myself respect them/him all the more.


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## Vyn

Fuck. This is just... Don't have any words. Shocked.

RIP


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## BlackMastodon

The intro to Touch Like Angel of Death takes me right back. Still so good.


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## NotDonVito




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## zappatton2

zappatton2 said:


> 41 is way too long, rest in peace Alexi.


Of course, meant to say "way too _young_", I can't fathom what he must have been going through


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## jephjacques

Alcohol abuse is no joke. Guy was only a year older than me. Glad I got sober


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## Kaura

NotDonVito said:


>




Janne should play this at Alexi's funeral.


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## ZXIIIT

Whenever I spec'd out a Flying V with one pickup and people scolded me because "Flying Vs NEED 2 pickups!!1" I'd bring up Alexi Laiho and how badass he always looked on stage.

RIP Alexi.


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## p0ke

Kaura said:


> And to think what he already accomplished when he hit his 20´s. Like at least two albums released. I'm now around the same age Alexi was when they released Are You Dead Yet? To think they already had 4 albums under their belt while I have none really makes at least myself respect them/him all the more.



It was also a very different scene back then. But yeah, same here.


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## works0fheart

maliciousteve said:


> He was my EVH.



I think this sums it up for a lot of people. He certainly was a lot of people's EVH. If each era had only a handful of iconic guitarists to name, Alexi would certainly take the crown, or at least top 5 for the 2000's.


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## OmegaSlayer

Ralyks said:


> Unfortunately, having followed him since probably sometime aroubd Hatebreeder, I feel like this is a case of all of the damage he did to his body finally caught up to him. My other fear is possibly losing the C.O.B. name affected him more than we thought.
> 
> Either way, tragic. He seemed like a decent dude despite his substance issues, and obviously a monster player.
> 
> Rest in power, Alexi.


Got that kind of impression too...


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## Vyn

works0fheart said:


> I think this sums it up for a lot of people. He certainly was a lot of people's EVH. If each era had only a handful of iconic guitarists to name, Alexi would certainly take the crown, or at least top 5 for the 2000's.



This. I started playing guitar as a 10 year old in 2002. In 2003 I heard HCDR for the first time. By 2005 I'd finally managed to nail Lake Bodom, I had COB and Alexi ESP posters in my room and I'd made the shittiest Alexi copy body and bolted it to a Jackson copy neck I found in a pawn shop because I didn't have the money for a real one. AYDY came out and it was the heaviest fucking thing, I still use that album at the gym or cycling today. 

For anyone who grew up playing guitar then, Alexi was actually god.


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## OmegaSlayer

I totally see how for the young generations Alexi had been what Van Halen and Malmsteen have been for the 80s generation like me
So, I feel how today is a devastating day for loads of people


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## Alberto7

It may sound a bit over the top and somewhat cringy now (though that's many years in the past now), but Alexi is, undeniably, my biggest influence in my guitar playing. I don't even really listen to that kind of music much anymore, but there's no doubt that the guy's music consumed me for years before I snapped out of it.  From ages 13 to 19, Bodom wasn't just an inspiration, it was a literal lifestyle for me during that time.

I wore similar clothing, my hair looked the same, I drank, smoked and partied with people that liked similar music, I owned an LTD AL-600 for about 4 years, and I'd listen to melodeath all day. Hell, my nickname in one of my old bands was "Alexi", and my YouTube channel's name was AlbertoLaiho for the longest time before the YouTube/Google merger thing. Guess Alexi wasn't the best role model or guitar teacher  my playing is even sloppy like his was, but it was hella fun following those guys and learning as many licks from them as I could.

Passing up the opportunity to see Bodom live is something that I'll regret.

May he party and rock in peace wherever the dude is now. \m/


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## Leviathus

Man, what the fuck?


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## Exit Existence

This blows big time. He was my favorite guitarist as a teenager and I would chase his tone for years. I had two GP1000's, his midboost circuit, the old 80's Jackson pickup he used to use on first 4 albums. Unfortunately I don't own those anymore. I've been fortunate to probably have seen Bodom 10+ times, my favorite memory being I went on one of the first 70k Tons of Metal cruises and they were on there. I got to hang and had a couple drinks with Alexi (and a LOT of drinks with Roope Latvala ) and just geek out as a fan. Alexi seemed like a cool dude, will be missed.


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## TimSE

Astoria, London UK in 05/06 I passed out during the keyboard solo in COBs set. It was epic


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## Bodes

Crazy bad. I was one of 5 Davids in my metalhead group during high school. As I wore a COB jumper, I got the nickname Bodom boy/dude/guy/man etc.
Then a few years later, it got shortened to Bodes, as many people thought I was called 'bottom boy'. Not too funny for an outcast 19/20 year old.

Rip Alexi.


----------



## jaxadam

Leviathus said:


> Man, what the fuck?



I mean this is the only thing going through my head.


----------



## Alberto7

Bodes said:


> Crazy bad. I was one of 5 Davids in my metalhead group during high school. As I wore a COB jumper, I got the nickname Bodom boy/dude/guy/man etc.
> Then a few years later, it got shortened to Bodes, as many people thought I was called 'bottom boy'. Not too funny for an outcast 19/20 year old.
> 
> Rip Alexi.



This is so satisfying.

I low-key love learning about the story behind each member's screen names, and this is one of my favorites.


----------



## feilong29

Alberto7 said:


> It may sound a bit over the top and somewhat cringy now (though that's many years in the past now), but Alexi is, undeniably, my biggest influence in my guitar playing. I don't even really listen to that kind of music much anymore, but there's no doubt that the guy's music consumed me for years before I snapped out of it.  From ages 13 to 19, Bodom wasn't just an inspiration, it was a literal lifestyle for me during that time.
> 
> I wore similar clothing, my hair looked the same, I drank, smoked and partied with people that liked similar music, I owned an LTD AL-600 for about 4 years, and I'd listen to melodeath all day. Hell, my nickname in one of my old bands was "Alexi", and my YouTube channel's name was AlbertoLaiho for the longest time before the YouTube/Google merger thing. Guess Alexi wasn't the best role model or guitar teacher  my playing is even sloppy like his was, but it was hella fun following those guys and learning as many licks from them as I could.
> 
> Passing up the opportunity to see Bodom live is something that I'll regret.
> 
> May he party and rock in peace wherever the dude is now. \m/



I feel your pain. While I got to see him live about 3 or 4 times and I moshed my way to the front row, risking limb and eyesight (lol), my biggest regret was during Gigantour when I was waiting to meet Megadeth--and honestly, I only got the VIP tix because I thought I would have a chance to meet Alexi backstage--and he rolled out into the crowd, but was heavily covered, so no one noticed him. We locked eyes and he put his finger to his mouth, tell me to keep it quiet lol. I was literally star-struck, but respected his wishes. I regret not running him down and getting a picture with him. Flash forward to Rockstar Fest or whatever it was called, I waited at their stage, again hoping for a chance to meet him--unbeknownst to me, COB had a stand about 20 ft away from me where they were signing CDs and stuff. I didn't realize until they were out of sight, getting ready to head on stage. I became the creepy fan and waited near their tour bus and still couldn't meet him. I'm so hurt by this news and regret missing the opportunities to meet my guitar idol. I have a Jackson RR24 with the signature "Wild Child" sticker on it. Again, RIP and see you in the Fourth World my friend!


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

RIP, Wildchild! I have been a fan since getting a couple CD-Rs when I was in high school. I love their stuff, regardless of the era. I had brought up his appearance and my concerns for his well-being a few times in the COB Megathread. 

I won't go too into depth on the issue, but I'm glad that I had a mishap when I was around 19-20 with regards to drinking, and have pretty much stopped since then. It affected my social life quite a bit, as most of my friends that I hung out with on a regular basis were drinking a lot as well, but quitting was the best decision I've ever made. I was on the road to recklessness and the scare worked. It could've been a lot worse. I've been completely sober (weed being the last vice I gave up) since maybe 2015? Not something I celebrate like those in AA/NA do, not that I judge those that do or anything. 



p0ke said:


> Yeah, I'm pretty sure they would've stated Covid immediately if it had anything to do with it. The fact that they haven't stated anything kinda hints that the cause is still under investigation, I guess. I can't really help but think it might've been self inflicted...


I hope it isn't an Oli type situation. Phil has been pretty open about his thoughts on that one...


----------



## noise in my mind

Amazing player and writer. 41 is way too young to go. It's such a shame considering he probably had a lot more music in him to share. RIP


----------



## Spaced Out Ace




----------



## Andromalia

Saw them live only once, expected shit since their live rep wasn't that good and was just blown away by the show, it was at Wacken in 2010 or 11. Easily in my top 20 show performance ever, and at 47 I've seen a few.


----------



## MetalDaze

ZXIIIT said:


> Whenever I spec'd out a Flying V with one pickup and people scolded me because "Flying Vs NEED 2 pickups!!1" I'd bring up Alexi Laiho and how badass he always looked on stage.
> 
> RIP Alexi.



RIP

Nothing wrong with single hum V's


----------



## Chanson

Not sure if it's been discussed in this thread already, but does anyone know if any of his parts for the Bodom After Midnight album were recorded? I saw the band was in the studio late last year. I hope there is something salvageable that they could put out, it would be cool to hear what he was working on in his final days. RIP.

Edit: looks like articles from late 2020 said the album was recorded and just needed to be mixed.


----------



## ZXIIIT

MetalDaze said:


> RIP
> 
> Nothing wrong with single hum V's



That is amazingly awesome!


----------



## Thorshammer1980

Zado said:


> Shocked. Haven't been a huge fan of the band in years, but this is shocking nontheless.



Seconded


----------



## Shawn

So sad...he was a great guitar player/vocalist and was really young too. RIP Alexi.


----------



## SexHaver420

On a serious note Children of Bodom was one of the first bands that got me into music with harsh vocals and one of the ones made me want to play guitar. I haven't really cared for anything they released after Hate Crew Deathroll but they were still super important to my musical development. RIP Alexi.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

Am I the only one that likes stuff post HCDR and AYDY?


----------



## Alberto7

I liked some stuff. Mostly individual songs littered across different albums. However, Hexed was entirely excellent, and a good kickback to their old stuff. Honestly, a fantastic last album; closed that chapter like a champ.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

According to Wiki, Alexi's Sig guitars come (or at least to) with an EMG-HZ H4 and MM-04 Preamp. So which did he use, the H2 or H4? Perhaps he used the H4 with the MM-04 and had the gain turned down on the MM-04? Any insight?


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

Alberto7 said:


> I liked some stuff. Mostly individual songs littered across different albums. However, Hexed was entirely excellent, and a good kickback to their old stuff. Honestly, a fantastic last album; closed that chapter like a champ.


Hexed is my least favorite of the post HCDR stuff. I'm not typically a fan of retread albums. I like how different things were getting starting with Reckless Relentless Forever. IWC and HOB were particularly cool because they sounded like themselves, but were using different tones and production, etc.


----------



## NotDonVito

RRF is probably the most hated album, but I actually liked it a lot when it came out because it was catchier and more melodic sounding than Blooddrunk. Also I stand by the fact that it has some of Alexi's most kick ass solos.

Hope you don't mind me sharing your video Lorcan


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

NotDonVito said:


> RRF is probably the most hated album, but I actually liked it a lot when it came out because it was catchier and more melodic sounding than Blooddrunk. Also I stand by the fact that it has some of Alexi's most kick ass solos.
> 
> Hope you don't mind me sharing your video Lorcan



I dunno I dunno what happened, but Blooddrunk sounds meh. The guitars are normally saturated as fuck, but clear. Blooddrunk is cloudy, overly distorted, clipping, whatever the fuck. I like RRF. Blooddrunk is probably my least favorite, or at least bottom three, but the songs are decent. Unfortunately, the production is shit. I with we had a "Guitar Hero edition" of that (Death Magnetic fans know what I mean).


----------



## Alberto7

Interesting. Idk, to me those albums, in general, just felt a bit unmemorable. I've listened to each of them several times, and I could not name you a single song. I just can't tell them apart anymore 4 songs into the album. When I go back to the individual songs though, they're pretty great. I guess I got caught up with their older stuff up until AYDY.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

Anyone know if Nuclear Holocausto Vengence is related to Alexi?

Anyone have any links to Alexi's clinics, Young Guitar clips, stuff like that?


----------



## Vyn

Spaced Out Ace said:


> Am I the only one that likes stuff post HCDR and AYDY?



I Worship Chaos is a banger


----------



## Crumbling

I thought Halo of Blood was great, Bodom Blue Moon is probably my favorite post AYDY Bodom track


----------



## akinari

Spaced Out Ace said:


> According to Wiki, Alexi's Sig guitars come (or at least to) with an EMG-HZ H4 and MM-04 Preamp. So which did he use, the H2 or H4? Perhaps he used the H4 with the MM-04 and had the gain turned down on the MM-04? Any insight?



He used to use a Jackson J-50BC pickup with a JE-1000 preamp for a gain boost, and then switched to the EMG H2 with an Afterburner preamp. At some point he also had a signature set from EMG. https://www.emgpickups.com/alx-set-black.html


----------



## p0ke

Chanson said:


> Not sure if it's been discussed in this thread already, but does anyone know if any of his parts for the Bodom After Midnight album were recorded? I saw the band was in the studio late last year. I hope there is something salvageable that they could put out, it would be cool to hear what he was working on in his final days. RIP.
> 
> Edit: looks like articles from late 2020 said the album was recorded and just needed to be mixed.



Yeah, AFAIK it's all done. Also I read a post from Anssi Kippo (producer of their earlier albums) where he said he has one of their older songs that didn't make it onto an album, and he wants to release it as a tribute to Alexi.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

akinari said:


> He used to use a Jackson J-50BC pickup with a JE-1000 preamp for a gain boost, and then switched to the EMG H2 with an Afterburner preamp. At some point he also had a signature set from EMG. https://www.emgpickups.com/alx-set-black.html


I know, but that didn't exactly address my question. Apparently his sigs used to come with an H4. I was curious if he used that pickup, and in what context. I am also curious if he switched to the H2 when EMG made the ALX set (H2 + ABQ).


----------



## p0ke

Spaced Out Ace said:


> I know, but that didn't exactly address my question. Apparently his sigs used to come with an H4. I was curious if he used that pickup, and in what context. I am also curious if he switched to the H2 when EMG made the ALX set (H2 + ABQ).



I've always been wondering about these too. I used to have an LTD with H4's (an LTD model that was only sold in Finland, similar to his signature but much cheaper), and I don't think they sounded anything like the tone on the CoB albums... In fact, my Explorer with the typical 81-85 combo comes much closer.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

p0ke said:


> I've always been wondering about these too. I used to have an LTD with H4's (an LTD model that was only sold in Finland, similar to his signature but much cheaper), and I don't think they sounded anything like the tone on the CoB albums... In fact, my Explorer with the typical 81-85 combo comes much closer.


I don't use D or lower tunings, but I think the EMG H2 + ABQ sounds pretty ballpark.


----------



## feilong29

Spaced Out Ace said:


> According to Wiki, Alexi's Sig guitars come (or at least to) with an EMG-HZ H4 and MM-04 Preamp. So which did he use, the H2 or H4? Perhaps he used the H4 with the MM-04 and had the gain turned down on the MM-04? Any insight?



So, his Japan sigs he used the HZ-H4 with the MM-04 pre-amp. The US versions came with either the HZ-H4/Afterburner pre-amp, or the just the HZ-H4 (LTD models). Later, to replicate his Japan models (because the MM-04 was a Japan exclusive pre-amp AFAIK) they made the H2 + ABQ to put in the US models. The circuit closely resembled the JE-1000 J50BC set he used in his Jackson CS guitars. As you probably know, he uses his Japanese models exclusively, unless he is doing a production video for demos/lessons, then he'll use his US models. The H2/ABQ sounds just like the JE-1000/J50BC set and didn't require the use of a toggle switch, but dip switches under the pot to change the gain.


----------



## feilong29

You had to buy the MM-04 separately from Japan. They are about $130.


----------



## p0ke

feilong29 said:


> MM-04



Ah! That must've been it - my guitar didn't have that preamp. I'm not saying the pickups were bad without it, but it wasn't the tone I was expecting.


----------



## feilong29

p0ke said:


> Ah! That must've been it - my guitar didn't have that preamp. I'm not saying the pickups were bad without it, but it wasn't the tone I was expecting.



Oh ya, that pre-amp makes a HUGE difference. If you were to listen to the signal, it has a slight "wah" or "chorus" effec to it. It's really neat! I used to have the JE-1000/J50BC combo in a Jackson RR24 and it was how I was able to make the reference. The HZ-H4 is very sterile sounding so that pre-amp gives it a nice bump in gain. Alexi said in an interview that he always had it on.


----------



## p0ke

feilong29 said:


> Oh ya, that pre-amp makes a HUGE difference. If you were to listen to the signal, it has a slight "wah" or "chorus" effec to it. It's really neat! I used to have the JE-1000/J50BC combo in a Jackson RR24 and it was how I was able to make the reference. The HZ-H4 is very sterile sounding so that pre-amp gives it a nice bump in gain. Alexi said in an interview that he always had it on.



Yeah, now that you mention it, I recall reading about it when it was about to come out and he basically just called it "the prototype pre-amp". And yeah, the pickup was indeed very sterile by itself but of course the basically same thing is achievable without the pre-amp being inside the guitar. I just used more gain and a bit more extreme EQ settings than these days. Of course I was also a major n00b back in the day so I may have also just sounded like crap


----------



## feilong29

Spaced Out Ace said:


> Anyone know if Nuclear Holocausto Vengence is related to Alexi?
> 
> Anyone have any links to Alexi's clinics, Young Guitar clips, stuff like that?



This came out on youtube not too long ago, an old clinic he and Roope did. It's refreshing!



And these are old videos I watched religiously when I was younger:


----------



## Louis Cypher

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jan/05/alexi-laiho-brought-light-to-the-dark-of-death-metal

Says a lot that one of the UK's mainstream media papers has published an obituary for him


----------



## feilong29

Louis Cypher said:


> https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jan/05/alexi-laiho-brought-light-to-the-dark-of-death-metal
> 
> Says a lot that one of the UK's mainstream media papers has published an obituary for him



Same for US Fox News, NBC and CNN publishing news of his passing!


----------



## Louis Cypher

feilong29 said:


> Same for US Fox News, NBC and CNN publishing news of his passing!


For the UK press its rare as rocking horse sh1t that any metal related news gets covered, tho the Guardian is one of the very few geniune press papers here


----------



## Esp Griffyn

It's a while since I've heard the Grauniad referred to as "genuine"!


----------



## Crumbling

The MM-04 was a clone of the JE-1000 originally made by the local ESP distributor in Finland I believe, the EMG ABQ is the later EMG mass produced clone to go with the ALX.


----------



## p0ke

feilong29 said:


> old videos I watched religiously when I was younger



Yeah I can't even count how many times I watched those...


----------



## X1X

I think the price of his guitars will go up. This sold instantly today. I can't post links but

xxx.musamaailma.fi/fi/kitaristi/sahkokitarat/modernit/esp-custom-shop-alexi-laiho-ripper-sawtooth-sahkokitara


----------



## Lorcan Ward

feilong29 said:


>




His playing was on point when he had those Jacksons. 



p0ke said:


> Yeah I can't even count how many times I watched those...



Same. I used to save up to go to a local Internet cafe to watch guitar videos and then pester my friends once they got good internet to let me watch them.


----------



## myrtorp

Closest thing I ever had to an idol back in the day. 
I remember a friend showing me Bodom Beach Terror and I thought it was so damn cool, I just started getting into metal and had mostly listened to Nightwish before so this was a huge step up in terms of heavyness. Inspired me to start playing guitar too, and I really thought you HAD to play in drop C or lower to play metal for a while 
Saw them live 3 times, last time was Wacken. 

Rest in peace


----------



## Ataraxia2320

Spaced Out Ace said:


> Am I the only one that likes stuff post HCDR and AYDY?



Hexxed wasn't bad at all and still gets the odd listen. I didnt care for the rest.


----------



## Exit Existence

Fuck I wish I didn't sell my GP-1000's back in the day. I want to play through that rig one more time now


----------



## setsuna7

Euge just posted a tribute for Alexi, it’s fuckin’ beautiful, brought me to tears.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

That piece by Euge can almost be categorized with each movement being the 5 stages of grief.


----------



## Pietjepieter

Damn, never been a big COB fan, but damn way too young to go.

Very sad news to start the year


----------



## c7spheres

I can't say I'm familiar with Alexi's music to much. I haven't heard enough to know anything about it really, but I've seen and read interviews wtih him talking about his life/past and it seems he had a good life, was supported by his family and freinds from early on, and got to fulfill some of his big dreams. Obviously he was a very good guitarist, accomplished a lot during his visit and will go down in history as a guitar god. He's one of those people you feel close to even though you have no idea who he is/was. We all have guitar/music in common with him though. Best wishes to him and his family. RIP


----------



## Manurack

Anyone else watching the 2021 World Jr Hockey championship games tonight? Finland is winning right now 2 - 1 with a 4 minute powerplay. I'm seriously hoping that Finland wins bronze for Alexi Laiho.

I'm Canadian watching the games with my 8 year old daughter tonight - we're looking forward to watching the Gold medal game between Canada and USA tonight! Btw my kid jacked my Team Canada jersey this year, so I'm wearing my Edmonton Oilers jersey haha LETS GO CANADA!


----------



## guitaardvark

COB was my first true musical obsession, and one of my best memories is seeing them with my brother and sister when I was in 8th grade.

This man was responsible for a bond with my siblings that I will always cherish as well as sparking in me a passion that would eventually cement itself as part of my identity.

Kiitos, Alexi.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

guitaardvark said:


> COB was my first true musical obsession, and one of my best memories is seeing them with my brother and sister when I was in 8th grade.
> 
> This man was responsible for a bond with my siblings that I will always cherish as well as sparking in me a passion that would eventually cement itself as part of my identity.
> 
> Kiitos, Alexi.


There was a point in high school where it was all about Bodom, Trivium, Megadeth, and LOG*.

The last spot would alternate for periods of time, though for quite awhile it was LOG. At some points, it was Metallica, then Testament (the first two albums, rather), etc. It sucks that Chris Adler did the Megadeth album Dystopia, wasn't planning to do it full time (if at all past that), then somehow got kicked out or left LOG, and now is injured or something. Honestly, not sure I'm interested in an LOG album without Randy, Chris, Willie, Mark, and John.


----------



## potatohead

Don't have much to add to this thread other than this dude is half the reason I ever picked up a guitar. Glad I got to see him live a couple times. I still think playing Kissing the Shadows, while singing, is still the most crazy thing ever.

Really sad


----------



## Metropolis

Spaced Out Ace said:


> There was a point in high school where it was all about Bodom, Trivium, Megadeth, and LOG*.
> 
> The last spot would alternate for periods of time, though for quite awhile it was LOG. At some points, it was Metallica, then Testament (the first two albums, rather), etc. It sucks that Chris Adler did the Megadeth album Dystopia, wasn't planning to do it full time (if at all past that), then somehow got kicked out or left LOG, and now is injured or something. Honestly, not sure I'm interested in an LOG album without Randy, Chris, Willie, Mark, and John.



I was 15 years old at my first COB gig. It was Children Of Bodom, In Flames and Lamb Of God opening for Slayer. Those were the times...


----------



## p0ke

potatohead said:


> I still think playing Kissing the Shadows, while singing, is still the most crazy thing ever.



Yep! I went to Tuska in 2005 just to see CoB, and as far as I remember they played that song and I was just super amazed that the other guitar player (Alexander Kuoppala at the time) didn't play those lead parts. I guess the rhytm of the lead part kinda goes with the vocals so that makes it easier though.


----------



## MadYarpen

HCDR still gives me goosebumps after all these years.


----------



## Kaura

Metropolis said:


> I was 15 years old at my first COB gig. It was Children Of Bodom, In Flames and Lamb Of God opening for Slayer. Those were the times...



For me it was 14 years. Saw them opening for Slipknot back in 2008. Can't really remember much from that show but I think they were pretty solid when I saw them for the second time in 2013 or 2014. Last time I saw them was the final show they played. They we're really tight. I wasn't even drunk during that show.


----------



## cardinal

I remember being really into Emperor's IX Equilibrium in high school (maybe I'm a lot older than you guys haha) and someone brought me a Children of Bodom album and I was just blown away. Not sure which album that was. I kinda got out of the metal scene for a while right after that time.


----------



## Alberto7

Spaced Out Ace said:


> There was a point in high school where it was all about Bodom, Trivium, Megadeth, and LOG*.
> 
> The last spot would alternate for periods of time, though for quite awhile it was LOG. At some points, it was Metallica, then Testament (the first two albums, rather), etc. It sucks that Chris Adler did the Megadeth album Dystopia, wasn't planning to do it full time (if at all past that), then somehow got kicked out or left LOG, and now is injured or something. Honestly, not sure I'm interested in an LOG album without Randy, Chris, Willie, Mark, and John.



For me high school was all CoB, LoG, Arch Enemy, Killswitch Engage, Machine Head, and all kinds of melodic death metal bands. Sonata Arctica had a special place, too.

My first concert ever I got to see Killswitch Engage and Machine Head opening up for Korn in Dubai when I was 16 or 17. That shit blew my mind. It was a trip organized by a big group of people, all of us friends around the same age. We stayed at a hotel near the concert gig (Dubai Desert Rock Festival, RIP), no parents. The whole thing was a shitshow, and it is one of my favorite memories. CoB was scheduled to play at the festival that year, if I recall correctly, but had to cancel last minute. I think it was that time that Alexi had broken his wrist, so he couldn't play for a while.


----------



## works0fheart

Taking a moment to nerd out over arguably one of CoB's best performances and thought you guys might appreciate it as well


----------



## Spicypickles

I was mainly a rhythm player (Metallica, megadeth, lamb of god, etc) and had learned a few solos here and there but a couple magazines featured Bodom and once I picked up AYDY it really lit a fire under me to get my chops up to speed and kinda changed my idea of what lead stuff could be.


----------



## gunshow86de




----------



## Abominorg the Grotesque

I had the opportunity to meet Alexi and share a brief conversation and handshake after a concert in Pittsburgh in 2011. I remember a few months afterward he ended up in rehab due to some alcohol related incident. Very sad to hear of his passing; amazing musician, all over the guitar magazines and such throughout the 2000s. RIP \m/


----------



## p0ke

works0fheart said:


> Taking a moment to nerd out over arguably one of CoB's best performances and thought you guys might appreciate it as well




It's a shame the sound quality is really bad, though.

Also, funny thing, seeing Alexander Kuoppala in that video, I just remembered that we always used to joke about him having an iron bar up his ass because he simply wouldn't move live.  It sounds tight and all, but it kinda bothers me that he just keeps staring at his fretboard all the time, and doesn't even nod his head a little bit or anything. Absolutely static.

Here's one from around the same time with better quality:



That's another one I've watched a million times. Looks like Alexander also had the iron bar removed by this time 

@Lorcan Ward haha... I didn't have to go to internet cafés - dial up internet was so expensive in Sweden that my mom calculated that for our family it would be much cheaper to get ADSL right away when it came out. So we had ADSL already at... end of the 90's (?).
I still remember how awesome it was going from 56K -> 512K  And also the ability to have the same connection on multiple computers at once was game changing.


----------



## aesthyrian

The first thing I ever heard from CoB was this, from the same concert. Just blew me away. I think it took me a few days to download it from Kazaa lite haha


----------



## Exit Existence

I wonder if/when his cause of death will be revealed. He has to have true rock star status in Finland so I doubt it will be kept under wraps for long.
Those live in Seoul videos were amazing, I remember watching those in the early days of youtube.
The first time I saw COB was in 2005 with Gojira, right after Roope joined.
I remember another show in Toronto when they were playing with Megadeth, when Bodom started the crowd was so packed tightly together that probably 500+ people all fell over like dominos for a minute


----------



## Triple-J

My first exposure to COB was when Alexi started doing his Guitar World column and the first instalment showed how to play Needled 24/7 he followed on with bits of the HCDR album each month after that but the first issue made me buy the album right away and it's what I really needed to hear at the time.

BTW I'm not sure if it's been mentioned but does anyone else remember when Alexi gave his opinion about Dream Theater in a Guitar World interview and their fans went into an outrage online & sent angry letters to GW about it?
I can't remember exactly what was said but I thought it was hilarious how DT fans got so offended by his comments especially when you have guys like Malmsteen constantly saying far worse about every other guitarist (except Hendrix & Blackmore of course) whenever he opens his mouth.


----------



## p0ke

aesthyrian said:


> Kazaa lite



Lol... I also used Kazaa back then, but the first video I grabbed was Hate Me! from the same Seoul show  Like I said though, I already had ADSL then so the download finished in a matter of hours 



Triple-J said:


> BTW I'm not sure if it's been mentioned but does anyone else remember when Alexi gave his opinion about Dream Theater in a Guitar World interview and their fans went into an outrage online & sent angry letters to GW about it?
> I can't remember exactly what was said but I thought it was hilarious how DT fans got so offended by his comments especially when you have guys like Malmsteen constantly saying far worse about every other guitarist (except Hendrix & Blackmore of course) whenever he opens his mouth.



I remember! He said something like "it's supposed to be music, not sports like Dream Theater". I still have the issue, so I can post a pic of it tomorrow if I remember.


----------



## Metropolis

Triple-J said:


> My first exposure to COB was when Alexi started doing his Guitar World column and the first instalment showed how to play Needled 24/7 he followed on with bits of the HCDR album each month after that but the first issue made me buy the album right away and it's what I really needed to hear at the time.
> 
> BTW I'm not sure if it's been mentioned but does anyone else remember when Alexi gave his opinion about Dream Theater in a Guitar World interview and their fans went into an outrage online & sent angry letters to GW about it?
> I can't remember exactly what was said but I thought it was hilarious how DT fans got so offended by his comments especially when you have guys like Malmsteen constantly saying far worse about every other guitarist (except Hendrix & Blackmore of course) whenever he opens his mouth.



"There are lots of guitar players out there who play super fast & super well, but they're also super lame. Like Dream Theater." 

Alexi probably didn't listen to DT that much... also proves that anything can be found on discussion forums and social media after year 2005 or so.


----------



## works0fheart

He got so much backlash from it that in a follow up issue about it they asked him again if he still had any bad blood with dream theater and he said something like "Enough with the Dream Theater! I never did, I was just young and edgy and probably having a bad day or something so they're who I took it out on. John Petrucci is obviously an amazing guitar player."

Maybe not exact words, but something pretty close to that. It was just one simple thing he said that the media took and ran with and it used to annoy the shit out of him lol.

I used to have the issue with the initial quote and the one with the follow up but I can't find them right now.


----------



## Exit Existence

They had a few oopsie moment backlashes like that. I remember when Trivium was still not well appreciated and they supported bodom on a tour, Bodom fans were like throwing shit at Matt Heafy and booing them on stage lmao Felt bad for Matt because he loves COB. I'm sure behind the scenes, every bodom tour was insane lol


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

Now that you guys mention it, I do seem to remember something to that effect. That was pretty funny, to be honest. A bunch of uptight Dream Theater loyalists got upset over what, if memory serves, was pretty tame.


----------



## MFB

Exit Existence said:


> They had a few oopsie moment backlashes like that. I remember when Trivium was still not well appreciated and they supported bodom on a tour, Bodom fans were like throwing shit at Matt Heafy and booing them on stage lmao Felt bad for Matt because he loves COB. I'm sure behind the scenes, every bodom tour was insane lol



That show was one of my first real live experiences, my dad drove me out to Worcester to see Amon Amarth, Trivium, and Bodom closed. I was a fucking Sophomore in high school and lost my mind at that show, got to the 2nd row right in front of Alexi, shit was a blast.


----------



## Mathemagician

Spaced Out Ace said:


> Now that you guys mention it, I do seem to remember something to that effect. That was pretty funny, to be honest. A bunch of uptight Dream Theater loyalists got upset over what, if memory serves, was pretty tame.



The dream theater fans were just looking for an excuse to stop doing math homework - I mean “practicing”.


----------



## aesthyrian

Exit Existence said:


> They had a few oopsie moment backlashes like that. I remember when Trivium was still not well appreciated and they supported bodom on a tour, Bodom fans were like throwing shit at Matt Heafy and booing them on stage lmao Felt bad for Matt because he loves COB. I'm sure behind the scenes, every bodom tour was insane lol



Wow, on that same tour(Amon Amarth, CoB, Trivium?) in Chicago they were very well received. One of my favorite shows to date.


----------



## BeyonThe7thSeal

aesthyrian said:


> Wow, on that same tour(Amon Amarth, CoB, Trivium?) in Chicago they were very well received. One of my favorite shows to date.



I remember this show as well, I was a huge COB and Trivium fan at the time. I remember every band that night having a great show and great response.


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands

Triple-J said:


> My first exposure to COB was when Alexi started doing his Guitar World column and the first instalment showed how to play Needled 24/7 he followed on with bits of the HCDR album each month after that but the first issue made me buy the album right away and it's what I really needed to hear at the time.
> 
> BTW I'm not sure if it's been mentioned but does anyone else remember when Alexi gave his opinion about Dream Theater in a Guitar World interview and their fans went into an outrage online & sent angry letters to GW about it?
> I can't remember exactly what was said but I thought it was hilarious how DT fans got so offended by his comments especially when you have guys like Malmsteen constantly saying far worse about every other guitarist (except Hendrix & Blackmore of course) whenever he opens his mouth.






Metropolis said:


> "There are lots of guitar players out there who play super fast & super well, but they're also super lame. Like Dream Theater."
> 
> Alexi probably didn't listen to DT that much... also proves that anything can be found on discussion forums and social media after year 2005 or so.



What year was that? If it was around the Octavarium album then DT deserved every bit of that.


----------



## NotDonVito

I think Alexi rejected prog metal and neck pickups after doing this. 


Edit: might as well most the rest in case people aren't aware that Alexi was in a weird prog band for 5 minutes


----------



## groverj3

I recall that when Petrucci was asked about this he did respond with some snark. Something along the lines of saying that Laiho had serious skills because he could play while drunk.

I'm willing to bet that Alexi didn't even remember saying it the next day. Dude was a party animal.

RIP to one of my first guitar heroes.


----------



## Alberto7

So much to say in this thread, Jesus, I wanna jump at every little thing 

But yeah, I'm glad he stopped doing that weird music up there. CoB was time better spent than that. 

My first song that I ever listened to by CoB was Warheart. A friend of mine in middle school had just gotten a brand new, spankin' mp3 player (which back then was like owning a spaceship) and had a few CoB songs in there. It was unlike anything I had ever heard, and I just HAD to have more of it.

So I went home and somehow I found a software called WinMX, which was pre-Kazaa. It took me like 2 days, on and off because dial-up, of like 0.3 Kb/s downloads to fully download Warheart. I listened to that shit nonstop for like a week. My parents were worried.  Then my friend showed me Downfall, and that's when I lost it.

At the time I had just started playing guitar and was in between taking classical guitar lessons and playing AC/DC instead of practicing for my following lesson. A year after listening to Downfall I had completely abandoned the classical guitar, had bought an Ibanez GIO, and was very sloppily shredding through Kissing the Shadows, fully believing I was hot shit. It was fucking fantastic.


----------



## NotDonVito

I pretty much had to pirate COB songs because the only album my local shop had back then was Blooddrunk since it had just come out. Fortunately this was limewire and dsl times so I just snagged all that shit up in about an hour. Of course half of the songs I downloaded was Bill Clinton(limewire users will know what I'm talking about). Eventually I found a lovely trojan virus and that was it for the family Gateway.

And that reminds me that I sold off my CD collection years ago, along with all my COB albums. I had everything from Hatebreeder to Halo of Blood, being the last CD I ever bought. Been thinking about getting another FTR copy just to have around, since that one gets the most playtime from me by a wide margin.

The worse sting was that my Sinergy albums went in this big bundle, and now Sinergy has been taken off all streaming and the albums no longer distributed new. Fucked up there.


----------



## NotDonVito

Alberto7 said:


> But yeah, I'm glad he stopped doing that weird music up there. CoB was time better spent than that.


Well speak of the devil, looks like the band was trying to start up again recently  https://www.instagram.com/p/CJoh0MjhD8E/?igshid=1ckw6cxqft6o2


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

NotDonVito said:


> I think Alexi rejected prog metal and neck pickups after doing this.
> 
> 
> Edit: might as well most the rest in case people aren't aware that Alexi was in a weird prog band for 5 minutes



...Why?


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

Alberto7 said:


> So much to say in this thread, Jesus, I wanna jump at every little thing
> 
> But yeah, I'm glad he stopped doing that weird music up there. CoB was time better spent than that.
> 
> My first song that I ever listened to by CoB was Warheart. A friend of mine in middle school had just gotten a brand new, spankin' mp3 player (which back then was like owning a spaceship) and had a few CoB songs in there. It was unlike anything I had ever heard, and I just HAD to have more of it.
> 
> So I went home and somehow I found a software called WinMX, which was pre-Kazaa. It took me like 2 days, on and off because dial-up, of like 0.3 Kb/s downloads to fully download Warheart. I listened to that shit nonstop for like a week. My parents were worried.  Then my friend showed me Downfall, and that's when I lost it.
> 
> At the time I had just started playing guitar and was in between taking classical guitar lessons and playing AC/DC instead of practicing for my following lesson. A year after listening to Downfall I had completely abandoned the classical guitar, had bought an Ibanez GIO, and was very sloppily shredding through Kissing the Shadows, fully believing I was hot shit. It was fucking fantastic.


You can write a memoir and call it, "How I Became a Slop Artist!"


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

NotDonVito said:


> I pretty much had to pirate COB songs because the only album my local shop had back then was Blooddrunk since it had just come out. Fortunately this was limewire and dsl times so I just snagged all that shit up in about an hour. Of course half of the songs I downloaded was Bill Clinton(limewire users will know what I'm talking about). Eventually I found a lovely trojan virus and that was it for the family Gateway.
> 
> And that reminds me that I sold off my CD collection years ago, along with all my COB albums. I had everything from Hatebreeder to Halo of Blood, being the last CD I ever bought. Been thinking about getting another FTR copy just to have around, since that one gets the most playtime from me by a wide margin.
> 
> The worse sting was that my Sinergy albums went in this big bundle, and now Sinergy has been taken off all streaming and the albums no longer distributed new. Fucked up there.


Why were they taken off streaming platforms? Did they come out and say they supported Marduk or some shit?


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

NotDonVito said:


> Well speak of the devil, looks like the band was trying to start up again recently  https://www.instagram.com/p/CJoh0MjhD8E/?igshid=1ckw6cxqft6o2


Wait, he was going to resurrect that shit? 

Again, redundancy be damned, but... fucking WHY?


----------



## mastapimp

aesthyrian said:


> Wow, on that same tour(Amon Amarth, CoB, Trivium?) in Chicago they were very well received. One of my favorite shows to date.


I saw them on that same tour in Tampa/Ybor City and Trivium was not welcomed. I'd say that about 90% of the crowd was there for CoB and Amon Amarth and the Trivium fans were all high schoolers or younger. They were booed that night before they even took the stage, but no one threw anything at them. I'll give Trivium credit, they tried to get the crowd into it and played well, but it was such a bad mismatch that night I felt sad for them, especially being so close to their home town. I saw Trivium again about 2 or 3 years later as an opener on another tour and it was a totally opposite experience, very well received.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

mastapimp said:


> I saw them on that same tour in Tampa/Ybor City and Trivium was not welcomed. I'd say that about 90% of the crowd was there for CoB and Amon Amarth and the Trivium fans were all high schoolers or younger. They were booed that night before they even took the stage, but no one threw anything at them. I'll give Trivium credit, they tried to get the crowd into it and played well, but it was such a bad mismatch that night I felt sad for them, especially being so close to their home town. I saw Trivium again about 2 or 3 years later as an opener on another tour and it was a totally opposite experience, very well received.


Good for them. Trivium is awesome. I'm glad they've made a career out of it, even if (at the time, at least) I found some of the albums pretty lackluster.


----------



## mastapimp

Spaced Out Ace said:


> Good for them. Trivium is awesome. I'm glad they've made a career out of it, even if (at the time, at least) I found some of the albums pretty lackluster.


 My guess is that it was just harder coming up in Florida, where some of the original death metal bands formed and the crowd is more seasoned to that kinda stuff. They viewed Trivium, at the time, as like their baby brother's version of heavy music...not quite up to their standards. Half the crowd was wearing Morbid Angel, Obituary, Death shirts...they weren't ready to welcome Trivium into their rotation just yet.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

mastapimp said:


> My guess is that it was just harder coming up in Florida, where some of the original death metal bands formed and the crowd is more seasoned to that kinda stuff. They viewed Trivium, at the time, as like their baby brother's version of heavy music...not quite up to their standards. Half the crowd was wearing Morbid Angel, Obituary, Death shirts...they weren't ready to welcome Trivium into their rotation just yet.


Interesting observation, and likely spot on. Once they became home state heroes, as it were, they began to embrace them.


----------



## p0ke

NotDonVito said:


> Sinergy has been taken off all streaming



Not true, I was just listening to Suicide by My Side a few weeks ago and the other albums are definitely on Spotify as well. Could be restricted by region though.

Oh, and here's Alexi's parts from the aforementioned Guitar World issue:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/jttZ69xMBrSEvow47

I hope it's all readable, it was pretty hard to get a picture of the shiny pages without reflections.

The exact words were:

"You can't play like John Petrucci and be in an extreme metal band. It just doesn't work."
and
"There are lots of guitar players out there who play super fast and super well, but they're also super lame. Like Dream Theater. It's not even music, it's sports. And then there are guys who concentrate on all the little details and never fuck up one note when they play live. You know what? That's not cool! If you're going crazy onstage and miss a note or two, who gives a shit? It just shows you were really into it. Though I suppose that pretending to be a rock star and not being able to play at all is even worse."


----------



## NoodleFace

Like many, COB completely changed the extreme metal landscape permanently when they came out. Say what you want about some of their mid-career albums, those first 3 studio albums still to this day blow my dick completely off. Alexi Laiho has always been in my top 3 guitarists of all time. I'm deeply saddened by this. I feel like he made mistakes, tried to get better, but unfortunately it caught up with him.

Watching some of the Bodom After Midnight live songs he was playing really well, a lot cleaner than he used to. Although, the one time I was fortunate enough to see him live he was insane. 

Whenever Follow the Reaper came out I learned every song note for note... To the best of my ability anyways. I had a complete man crush on him. 

I even bought a RR24 day 1 they went on sale. This guitar sucked dick. 

Rest in peace brother. You brought joy to many and changed music forever.


----------



## Rikardo

Manurack said:


> Anyone else watching the 2021 World Jr Hockey championship games tonight? Finland is winning right now 2 - 1 with a 4 minute powerplay. I'm seriously hoping that Finland wins bronze for Alexi Laiho.
> 
> View attachment 88625



And they did. According to local newspaper they did watch some videos about Alexi before the bronze game to get the fighting spirit on. Coincidentally the game ended 4 - 1.

I wasn't a huge fan of CoB but still get teary eyed when I read all the nice things about Alexi.


----------



## CerealKiller

Was a big fan around Follow The Reaper, didn't really follow them so much since though. I couldn't play any of their songs at the time, but Alexi for sure inspired me to get more into extreme metal and the whole shred thing. RIP


----------



## Manurack

Rikardo said:


> And they did. According to local newspaper they did watch some videos about Alexi before the bronze game to get the fighting spirit on. Coincidentally the game ended 4 - 1.
> 
> I wasn't a huge fan of CoB but still get teary eyed when I read all the nice things about Alexi.



I'm glad they did. Alexi Laiho was a huge influence in the guitar world and it's nice that Finland recognized him during the IIHF World Jrs.

Edit: that game was awesome against Russia! Finland got two goals on the empty net and it was nice finally yell at the TV lol

But I was definitely disappointed when Team Canada lost 2 - 0 against the Yankees.


----------



## Sermo Lupi

p0ke said:


>




I used to watch videos from that Korea show all the time. I specifically remember that performance of Kissing the Shadows was the best thing ever to me at the time (probably 2003-4). Alexi shredding that Jackson is still the epitome of cool. 

If we're doing CoB deep cuts, there was a bunch of other videos that used to float around on the P2P networks back in the day. Three that I remember watching a lot were the performances of Lake Bodom at Wacken 1998 and in Japan 1999, plus their show from the 2001 Mystic Festival.


----------



## NoodleFace

I wonder how bad jackson were/are kicking themselves in the ass given how well the alexi sig sold


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands

NoodleFace said:


> I wonder how bad jackson were/are kicking themselves in the ass given how well the alexi sig sold



Enough to where they made an unofficial Alexi sig for awhile


----------



## Sermo Lupi

NoodleFace said:


> I wonder how bad jackson were/are kicking themselves in the ass given how well the alexi sig sold



There was a thread here recently where we were discussing why the split with Jackson happened, considering how boneheaded it seemed. 

I'm headed to bed so I can't go into all the details now. Most people know Alexi's two Jackson custom shop RRs (the 'Wildchild' and 'Stone' guitars) were stolen at a party after a show in Finland. Alexi went to Jackson and requested replacements and Jackson gave him an estimate of like 1-2 years to get it done. His side of the story was basically that he was just another customer to Jackson and not treated like an endorsed artist. I'd assume Jackson's side of the story was that, even if they jumped him to the front of the custom shop queue, they had limited manpower at the time and could not build a guitar in just a couple months so he could go out back on tour. The Jackson of the early 2000s was a shadow of what it once was, or even of what it is today. 

So Alexi went to ESP and the rest is history. I'm sure Jackson regrets how it went down even if it was an unavoidable situation at the time. Alexi Laiho is the most famous RR player of the last 20+ years and maybe the most famous V player of any type over that same period. He was also an up-and-coming artist, so it was fresh blood compared to Slayer or whoever else.

Anyway. I hope someday Alexi's stolen Jacksons resurface. If they don't go to a worthy player, I hope they go to a museum or something where they can be seen. To my teenage self, those things are holy relics


----------



## Boris_VTR

I'm always suprised how badly Jackson handeled this situation. Correct me if I'm wrong but at that time Jackson just wasnt "cool" guitar (for metal) as it seemed that everybody wanted/was using ESP or Ibanez. Jackson was old mans 80s shreders company and not cool in modern metal. I truly believe that at that time COB were one of the bigger bands that were really promoting Jackson guitars in metal scene. Only other big name that I can think of was Phil Collens. My opinion is that Jackson was focused on USA artists.
But not all blame is on Jackson side probably (we'll never know at this point now). Maybe Alexi was all or nothing so he wasnt goint to settle for compromise or was just to offended to even consider some sort of compromise (custom shop guitar in one year but can user regular USA made jackson for time being). He still had his RR with green bevels (or maybe it was Roopes?). I'm sure he could find one one for upcoming tour. Maybe he was to head strong and this is not always really good. Lets not forget that all old members left and even Alexi admited that is was probably something that he did.
I was really hoping that someday he would get back to Jackson.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

Sermo Lupi said:


> There was a thread here recently where we were discussing why the split with Jackson happened, considering how boneheaded it seemed.
> 
> I'm headed to bed so I can't go into all the details now. Most people know Alexi's two Jackson custom shop RRs (the 'Wildchild' and 'Stone' guitars) were stolen at a party after a show in Finland. Alexi went to Jackson and requested replacements and Jackson gave him an estimate of like 1-2 years to get it done. His side of the story was basically that he was just another customer to Jackson and not treated like an endorsed artist. I'd assume Jackson's side of the story was that, even if they jumped him to the front of the custom shop queue, they had limited manpower at the time and could not build a guitar in just a couple months so he could go out back on tour. The Jackson of the early 2000s was a shadow of what it once was, or even of what it is today.
> 
> So Alexi went to ESP and the rest is history. I'm sure Jackson regrets how it went down even if it was an unavoidable situation at the time. Alexi Laiho is the most famous RR player of the last 20+ years and maybe the most famous V player of any type over that same period. He was also an up-and-coming artist, so it was fresh blood compared to Slayer or whoever else.
> 
> Anyway. I hope someday Alexi's stolen Jacksons resurface. If they don't go to a worthy player, I hope they go to a museum or something where they can be seen. To my teenage self, those things are holy relics


I always heard that they were tossed in a river and weren't stolen. Ahhh, those were the days!


----------



## NotDonVito

Well the story was that they were stolen in Mexico, not Finland(if that info is still correct). The river thing was a stupid rumor by some guy on the COB forum that he(Alexi) threw them into the ocean because of his failing marriage with Kimberly. There's no credibility to that at all.


----------



## p0ke

Spaced Out Ace said:


> I always heard that they were tossed in a river and weren't stolen. Ahhh, those were the days!



I think it was rumored that they were thrown in a lake (not Bodom I guess).
I found the whole situation very weird too, you'd imagine if Jackson said 1-2 years for new customs that they'd give him some modified production model in the meantime or something... But yeah, he went with ESP and those guitars are cool too, so I don't mind.
When I was buying my LTD V, I talked to the owner of the music store about Jacksons as well (because I would've preferred an RR), and he told me the importer in Finland was a major pain in the ass. Apparently in order to get a couple of RR's they would've been forced to order hundreds of Stratocasters too. Maybe the importer also had something to do with Alexi jumping ship... ?

By the way, I just realized where the MM04 pre-amp name probably comes from. Someone mentioned the Finnish ESP dealer originally making it for Alexi - well, the name of the ESP import company in Finland is MusaMaailma, hence MM, and the initial version was probably made in '04


----------



## Kaura

p0ke said:


> .
> Apparently in order to get a couple of RR's they would've been forced to order hundreds of Stratocasters too.



Lol, I guess that's still the case since Jacksons are so under the rock here.


----------



## Boris_VTR

NotDonVito said:


> Well the story was that they were stolen in Mexico, not Finland(if that info is still correct). The river thing was a stupid rumor by some guy on the COB forum that he(Alexi) threw them into the ocean because of his failing marriage with Kimberly. There's no credibility to that at all.


If I remember they had a party (in Finland I belive) and they put guitars behind amp boxes. And after party they were missing. So either stolen or somebody was drunk out of his mind and threw them in water (they would probabably find them). Probaby stolen.


----------



## Metropolis

Four Children Of Bodom albums made a comeback to the official most selling albums chart in Finland.

https://www.ifpi.fi/lista/albumit/2021/1/

19. Are You Dead Yet?
29. Hatebreeder
32. Follow The Reaper
45. Hexed


----------



## p0ke

Kaura said:


> Lol, I guess that's still the case since Jacksons are so under the rock here.



Are they? I don't see many RR's around TBH, but DK2's and the newer 7-string models seem to be all over the place. I don't know about shops though, I haven't been to a guitar store in ages. But yeah, anyway, said information is from 2004, and that's pretty close to the time Alexi went to ESP.


----------



## Merrekof

Man, been skimming through the pages and it seems Alexi Laiho was a huge influence when Hatebreeder, Follow the Reaper and Hate crew Deathroll came out. Same for me, I was in my mid-teens when I listened a lot of CoB. Around Are you dead yet I stopped following them and moved on. It still made me sad to hear the news though. Alexi Laiho was one of the better guitar players in my cd collection!

The thing I remember most about the one of the times I saw CoB live were the stage props, it was almost unseen for a metal band. A rusty car, a platform over it and Alexi running left to right and up and down the stage at Wacken.
That's been 12 years ago now..damn!


----------



## p0ke

Merrekof said:


> The thing I remember most about the one of the times I saw CoB live were the stage props, it was almost unseen for a metal band. A rusty car, a platform over it and Alexi running left to right and up and down the stage at Wacken.



It's not very uncommon anymore, but I don't recall other bands having that back then. Also what I thought was cool was the penzoil-branded oil canisters they had shooting their pyros up in the air, kinda went nicely with the rusty car theme. Also a couple of years ago their show at Tuska was BBQ themed and they invited other bands onto the stage to cook sausages on the pyros  Because well, why the fuck not


----------



## Crumbling

p0ke said:


> I think it was rumored that they were thrown in a lake (not Bodom I guess).
> I found the whole situation very weird too, you'd imagine if Jackson said 1-2 years for new customs that they'd give him some modified production model in the meantime or something... But yeah, he went with ESP and those guitars are cool too, so I don't mind.
> When I was buying my LTD V, I talked to the owner of the music store about Jacksons as well (because I would've preferred an RR), and he told me the importer in Finland was a major pain in the ass. Apparently in order to get a couple of RR's they would've been forced to order hundreds of Stratocasters too. Maybe the importer also had something to do with Alexi jumping ship... ?
> 
> By the way, I just realized where the MM04 pre-amp name probably comes from. Someone mentioned the Finnish ESP dealer originally making it for Alexi - well, the name of the ESP import company in Finland is MusaMaailma, hence MM, and the initial version was probably made in '04



From what I've read Fender is hard to deal with for mom and pop shop, but ultimately the issue was that Fender/Jackson didn't really treat Alexi that well. I already said this in the best V thread, but if they wanted to they could've gotten him a production model replacement while he waits for another Custom, but they just didn't care. There's nothing in the regular production line that fit his needs (24 frets Rhoads), but Chushin makes a bunch of 24 frets Rhoads for the local Japanese market (in fact everything they released in Japan from 1999 til 2004-ish were 24 frets, including Rhoads), and the top end models easily match a RR1 in spec and arguably quality. Not to mention Chushin themselves offer a semi-custom option for all the high end models, they could've customized a dozen Wildchild Rhoads to send to him if they wanted to. The delay was partially due to the move of the Custom Shop, but they also told him to fuck off to the back of the line like a regular customer instead of giving him priority as an endorsed artist.

Although nowadays I bet people would prefer they treat more endorsee like that given the state of Masterbuilt Custom Shop :^)


----------



## Sermo Lupi

Boris_VTR said:


> He still had his RR with green bevels (or maybe it was Roopes?).



The green pinstripe guitar was borrowed from Roope. According to this CoB fan page post from 2008, it's neck was broken during the Sinergy 2002 European Tour. It presumably was repaired, because this 2008 thread from the Ultimate Metal forums notes he used it at the Tuska Open Air Festival in 2003 for Drop C songs. Sure enough, videos of that concert show Alexi had already switched to ESP for his main guitars but used the Green Pinstripe Jackson for Sixpounder. Alexi's Jacksons were stolen from their practice pad after their show at Nosturi, Helsinki (Finland) on September 28th 2002. As far as I can tell, the Sinergy European Tour was throughout November and December 2002. Apparently Children of Bodom played another show on October 4th 2002, just a few days after the theft of Alexi's Jacksons. So it really was no exaggeration that Alexi needed replacement guitars for touring ASAP. If it is true he broke the neck of that Green Pinstripe guitar he borrowed from Roope, he really couldn't afford any of Jackson's excuses with a new album coming out and tour dates lined up in only a few month's time. 

See further the discussion in the CoB thread from a few months ago (e.g. my posts on pages 71-73). Apparently Daniel Freyburg now owns the Green Pinstripe Jackson.

 



NotDonVito said:


> Well the story was that they were stolen in Mexico, not Finland(if that info is still correct). The river thing was a stupid rumor by some guy on the COB forum that he(Alexi) threw them into the ocean because of his failing marriage with Kimberly. There's no credibility to that at all.



Definitely not correct. I linked it above, but here's a Blabbermouth article from 2002 that confirms the guitars were stolen after CoB's show at Nosturi in Helsinki. 

I remember reading lots of articles back in 2002/2003 when it happened. Few of which are still searchable online, sadly. By coincidence, I watched this Banger TV interview with Alexi from 2017, and they talk about the Jacksons around 2:50. Alexi says: 

"Well, initially I actually switched over to ESP because my Jacksons were stolen. To this day, I'm not quite sure what the hell happened, but they just disappeared from our practice pad." 

I can't say what he means by 'practice pad' exactly; if you search online, there were rumours CoB practiced at Nosturi as well. He could just mean a backstage area where the band would warm up at the venue. All I can really say from recollection is that I distinctly remember reading an interview with Alexi from around the time it happened, in which he went into more detail about how the guitars were stored with the band's gear and someone stole them while everyone was partying. The press release the band issued (quoted in that Blabbermouth article) seems to be worded in such a way that the thief may have been known to someone at the party.


----------



## Kaura

Sermo Lupi said:


> I can't say what he means by 'practice pad' exactly; if you search online, there were rumours CoB practiced at Nosturi as well. He could just mean a backstage area where the band would warm up at the venue. All I can really say from recollection is that I distinctly remember reading an interview with Alexi from around the time it happened, in which he went into more detail about how the guitars were stored with the band's gear and someone stole them while everyone was partying. The press release the band issued (quoted in that Blabbermouth article) seems to be worded in such a way that the thief may have been known to someone at the party.




I'm pretty sure they had an actual practice space in Nosturi. In the Trashed & Lost in Helsinki video you can see them walking out of Nosturi after the scene where all of their stuff is "stolen" from their practice room. I think quite a few bands used to practice there back in the day.


----------



## p0ke

Kaura said:


> I'm pretty sure they had an actual practice space in Nosturi. In the Trashed & Lost in Helsinki video you can see them walking out of Nosturi after the scene where all of their stuff is "stolen" from their practice room. I think quite a few bands used to practice there back in the day.



Yep, AFAIK there were plenty of practice rooms for rent in Nosturi (below the actual venue).
That's one of my favorite videos of theirs by the way


----------



## Kaura

p0ke said:


> Yep, AFAIK there were plenty of practice rooms for rent in Nosturi (below the actual venue).
> That's one of my favorite videos of theirs by the way



Tfw no Marshall cab as a minibar. ;_;


----------



## mungiisi

That green pinstripe RR was Alexis personal Custom Shop order, and it was beaten up but playable. Daniel (Freyberg) has owned the guitar for almost 10 years now I guess. 

Alexi did indeed receive a production model, RR1 with golden pinstripes, when his guitars were stolen. He used that guitar on that Sinergy tour which started almost right after his guitars were stolen, I recall there’s even photographs from shows where he played that. I know the guy who has this guitar now. 

Even if he was ”forced” to change to ESP given the circumstances, I strongly think he would have done the change sooner or later as Musamaailma would’ve given up Jackson and started to distribute ESP. This happened to almost every major metal guitar player in Finland. 

Alexi was a huge influence to me. I was in my early teens when I heard HCDR, and COB was my number one band for many years. The first four albums and Alexi’s playing were great...


----------



## Boris_VTR

mungiisi said:


> That green pinstripe RR was Alexis personal Custom Shop order, and it was beaten up but playable. Daniel (Freyberg) has owned the guitar for almost 10 years now I guess.
> 
> Alexi did indeed receive a production model, RR1 with golden pinstripes, when his guitars were stolen. He used that guitar on that Sinergy tour which started almost right after his guitars were stolen, I recall there’s even photographs from shows where he played that. I know the guy who has this guitar now.
> 
> Even if he was ”forced” to change to ESP given the circumstances, I strongly think he would have done the change sooner or later as Musamaailma would’ve given up Jackson and started to distribute ESP. This happened to almost every major metal guitar player in Finland.
> 
> Alexi was a huge influence to me. I was in my early teens when I heard HCDR, and COB was my number one band for many years. The first four albums and Alexi’s playing were great...


I would think that when band is popular then guitar company would have direct contact with artists. No need for man in the middle (dealers) here.


----------



## Crumbling

They weren't really popular though at that point, not yet. CoB didn't pop off internationally til AYDY. Not excusing Jackson, but you can kinda understand their mentally. If it was like Dave Mustaine or something back in the day they'd be on their hands and knees getting him a replacement, but Alexi in their eye was just some literally who


----------



## Boris_VTR

I believe they focused on USA artists. My impression was that they were already established by 3rd album but I could be totally wrong here  At least in this part of Europe. Not sure for USA though.
Almost all big metal bands switched to ESP at that time so even without his guitars being stolen he would probably switch eventually. And most of artists stayed with ESP, apparently they treat artists very good.


----------



## Sermo Lupi

mungiisi said:


> That green pinstripe RR was Alexis personal Custom Shop order, and it was beaten up but playable. Daniel (Freyberg) has owned the guitar for almost 10 years now I guess.
> 
> Alexi did indeed receive a production model, RR1 with golden pinstripes, when his guitars were stolen. He used that guitar on that Sinergy tour which started almost right after his guitars were stolen, I recall there’s even photographs from shows where he played that. I know the guy who has this guitar now.



Could the 'production guitar' have been his signature model?

In that other thread I linked in my last post, @p0ke mentioned that Alexi and Roope had a co-signature model from Jackson, known as the RR-LL (for Laiho-Latvala). About 60 pieces were made for Finland only. If you look around online, you can find the specs; it looked like Alexi's 'Wildchild' guitar but was an entry-level model.

In fact, Alexi and Roope did a clinic at Keskusmusiikki music store in Lahti, Finland, in March of 2001. You can see footage from the clinic below. Around 13:50 they take turns demoing the signature RR (not to be confused with the custom shop Jacksons they played for the performance). Alexi appears to struggle playing it somewhat. 

Does your friend own Alexi's production sample of this guitar? Or does he own one of the 60 that were produced for the Finish market? I can't imagine Alexi would've used it much on that Sinergy tour considering what we see in this clinic footage. I'd assume he played that Green Pinstripe RR and any other CS RRs he may have borrowed from Roope. He loaned a few from Roope over the years, although I can't say for certain whether that the Green Pinstripe guitar was one of them; this is the first time I've heard that Alexi ordered the Green Pinstripe RR from Jackson directly. 





Boris_VTR said:


> I believe they focused on USA artists. My impression was that they were already established by 3rd album but I could be totally wrong here  At least in this part of Europe. Not sure for USA though.
> Almost all big metal bands switched to ESP at that time so even without his guitars being stolen he would probably switch eventually. And most of artists stayed with ESP, apparently they treat artists very good.



Yeah. Apparently Jackson was pretty cash-strapped and unable to support endorsed artists until around 2007. Or at least that was @MaxOfMetal 's assessment of Jackson's state of affairs in the 2000s when this came up before.

So you may be right a switch was inevitable. Personally, I just vastly prefer the RR to the oversized proportions of the ESP SV. Alexi was such a small guy to start with, the RRs looked somewhat normal on him, but was practically swimming in those SVs. If he didn't jump around so much on stage, he might've been able to hide behind them


----------



## mungiisi

Sermo Lupi said:


> Could the 'production guitar' have been his signature model?
> 
> In that other thread I linked in my last post, @p0ke mentioned that Alexi and Roope had a co-signature model from Jackson, known as the RR-LL (for Laiho-Latvala). About 60 pieces were made for Finland only. If you look around online, you can find the specs; it looked like Alexi's 'Wildchild' guitar but was an entry-level model.
> 
> In fact, Alexi and Roope did a clinic at Keskusmusiikki music store in Lahti, Finland, in March of 2001. You can see footage from the clinic below. Around 13:50 they take turns demoing the signature RR (not to be confused with the custom shop Jacksons they played for the performance). Alexi appears to struggle playing it somewhat.
> 
> Does your friend own Alexi's production sample of this guitar? Or does he own one of the 60 that were produced for the Finish market? I can't imagine Alexi would've used it much on that Sinergy tour considering what we see in this clinic footage. I'd assume he played that Green Pinstripe RR and any other CS RRs he may have borrowed from Roope. He loaned a few from Roope over the years, although I can't say for certain whether that the Green Pinstripe guitar was one of them; this is the first time I've heard that Alexi ordered the Green Pinstripe RR from Jackson directly.



No. The production model he used on this particular Sinergy tour which happened right after his two CS Jacksons were stolen was a Jackson RR1. The steal happened after Spinefeast called small festival, which was held in Nosturi - same venue where their rehearsal place was at the time. I don't recall he every played RR-LL live except for these guitar clinics they did with Roope.

Regarding the green pinstriped RR; Alexi mentioned it in an old Finnish interview that the green pinstriped RR was his own personal order. They had to put it together with Roope once the two others were stolen. Nice detail is that the guitar has a serial number starting with J - usually custom RR's have serials starting with RR. I wonder why it didn't get that much play time compared to the others. You can even see the green pinstripe RR sitting in the background of the famous "Kuuden Kielen Maisterit" interview; it used to have golden hardware originally. That was by the way best period of Alexi I think.


----------



## p0ke

Sermo Lupi said:


> RR-LL (for Laiho-Latvala).




I hadn't seen that video before someone linked it here the other day - there it seems like both are trying out the guitar and Roope is commenting that "the sound is a little bit up tight, not necessarily in a bad way", and in the end Alexi says a little bit sarcastically sounding "for real, buy these guitars!". AFAIK the RR-LL looked just like that, so it's probably it, and I'm guessing that was some kind of promo event for it. Maybe the guitar came directly from the factory and wasn't set up properly?


----------



## Metropolis

This was a good one.


----------



## p0ke

Metropolis said:


> This was a good one.




Kinda wish they had played it slightly faster (like maybe 10-20 bpm) but otherwise very good. And actually only the beginning felt a little bit slowish. Also the rhythm guitar player didn't quite nail those squealy pinch harmonics, which IMO is one of Alexis signature things. </nitpicking>
Andy rules, absolutely nailed those solos :O Keyboard player is really good too.


----------



## NoodleFace

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> Enough to where they made an unofficial Alexi sig for awhile


I bought one of these day 1, sight unseen. It was a really shitty guitar. Super thick neck, with a lot of manufacturing flaws. Also they never sent me a case. I think I read that Alexi played one and thought it was trash.


----------



## possumkiller

NoodleFace said:


> I bought one of these day 1, sight unseen. It was a really shitty guitar. Super thick neck, with a lot of manufacturing flaws. Also they never sent me a case. I think I read that Alexi played one and thought it was trash.


I never played the rr24 but I've played the Kevin Bond Rhoades and it had some manufacturing flaws as well. 

The Edwards EAL-120 Sawtooth did not.


----------



## NoodleFace

possumkiller said:


> I never played the rr24 but I've played the Kevin Bond Rhoades and it had some manufacturing flaws as well.
> 
> The Edwards EAL-120 Sawtooth did not.


My buddy has an edwards V (not a sawtooth, predates that by several years) and it is one of his best guitars. Seems to be right between ESP and LTD (of olde).


----------



## Lorcan Ward

Andy & co did an awesome job in that video! 



p0ke said:


> Also the rhythm guitar player didn't quite nail those squealy pinch harmonics, which IMO is one of Alexis signature things. </nitpicking>



On the album the pinch harmonics are recorded separately, drenched in reverb and delay to really make them jump out of the mix. That little touch really added to the atmosphere of the album.


----------



## p0ke

Lorcan Ward said:


> On the album the pinch harmonics are recorded separately, drenched in reverb and delay to really make them jump out of the mix. That little touch really added to the atmosphere of the album.



Yep, I'd say they're a pretty important part. Also some of them are harmonized between the two guitars, and that's a nice effect too.

For the latest Sunday With Ola riff challenge I ended my riff with a squeal that I think got pretty close to the sound on Kissing the Shadows (even though it didn't ring out properly on one guitar track, but it was close enough so I didn't re-record it...):
 
It's not that hard to do really, but then again I just got really obsessed with pinch harmonics when I got into CoB and practiced those exclusively for a long time. Must've been very nice for my mom, my sister and our neighbours to listen to


----------



## Sermo Lupi

mungiisi said:


> No. The production model he used on this particular Sinergy tour which happened right after his two CS Jacksons were stolen was a Jackson RR1. The steal happened after Spinefeast called small festival, which was held in Nosturi - same venue where their rehearsal place was at the time. I don't recall he every played RR-LL live except for these guitar clinics they did with Roope.
> 
> Regarding the green pinstriped RR; Alexi mentioned it in an old Finnish interview that the green pinstriped RR was his own personal order. They had to put it together with Roope once the two others were stolen. Nice detail is that the guitar has a serial number starting with J - usually custom RR's have serials starting with RR. I wonder why it didn't get that much play time compared to the others. You can even see the green pinstripe RR sitting in the background of the famous "Kuuden Kielen Maisterit" interview; it used to have golden hardware originally. That was by the way best period of Alexi I think.



Thanks for clarifying. 

There is still something missing from the story though. 

Alexi's guitars are stolen September 28th 2002
Sinergy's European tour was in November and December 2002
The neck of the Green Pinstripe guitar was apparently damaged during the Sinergy 2002 European tour
We know for a fact that Alexi had the Green Pinstripe RR by June/July 2003, since he plays it on video at Tuska Open Air.
Therefore it would have been impossible for Alexi to have placed a custom order for the guitar _after _the theft of his other guitars in September 2002, and have it ready for November/December 2002 (or even June/July 2003)
Perhaps your story is correct and Alexi ordered the guitar with Roope's help before his other guitars were stolen? But there's problems with that theory, too. You can find references all over the place that Alexi bought (or was given) the Green Pinstripe RR from Roope. For example, this post here (with discussion in the comments), or this Facebook post, which has two old photos of Alexi with the guitar and states Roope gave Alexi the guitar. 

So, I am certain of only two things at this point. First, that the timeline above doesn't match up and that it would've been impossible for Alexi to order the guitar after the other ones were stolen. Second, it is obvious the Internet _thinks_ Alexi acquired the Green Pinstripe RR from Roope Latvala for some reason. 

Do you know where to find that Finnish article that says where the guitar came from? Perhaps something was lost in translation, and a statement like 'Roope helped Alexi order the guitar' became 'Roope gave Alexi the guitar' when it was discussed on English Internet forums?


----------



## mungiisi

Sermo Lupi said:


> Thanks for clarifying.
> 
> There is still something missing from the story though.
> 
> Alexi's guitars are stolen September 28th 2002
> Sinergy's European tour was in November and December 2002
> The neck of the Green Pinstripe guitar was apparently damaged during the Sinergy 2002 European tour
> We know for a fact that Alexi had the Green Pinstripe RR by June/July 2003, since he plays it on video at Tuska Open Air.
> Therefore it would have been impossible for Alexi to have placed a custom order for the guitar _after _the theft of his other guitars in September 2002, and have it ready for November/December 2002 (or even June/July 2003)
> Perhaps your story is correct and Alexi ordered the guitar with Roope's help before his other guitars were stolen? But there's problems with that theory, too. You can find references all over the place that Alexi bought (or was given) the Green Pinstripe RR from Roope. For example, this post here (with discussion in the comments), or this Facebook post, which has two old photos of Alexi with the guitar and states Roope gave Alexi the guitar.
> 
> So, I am certain of only two things at this point. First, that the timeline above doesn't match up and that it would've been impossible for Alexi to order the guitar after the other ones were stolen. Second, it is obvious the Internet _thinks_ Alexi acquired the Green Pinstripe RR from Roope Latvala for some reason.
> 
> Do you know where to find that Finnish article that says where the guitar came from? Perhaps something was lost in translation, and a statement like 'Roope helped Alexi order the guitar' became 'Roope gave Alexi the guitar' when it was discussed on English Internet forums?



I'm sorry if I've been unclear - Alexi definitely did NOT order the green pinstripe RR in 2002. What I meant was that he got that RR1 for that 2002 fall Synergy tour.

I can't recall where I read that interview - some old article in a Finnish music (paper) magazine such as Soundi, Inferno or Rumba from 2003 or 2004. It might have been that the interview stated that they put that guitar together with Roope, but I definitely haven't every seen any mentions in reliable sources that the guitar would've been ordered by Roope. It can be, and I definitely wish not to be a besserwisser (I hate arguing in internet), but I've read a lot of old interviews from Roope and Alexi and not even once I've read that it was ordered by Roope.

And if we let room for speculation... the guitar has green pinstripes on black body - Hatebreeder colours, right? That would point into Alexi's direction. Just my thoughts and opinion without any confirmation.

Regarding the neck of the green pinstripe RR, it hasn't been broken at least in that sense that it would've required luthiers work.


----------



## Sermo Lupi

mungiisi said:


> I can't recall where I read that interview - some old article in a Finnish music (paper) magazine such as Soundi, Inferno or Rumba from 2003 or 2004. It might have been that the interview stated that they put that guitar together with Roope, but I definitely haven't every seen any mentions in reliable sources that the guitar would've been ordered by Roope. It can be, and I definitely wish not to be a besserwisser (I hate arguing in internet), but I've read a lot of old interviews from Roope and Alexi and not even once I've read that it was ordered by Roope.
> 
> Regarding the neck of the green pinstripe RR, it hasn't been broken at least in that sense that it would've required luthiers work.



Okay, well at least that gives someone a starting point if they wanted to start digging. I don't know a lick of Finnish, so I'm of no use here even if I had access to the magazines. 

There's a few sources out there mentioning the neck of the guitar was 'broken'. All are fan sites as far as I can tell. 'Broken' could be anything...maybe the headstock was damaged and repaired, or it had fretwork issues that made it unplayable on the tour. Maybe it is just a rumour or mistranslation.

As for whether Roope ordered it: I've never even seen any discussion of when the guitar was made. I'd assumed it was another of Roope's old guitars that Alexi bought from him (similar to the white pinstripe guitar Alexi bought from the other guitarist from Stone). If the guitar was new, it suits both of their taste in RRs. 

I don't think the fact the pinstripes are green has any significance. Alexi would've been recording Hate Crew Deathroll at the time, and planning to tour in support of it. Hate Crew Deathroll was a 'red' album. The album before it, Follow the Reaper, was blue. Their first album, Something Wild, was also red. So I don't really see why Alexi would've favored green for the pinstripes just because Hatebreeder had a green album cover. 

Having said all that, I do find it interesting that the Green Pinstripe RR was really marked up when Alexi owned it. Alexi didn't beat up the 'Stone' and 'Wildchild' guitars very much (like he did with his later ESPs). So it does seem plausible to me that he'd do that to a new guitar, or one he ordered himself. That's just a bit of my own speculation, though.


----------



## Merrekof

NoodleFace said:


> I bought one of these day 1, sight unseen. It was a really shitty guitar. Super thick neck, with a lot of manufacturing flaws. Also they never sent me a case. I think I read that Alexi played one and thought it was trash.


Yep, a former bandmate of mine had a red RR24. The neck was indeed very thick, can't remember flaws though. He loved it and hated his dads super thin Ibanez Saber that was hangin' on the wall. I was the opposite of that.


----------



## mungiisi

Sermo Lupi said:


> ...There's a few sources out there mentioning the neck of the guitar was 'broken'. All are fan sites as far as I can tell. 'Broken' could be anything...maybe the headstock was damaged and repaired, or it had fretwork issues that made it unplayable on the tour. Maybe it is just a rumour or mistranslation.
> 
> As for whether Roope ordered it: I've never even seen any discussion of when the guitar was made. I'd assumed it was another of Roope's old guitars that Alexi bought from him (similar to the white pinstripe guitar Alexi bought from the other guitarist from Stone). If the guitar was new, it suits both of their taste in RRs.
> 
> I don't think the fact the pinstripes are green has any significance. Alexi would've been recording Hate Crew Deathroll at the time, and planning to tour in support of it. Hate Crew Deathroll was a 'red' album. The album before it, Follow the Reaper, was blue. Their first album, Something Wild, was also red. So I don't really see why Alexi would've favored green for the pinstripes just because Hatebreeder had a green album cover.
> 
> Having said all that, I do find it interesting that the Green Pinstripe RR was really marked up when Alexi owned it. Alexi didn't beat up the 'Stone' and 'Wildchild' guitars very much (like he did with his later ESPs). So it does seem plausible to me that he'd do that to a new guitar, or one he ordered himself. That's just a bit of my own speculation, though.



It has been referenced by Alexi that the green pinstriped RR was in a very bad shape and beaten up when they put it together with Roope. With putting together they must have meant by replacing the hardware as it was equipped with the black Schaller floyd when Alexi played it.

The photos I've seen of the guitar didn't show any signs of broken neck or headstock, and those photos were taken many years after Alexi moved to ESP. 

One more detail: Alexi didn't buy his Stone RR (white pinstripes) from the ex-Stone guitarist Jiri Jalkanen. He bought it from a local music store, where Jiri had sold the guitar.

Also, if you take a look of the last photos of the WildChild RR you definitely can tell that that guitar had some chips and damage on it. Even Kimberly Goss posted a photo of Alexi and Alexander by a Pontiac Firebird which shows that there's a large piece missing on the upper horn of that guitar.


----------



## Sermo Lupi

mungiisi said:


> It has been referenced by Alexi that the green pinstriped RR was in a very bad shape and beaten up when they put it together with Roope. With putting together they must have meant by replacing the hardware as it was equipped with the black Schaller floyd when Alexi played it.
> 
> The photos I've seen of the guitar didn't show any signs of broken neck or headstock, and those photos were taken many years after Alexi moved to ESP.
> 
> One more detail: Alexi didn't buy his Stone RR (white pinstripes) from the ex-Stone guitarist Jiri Jalkanen. He bought it from a local music store, where Jiri had sold the guitar.
> 
> Also, if you take a look of the last photos of the WildChild RR you definitely can tell that that guitar had some chips and damage on it. Even Kimberly Goss posted a photo of Alexi and Alexander by a Pontiac Firebird which shows that there's a large piece missing on the upper horn of that guitar.



Why would the guitar already have been in 'very bad shape' when Alexi received it if it was brand new when he ordered it? I don't get what you mean. Did you mean to say Daniel Freyberg, as he seems to be the one who swapped in the gold floyd rose?

As for whether the neck was ever damaged, a quality repair leaves little trace behind. Unless we're talking really high quality photos (of which I've seen none), or the guitar was inspected in person, I don't think it is something you'd see from photos online. In any case, why are we doubting this detail? What reason do we have to suspect it isn't true? 

Lastly, I am certain Alexi was hard on all of his guitars. However, his 'Wildchild' and 'Stone' guitars were in excellent shape compared to that Green Pinstripe RR. For starters, the Green one looked like it had a hammer taken to the face of it. Chips on the wing tips just comes with the territory of RRs.


----------



## p0ke

Ha, looks like I was completely mistaken - I was under the impression that HCDR was still recorded with the Jacksons. But then again, I do recall seeing the ESP logo in the booklet... Also in the Sixpounder video he's playing the white ESP. So it's definitely a thinking error on my behalf.


----------



## BenjaminW

CoB hasn't been a band that I've been a fan of, but I figured I'd check out some footage of Alexi playing a few minutes ago, and I gotta say I'm hooked after less than 30 seconds.


----------



## mungiisi

Sermo Lupi said:


> Why would the guitar already have been in 'very bad shape' when Alexi received it if it was brand new when he ordered it? I don't get what you mean. Did you mean to say Daniel Freyberg, as he seems to be the one who swapped in the gold floyd rose?
> 
> As for whether the neck was ever damaged, a quality repair leaves little trace behind. Unless we're talking really high quality photos (of which I've seen none), or the guitar was inspected in person, I don't think it is something you'd see from photos online. In any case, why are we doubting this detail? What reason do we have to suspect it isn't true?



What I meant was that the guitar was in bad shape when they had to put it together after the other guitars were stolen. That’s what they have stated in the old Finnish interviews. I bet it has been in fine condition when brand new, but something has happened in between. 

The photos I’ve seen of the guitar were detailed shots - of the neck, headstock and body. No signs of serious damage other than on the finish on the body.


----------



## mungiisi

p0ke said:


> Ha, looks like I was completely mistaken - I was under the impression that HCDR was still recorded with the Jacksons. But then again, I do recall seeing the ESP logo in the booklet... Also in the Sixpounder video he's playing the white ESP. So it's definitely a thinking error on my behalf.



HCDR was released in January 2003, Alexi’s Jacksons were stolen in 26th of September 2002 (after Spinefeast) and HCDR was recorded between August and September 2002. I don’t think ESP’s have anything other to do with the record than the fact that he got the endorsement before the album was released.


----------



## p0ke

mungiisi said:


> HCDR was released in January 2003, Alexi’s Jacksons were stolen in 26th of September 2002 (after Spinefeast) and HCDR was recorded between August and September 2002. I don’t think ESP’s have anything other to do with the record than the fact that he got the endorsement before the album was released.



Gotcha. So I wasn't wrong then. I just didn't know at what point in 2003 the album was released (I bought it in the summer of 2003), so I kinda imagined it being recorded in 2003. And for whatever reason I thought the guitars were stolen in 2003. Not that it'd matter, really...


----------



## Sermo Lupi

mungiisi said:


> What I meant was that the guitar was in bad shape when they had to put it together after the other guitars were stolen. That’s what they have stated in the old Finnish interviews. I bet it has been in fine condition when brand new, but something has happened in between.
> 
> The photos I’ve seen of the guitar were detailed shots - of the neck, headstock and body. No signs of serious damage other than on the finish on the body.



Without seeing the photos myself, I can't really say one way or the other. As I said, the Internet seems to think otherwise for whatever reason. I don't think it is a significant detail at this point; the question is primarily where Alexi got the guitar from. 



mungiisi said:


> HCDR was released in January 2003, Alexi’s Jacksons were stolen in 26th of September 2002 (after Spinefeast) and HCDR was recorded between August and September 2002. I don’t think ESP’s have anything other to do with the record than the fact that he got the endorsement before the album was released.



Small correction in that it was the 28th rather than the 26th. But yes, the endorsement came at just the right time for ESP. CoB had a brand new album, freshly recorded and ready for promotion at pretty much the height of the band's breakthrough into the mainstream. Those ESP guitars got a lot of exposure from Day 1.


----------



## works0fheart

Man this thread makes me feel old. I remember when his esp's were first getting revealed and whatnot. Time flies.


----------



## Lorcan Ward

works0fheart said:


> Man this thread makes me feel old. I remember when his esp's were first getting revealed and whatnot. Time flies.



Same! I’ve got in contact with friends and remembered times I haven’t thought about in ages. It’s really brought back a lot of memories and reminded what it was like to be an enthusiastic teenager getting into guitar & metal. Ive made so many life long friends based on simply liking a band.


----------



## works0fheart

Same here man. I was really lucky living in the area I was in (Orlando) and I would go to a lot of concerts when I was young, even if it wasn't huge bands. I made a lot of good friends and have met some great musicians just by having music as an outlet, even if sometimes it was in dingy little clubs, sometimes with crowds of maybe 30 people. I really do feel like that's what attracts people to metal. It has a certain magic to it. It's the only genre I think that can manage to continuously reinvent itself without fear of offending people because that was the foundation of it from the start: being obscene at the surface level. 

I can certainly say that some of my favorite memories of hanging out with certain people and just in general great times in my life there was usually a great band blasting somewhere in the background. For CoB, I'll always remember being in high school and getting into shenanigans with my small group of friends around my neighborhood, playing Halo 2 on the earliest incarnation of XBOX Live and staying up all night searching for videos of my favorite bands on my families old, shitty Dell desktop, with some cheap guitar in my lap, trying to play quiet enough to not wake up my family. World of Warcraft was still a new thing, and In Flames were still making pretty decent music. My friends and I were always excited to show each other some shoddy quality burnt cd with some In Flames, Dark Tranquility, Shadows Fall, KSE, or CoB song on it that we'd come across on whatever terrible download service we were using at the time that was pretty much a virus infested cesspool. Some of these albums were hard to even find physical copies of back then, so it was always pretty cool when one of us managed to find something we hadn't heard before.

I think maybe 5 or 6 of us all played guitar and we would sit around with these bands playing in the background and idolize players like Alexi and their sweet guitars and amps. I think out of all of us maybe 2 of us still play guitar. Something about songs like Downfall and Black Widow really ignited something in me that really made me want to get good at guitar and it just drove me to practice hard for years whereas most of my friends just saw it as a casual hobby. Nothing wrong with that of course.

It's been years since those songs had the impact on me they did when I first started playing guitar, but given recent circumstances I've been listening to Bodom again almost non-stop, and now when I hear Black Widow I get all giddy and ready to pick my guitar up again just to play through that first chorus riff. 

I would say it feels nice to be reinvigorated to play guitar again but fuck do I wish it was under better circumstances.


----------



## p0ke

works0fheart said:


> Man this thread makes me feel old. I remember when his esp's were first getting revealed and whatnot. Time flies.



Same here, except I didn't know about the Jackson->ESP change at the time. Even though I was really into the music since maybe 2002, I didn't look into the gear being used and all that before 2004 when I moved back to Finland and joined my first proper band (I'd been in a band in Sweden too but it was more like a school project kind of thing). I just saw him using "cool looking guitars".
Everyone kept going on about how Alexis Jacksons were so much better and that the ESP's just look huge and all that. I just liked the fact that the bodies were slightly bigger, because I'm a big guy, so an RR looks kinda tiny on me.



works0fheart said:


> I think out of all of us maybe 2 of us still play guitar. Something about songs like Downfall and Black Widow really ignited something in me that really made me want to get good at guitar and it just drove me to practice hard for years whereas most of my friends just saw it as a casual hobby.



Totally same here! In the small town I lived in, there were two local metal bands, and AFAIK only me and the keyboard player of the other band play music at all anymore. Damned posers


----------



## Exit Existence

One funny comment on the Bodom Jacksons Vs ESP, back in 2012 I was talking guitars with Roope and asked him if he still plays his Jackson customs when they aren't on the road.
He says to me in his thick drunken Finn accent "...Those Jacksons man....just fukkin magic mate.....FUUKIN MAGICC"  It was very funny in person hahaha


----------



## Boris_VTR

Exit Existence said:


> One funny comment on the Bodom Jacksons Vs ESP, back in 2012 I was talking guitars with Roope and asked him if he still plays his Jackson customs when they aren't on the road.
> He says to me in his thick drunken Finn accent "...Those Jacksons man....just fukkin magic mate.....FUUKIN MAGICC"  It was very funny in person hahaha


Dude was drunk all the time. Kinda sad really.


----------



## Lorcan Ward

Boris_VTR said:


> Dude was drunk all the time. Kinda sad really.



I watched the Chaos Years and Thrashed Lost in Helsinki Documentary the other day and it really hit me that he was permanently drunk on and off stage. A friend bumped into him blind drink in the afternoon before COB's last show.


----------



## p0ke

Boris_VTR said:


> Dude was drunk all the time. Kinda sad really.



I guess that's why he was fired too.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

Doesn't work trying to be sober, especially for your health, if your bandmate is drunken than a skunk 24/7/365.


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands

Huh, I knew Alexi got sober, but didn't realize it was as "early" as 2013. I thought it was much later. If it's true that Roope was still heavy on the sauce at the time, it makes sense for him to get the boot for that reason.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

2015.


----------



## Sermo Lupi

Lorcan Ward said:


> Same! I’ve got in contact with friends and remembered times I haven’t thought about in ages. It’s really brought back a lot of memories and reminded what it was like to be an enthusiastic teenager getting into guitar & metal. Ive made so many life long friends based on simply liking a band.



Speaking of feeling old, when I was sharing the news with some long-time friends, I kept thinking about how differently we consume music now vs. the early 2000s. 

I was about 12 when I first got into Bodom. One of my best friends would come over to my house and we'd stay up past midnight to watch Much Loud (the metal MTV equivalent in Canada). We were both learning guitar at the time and seemed to be constantly discovering new bands. Most information came directly from bands' websites on the Internet. If you haven't checked out Children of Bodom's early 2000s webpage, it is worth a visit--the media section even has WinAMP skins! 

Looking back, it seemed like there was still a lot of mystery to music. I don't think it was just youthful naivety. You didn't have as many points of contact with an artist as you do now, so it was pretty much just magazines, music videos, band websites, and CD liner notes that shaped your perception of a band. The bands had a lot of control over the fan experience. 

In aspects beyond just the music industry, I sometimes think the late 90s and early 2000s were the peak of 'useful' technology. I really don't know that social media helped metal very much. Even the biggest bands get lost in the noise of a newsfeed. 

It is to the point that, in my head, circa 2004 seems like an entirely different era than, say, 2007. Nothing makes me feel older than looking back at my adolescent years and seeing how much the world has changed in so little time.


----------



## Ataraxia2320

Sermo Lupi said:


> Speaking of feeling old, when I was sharing the news with some long-time friends, I kept thinking about how differently we consume music now vs. the early 2000s.
> 
> I was about 12 when I first got into Bodom. One of my best friends would come over to my house and we'd stay up past midnight to watch Much Loud (the metal MTV equivalent in Canada). We were both learning guitar at the time and seemed to be constantly discovering new bands. Most information came directly from bands' websites on the Internet. If you haven't checked out Children of Bodom's early 2000s webpage, it is worth a visit--the media section even has WinAMP skins!
> 
> Looking back, it seemed like there was still a lot of mystery to music. I don't think it was just youthful naivety. You didn't have as many points of contact with an artist as you do now, so it was pretty much just magazines, music videos, band websites, and CD liner notes that shaped your perception of a band. The bands had a lot of control over the fan experience.
> 
> In aspects beyond just the music industry, I sometimes think the late 90s and early 2000s were the peak of 'useful' technology. I really don't know that social media helped metal very much. Even the biggest bands get lost in the noise of a newsfeed.
> 
> It is to the point that, in my head, circa 2004 seems like an entirely different era than, say, 2007. Nothing makes me feel older than looking back at my adolescent years and seeing how much the world has changed in so little time.



This whole post speaks to me. I feel bad for the kids nowadays who will never know what it's like. 

Sure there advantages to the internet and other technology but it stripped a lot of the imagination, magic and mystique for me. 

On a somewhat related note there havent been an young up and coming heavy hitter band since Periphery. That was a decade ago now.


----------



## NotDonVito

Sermo Lupi said:


> If you haven't checked out Children of Bodom's early 2000s webpage, it is worth a visit--the media section even has WinAMP skins!


I totally grabbed the out-of-date resolution FTR wallpaper. \m/


----------



## p0ke

Sermo Lupi said:


> If you haven't checked out Children of Bodom's early 2000s webpage, it is worth a visit



Dude, thank you very much for the nostalgia trip! That page looks so late 90's, I can almost hear a 56K modem beeping and booping in the background  And imagine, that's how everyone wanted their website to look in those days - we even tried to imitate the band-section, where every band member is asked a bunch of questions in a magazine quick interview kind of way. That was so cool back then. 

I had totally forgotten such a page existed - it looks pretty much like someone in the band might've thrown it together, though I have a very hard time imagining any of the guys making a website


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

BenjaminW said:


> CoB hasn't been a band that I've been a fan of, but I figured I'd check out some footage of Alexi playing a few minutes ago, and I gotta say I'm hooked after less than 30 seconds.



I dunno if I mentioned it, but Alexi has the preamp on these (or the MM04) cranked up pretty high. I believe the ALX comes with the gain up at 50%, but read somewhere he uses anywhere from 50-80%. It's a pretty big boost at 50%. I use mine around 20-35%. Those things are likely slamming the living dog shit outta his GP-1000, KK 800, JVM, etc.


----------



## p0ke

Spaced Out Ace said:


> I dunno if I mentioned it, but Alexi has the preamp on these (or the MM04) cranked up pretty high. I believe the ALX comes with the gain up at 50%, but read somewhere he uses anywhere from 50-80%. It's a pretty big boost at 50%. I use mine around 20-35%. Those things are likely slamming the living dog shit outta his GP-1000, KK 800, JVM, etc.



Hmm, now that I think of it, my Jackson DK-2 had a similar gain boost when I bought it. It didn't have any settings, just on/off, and whenever I turned it on, it made any distorted tone sound like an HM-2  I didn't like it so I removed it and sold it (mostly because I wanted to get rid of the 9V battery in the guitar - it kept draining even when the boost wasn't used and then the guitar would go silent when it went flat). 
I wish I had tried putting that into the LTD that had the EMG-HZ H4's though!


----------



## Crumbling

Ah man, Alexi's death didn't hit me hard until Silent Night Bodom Night came up on shuffle today.


----------



## Jonttu

That's so sad... was huge inspiration for me back in the day.


----------



## Randy

BenjaminW said:


> CoB hasn't been a band that I've been a fan of, but I figured I'd check out some footage of Alexi playing a few minutes ago, and I gotta say I'm hooked after less than 30 seconds.




The vocals have always been tough to get into but the guy's songwriting brain was a fusion of 80s metal, 90s/00s power metal and modern/extreme, which as a guitarist, turns out to be fantastic brew for riffs and leads. Very unique mix of styles that all overlap surprisingly well, at least instrumentally.


----------



## ArtDecade

Sermo Lupi said:


> Speaking of feeling old, when I was sharing the news with some long-time friends, I kept thinking about how differently we consume music now vs. the early 2000s.



If you think that is crazy, we old folks used to find other tape traders in the back of magazines and send each other comps and demo recordings. That's how we discovered new music before there were websites. I can still remember when FTP became a thing and you could spend 10 hours downloading a single song. We thought that was heaven! LOL.


----------



## Exit Existence

Spaced Out Ace said:


> I dunno if I mentioned it, but Alexi has the preamp on these (or the MM04) cranked up pretty high. I believe the ALX comes with the gain up at 50%, but read somewhere he uses anywhere from 50-80%. It's a pretty big boost at 50%. I use mine around 20-35%. Those things are likely slamming the living dog shit outta his GP-1000, KK 800, JVM, etc.



The GP-1000's were honestly pretty medium gain pre-amps, but they take boosts like a charm. I think Zakk Wylde used a overdrive with it too when he used them on No Rest For the Wicked. It's a weird unit, the EQ controls are placed before the gain circuit in the preamp (most amps have EQ placed after the gain circuit) so they have a really subtle effect. You can change the bass or treble from 3 to 10 and you won't notice much difference in tone. You slam the front and you get all these cool harmonics going on and some natural compression that just makes notes sing.

This guy did a good video of it


----------



## Sermo Lupi

ArtDecade said:


> If you think that is crazy, we old folks used to find other tape traders in the back of magazines and send each other comps and demo recordings. That's how we discovered new music before there were websites. I can still remember when FTP became a thing and you could spend 10 hours downloading a single song. We thought that was heaven! LOL.



Hah, I can appreciate it. I grew up in the 90s when cassette was still the dominant medium, but wasn't old enough to really be a part of tape trading. I do remember people having bootleg cassettes, though, and how blown away people were by the walkman. We had older cars growing up, too, so it was tapes or radio on the go for almost the entire 90s. I think my mom got her first CD player in a car in 1999.


----------



## ArtDecade

Exit Existence said:


> The GP-1000's were honestly pretty medium gain pre-amps, but they take boosts like a charm. I think Zakk Wylde used a overdrive with it too when he used them on No Rest For the Wicked. It's a weird unit, the EQ controls are placed before the gain circuit in the preamp (most amps have EQ placed after the gain circuit) so they have a really subtle effect. You can change the bass or treble from 3 to 10 and you won't notice much difference in tone. You slam the front and you get all these cool harmonics going on and some natural compression that just makes notes sing.
> 
> This guy did a good video of it




I still have my GP-1000. It is based on a Fender Deluxe. The cleans are perfect in every way. The drive channel on the original 1987 units was more than enough for hard rock. Lee Jackson removed the valve DI and tapped that tube as an extra gain stage in 1988 units. This got the units into hard_er_ rock and 80s metal territory. You will need to boost them for extreme metal, but they will do Maiden and Priest just fine. The tone controls do not do as much as you would expect in a Marshall, but the tone stack and gain stage in the circuit chain have more to do with Fender than anything else.


----------



## Exit Existence

Clean channel? What's a clean channel? lol I feel bad I never really experimented with it's clean channel. I really wish I kept mine around just for nostalgia, I probably had some GAS for new gear and sold it on a whim.


----------



## c7spheres

ArtDecade said:


> If you think that is crazy, we old folks used to find other tape traders in the back of magazines and send each other comps and demo recordings. That's how we discovered new music before there were websites. I can still remember when FTP became a thing and you could spend 10 hours downloading a single song. We thought that was heaven! LOL.



- This was how we did everything. Backs of local magazines, the news paper, putting ads up at the mom and pop music stores for people to jam with, and hanging out at places. 
- We actually went out of our way to talk to anyone who looked like they might like rock/metal music. You'd be outside the Circle K like Bill and Ted and see any rando with a Metallica shirt and be like "yo! dude! Metallica Dude!" and you'd end up being freinds and going to a desert party that night where you'd meet even more new freinds. Sure they could have killed you and left you for dead, but they never did. Because they liked Metallica you could trust them with your life!  (circa 1989) I feel even more nostalgic now mentioning Bill and Ted. A lot of the locations from the movie are where I grew up in Tempe/Mesa AZ. I've been to all of them.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

Exit Existence said:


> The GP-1000's were honestly pretty medium gain pre-amps, but they take boosts like a charm. I think Zakk Wylde used a overdrive with it too when he used them on No Rest For the Wicked. It's a weird unit, the EQ controls are placed before the gain circuit in the preamp (most amps have EQ placed after the gain circuit) so they have a really subtle effect. You can change the bass or treble from 3 to 10 and you won't notice much difference in tone. You slam the front and you get all these cool harmonics going on and some natural compression that just makes notes sing.
> 
> This guy did a good video of it



That is only true of the "Fender" version. Lee later changed it to a "Marshall" version. If memory serves, Alexi preferred the "Fender" version.


----------



## Ataraxia2320

Exit Existence said:


> The GP-1000's were honestly pretty medium gain pre-amps, but they take boosts like a charm. I think Zakk Wylde used a overdrive with it too when he used them on No Rest For the Wicked. It's a weird unit, the EQ controls are placed before the gain circuit in the preamp (most amps have EQ placed after the gain circuit) so they have a really subtle effect. You can change the bass or treble from 3 to 10 and you won't notice much difference in tone. You slam the front and you get all these cool harmonics going on and some natural compression that just makes notes sing.
> 
> This guy did a good video of it




This channel is one of my favourites. No bs, just interesting content.


----------



## NoodleFace

I've been watching a lot of Alexi videos just to remember the good times. Stumbled across this one... probably the worst I've seen.


----------



## mungiisi

Spaced Out Ace said:


> That is only true of the "Fender" version. Lee later changed it to a "Marshall" version. If memory serves, Alexi preferred the "Fender" version.



I've read that Alexi and Roope even had their GP-1000's modified. I don't know exactly what that mod was, but my understanding is that some kind of "hot rod" making it a bit more aggressive. I can't be sure though if that's true or not, just something I've come across.


----------



## ArtDecade

There is only so much you can do with the limited gain stages in the GP-1000. If they had 1987 versions, they probably did the standard 1988 mod - remove the DI and make it an extra gain stage. Once that is done, you can push it hard with an active boost (ala Alexi) and get plenty of gain. To be fair, you can probably get there with a standard 1987 version as well. I have never even considered modding my 87 because it sounds great the way it is. Both versions are pretty similar.


----------



## p0ke

Anyone know if there's a VST emulating the GP-1000? Would love to try one but can't really buy any more gear at the moment.

[UPDATE]: Ha, found one.
https://overloud.com/products/bhs-metlx


----------



## Mathemagician

What’s the easiest song to learn off any of the first 4 albums? Gonna try again now that I’m old.


----------



## Metropolis

Mathemagician said:


> What’s the easiest song to learn off any of the first 4 albums? Gonna try again now that I’m old.



Bed Of Razors or Everytime I Die, they're quite mid tempo melodic songs and nothing too crazy going on.


----------



## Crumbling

The entirely of Hatebreeder in general is fairly reasonable, its Follow the Reaper that ramped up the speed technicality.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

ArtDecade said:


> There is only so much you can do with the limited gain stages in the GP-1000. If they had 1987 versions, they probably did the standard 1988 mod - remove the DI and make it an extra gain stage. Once that is done, you can push it hard with an active boost (ala Alexi) and get plenty of gain. To be fair, you can probably get there with a standard 1987 version as well. I have never even considered modding my 87 because it sounds great the way it is. Both versions are pretty similar.


From what I know, Lee moved the EQ to after the gain stages vs the earlier version based on feedback. Lee HATES the ADA MP-1. He thinks it sounds like shit and only got popular because you could have lots of sounds. I have to agree, at least somewhat, that compared to the GP-1000, the MP-1 pales in comparison. Personally, I'd want a Sansamp PSA-1 (Alexi's back up at one time), GP-1000 and MP-1 for recording.

Earlier on, Alexi used an H4 and Roope used an H2, both with "Custom gain boost preamps" which I think is the MM-04. At some point he switched to an H2 and EMG made the ABQ.


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands

Whatever happened to that Lee Jackson revival he tried doing awhile back? I remember hearing he wanted to bring back the GP1000, but it seemed to never happened and he went straight to the Metaltronix revival.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace




----------



## Spaced Out Ace

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> Whatever happened to that Lee Jackson revival he tried doing awhile back? I remember hearing he wanted to bring back the GP1000, but it seemed to never happened and he went straight to the Metaltronix revival.


Dunno, but that MetlX thing from Overloud should list Akira Takasaki as well. He used the heads.


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands

Spaced Out Ace said:


> Dunno, but that MetlX thing from Overloud should list Akira Takasaki as well. He used the heads.



Akira gets overlooked in general, so it's par for the course.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> Akira gets overlooked in general, so it's par for the course.


Fuck that. Akira plays circles around Zakk Wylde. Plus Zakk was pretty open about not being over the moon about the Metaltronix and preferring the JCM800.


----------



## Sermo Lupi

NoodleFace said:


> I've been watching a lot of Alexi videos just to remember the good times. Stumbled across this one... probably the worst I've seen.



He looks rough there in general. Not just frail but sluggish as well. Now that we know Alexi was sick for a while before his death, it makes videos like these tough to watch. He looks nearer to 80 than 41. 

I said it before, but how sad would it be if Alexi was fighting a terminal illness and Children of Bodom broke up in order to give him some rest? He made the decision to found a new band and soldier through it. But it does make me wonder if he knew he was mortally ill and wanted to go out doing what he loved, or whether he was being treated for something he hoped he would recover from.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

I looked at the more recent Rig Rundown from 2016, when he is using the JVM, and he uses OD1 (not sure what mode) with the gain at 8:00 (1/10) and the H2 is the lowest output pickup EMG makes. They are probably closer to a PAF in terms of output. The bulk of it is from the gain boost. 

A "GEAR MASTERS" video shows the amp, and he has it around 9:00 on the red mode of OD1.


----------



## feilong29

Sermo Lupi said:


> He looks rough there in general. Not just frail but sluggish as well. Now that we know Alexi was sick for a while before his death, it makes videos like these tough to watch. He looks nearer to 80 than 41.
> 
> I said it before, but how sad would it be if Alexi was fighting a terminal illness and Children of Bodom broke up in order to give him some rest? He made the decision to found a new band and soldier through it. But it does make me wonder if he knew he was mortally ill and wanted to go out doing what he loved, or whether he was being treated for something he hoped he would recover from.



This is what I think as well, and like you, since I recently discovered these videos where he is playing at Sam Ash, it is incredibly hard to watch. He was indeed resilient. Gonna hurt for a while. I just ordered an Edwards Blacky that I vow to never get rid of in his memory.


----------



## p0ke

Cool, Spotify has added a RIP Alexi Laiho category to my home screen:


----------



## Crumbling

I never cared much for Blooddrunk, but revisiting it, Tie My Rope is pretty fucking good. The reintroduction of keyboard back into the rhythm section was nice overall as well compared to AYDY


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

p0ke said:


> Cool, Spotify has added a RIP Alexi Laiho category to my home screen:
> 
> View attachment 89062


They didn't on mine, lousy cocksuckers. It's probably because you're a Swede.

(They're not Swedish, Mac. They're Finnish.) Bonus points if you get thre reference.


----------



## p0ke

Spaced Out Ace said:


> It's probably because you're a Swede.



Careful there, someone could take that as an insult


----------



## Lorcan Ward

Crumbling said:


> I never cared much for Blooddrunk, but revisiting it, Tie My Rope is pretty fucking good. The reintroduction of keyboard back into the rhythm section was nice overall as well compared to AYDY



Smile pretty for the devil is an awesome track and has one of my favourite Bodom solos. I’m going to give Halo of Blood a chance this weekend. I couldn’t get into it on release and never went back since there was so many good metal albums released in 2013.


----------



## Crumbling

I really dug Halo of Blood, Bodom Blue Moon is one of my favorite Bodom tracks in general, not just among the modern stuffs


----------



## Mprinsje

Crumbling said:


> I never cared much for Blooddrunk, but revisiting it, Tie My Rope is pretty fucking good. The reintroduction of keyboard back into the rhythm section was nice overall as well compared to AYDY



Yeah not too big on blooddrunk but I love Tie My Rope.


----------



## p0ke

Halo of Blood is my favorite of the newer albums, I particularly liked that they brought a back a bit of the earlier black metal influences. Also the main riff in Damaged Beyond Repair... It's awesome.


----------



## Lorcan Ward

Did you guys who like Halo of Blood like Relentless Reckless Forever?


----------



## p0ke

Lorcan Ward said:


> Did you guys who like Halo of Blood like Relentless Reckless Forever?



Nope, it's pretty much my least favorite CoB album. I tried really hard to get into it but it just wouldn't stick for whatever reason.


----------



## Lorcan Ward

p0ke said:


> Nope, it's pretty much my least favorite CoB album. I tried really hard to get into it but it just wouldn't stick for whatever reason.



That’s interesting cause I really enjoyed that one bar a few tracks.


----------



## Crumbling

I used to prefer RRF over Blooddrunk, but now it might be the other way around.


----------



## Blytheryn

Lorcan Ward said:


> Did you guys who like Halo of Blood like Relentless Reckless Forever?



Yeah, I enjoy both Halo of Blood and Relentless Reckless Forever.


----------



## p0ke

Lorcan Ward said:


> That’s interesting cause I really enjoyed that one bar a few tracks.



Must've just been my mood at the time, because listening to this now, a couple of songs in I quite enjoy it. Maybe I didn't give it a proper chance because Blooddrunk was such a disappointment... Don't know really. I don't really remember what was wrong with Blooddrunk even.
Either way, three of their albums (Blooddrunk, RRF and I Worship Chaos) just didn't push the same buttons as the rest for me, for whatever reason. I'm still a bit undecided regarding Hexed.



Crumbling said:


> I used to prefer RRF over Blooddrunk, but now it might be the other way around.



I didn't really like either of those, but Blooddrunk feels more "relatable" somehow.


----------



## Lorcan Ward

p0ke said:


> Must've just been my mood at the time, because listening to this now, a couple of songs in I quite enjoy it. Maybe I didn't give it a proper chance because Blooddrunk was such a disappointment... Don't know really. I don't really remember what was wrong with Blooddrunk even.
> Either way, three of their albums (Blooddrunk, RRF and I Worship Chaos) just didn't push the same buttons as the rest for me, for whatever reason. I'm still a bit undecided regarding Hexed.



For a lot of people Blooddrunk was a further step away from the Neo-classical 80s power metal sound that Are You Dead yet started. It pushed older fans away but brought in a lot more new fans in. I'm the same, I can't really explain why I didn't like Blooddrunk. I gave it a lot of spins but found myself skipping the first few tracks until Tie my Rope, Done with everything Die for Nothing and Smile Pretty for the Devil and then moving on to something else. 

Under Grass and Clover of Hexed is my favourite Bodom song from the last 4-5 albums but I enjoy the rest of the album as much.


----------



## p0ke

Lorcan Ward said:


> For a lot of people Blooddrunk was a further step away from the Neo-classical 80s power metal sound that Are You Dead yet started. It pushed older fans away but brought in a lot more new fans in. I'm the same, I can't really explain why I didn't like Blooddrunk. I gave it a lot of spins but found myself skipping the first few tracks until Tie my Rope, Done with everything Die for Nothing and Smile Pretty for the Devil and then moving on to something else.
> 
> Under Grass and Clover of Hexed is my favourite Bodom song from the last 4-5 albums but I enjoy the rest of the album as much.



Gonna give Hexed some spins and see what happens. I do like it so far, but I haven't listened to it enough to decide if it's just plain good or awesome.

I recall liking the last track on Blooddrunk (Roadkill Morning), but the rest was just very forgettable. I just gave it a spin and yeah, I remember sort of liking some of those tracks, but it's just so far from the full body goosebumps I get from everything before AYDY?.
I was super into AYDY? when it came out, but I can see now why it might've been kinda divisive. I must've just been such an Alexi-fanboy that I made myself like it either way  Trashed, Lost & Strungout is one of my favorite CoB songs ever - it's the perfect balance between melody and agression IMO. Especially when the modulated version of the main melody comes I get major goosebumps every time.


----------



## Exit Existence

p0ke said:


> Anyone know if there's a VST emulating the GP-1000? Would love to try one but can't really buy any more gear at the moment.
> 
> [UPDATE]: Ha, found one.
> https://overloud.com/products/bhs-metlx



Seems pricey you have to buy their base software and then this expansion.
There's a company called Urgitone (they mostly do drum samples) that said they were working on a GP-1000 amp sim a couple years ago but haven't released it yet. I reached out to them to see if it's still being worked on.

I've had decent success sort of replicating the feel with certian AxeFX Marshall sims, you can dive down into the tonestack settings and change the amp's EQ section from post-tonestack placement to pre-tonestack placement. Then just clean boost the hell out of it with a low mid bump EQ in the front to emulate the JE-1000 gainboost


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

p0ke said:


> Careful there, someone could take that as an insult


----------



## p0ke

Exit Existence said:


> Seems pricey you have to buy their base software and then this expansion.
> There's a company called Urgitone (they mostly do drum samples) that said they were working on a GP-1000 amp sim a couple years ago but haven't released it yet. I reached out to them to see if it's still being worked on.
> 
> I've had decent success sort of replicating the feel with certian AxeFX Marshall sims, you can dive down into the tonestack settings and change the amp's EQ section from post-tonestack placement to pre-tonestack placement. Then just clean boost the hell out of it with a low mid bump EQ in the front to emulate the JE-1000 gainboost



Thanks for the tip. I don't have an AxeFX but I imagine I'd be able to do approximately the same with my GSP1101.
And cool, let's hope Ugritone gets that out someday soon. I've got a bunch of their plugins, (just bought KVLT Drums II) so I'm definitely familiar with them. Their plugins are inexpensive too.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

You have to buy the main plugin and then buy an additional add on for the Lee Jackson based amp sims? Yeesh.


----------



## Ataraxia2320

Spaced Out Ace said:


> You have to buy the main plugin and then buy an additional add on for the Lee Jackson based amp sims? Yeesh.



It's also the only way to get a plugin version of the SPX90. 

I have toyed with buying it so many times but unless I could demo it it's a no deal and I dont think that's possible.


----------



## potatohead

Those Sam Ash videos are tough to watch man.


----------



## Alberto7

NoodleFace said:


> I've been watching a lot of Alexi videos just to remember the good times. Stumbled across this one... probably the worst I've seen.




Gosh those are terrible to watch. Give me Alexi at his worst, let me give you Alexi at his best in return:


... I'm not crying, you're crying...

...ahem, anyways. I got the Chaos Ridden Years DVD when it came out, and it was the tits. I must have watched that a million and one times. I've watched a hell of a lot of Bodom media, but that DVD is how I'll always remember them and Alexi.

Expectedly, I've been listening to A LOT of Bodom the last few days. Also, muscle memory is a hell of a thing; I still remember like half their catalogue! I shocked myself when I realized I still remembered how to play Bodom Beach Terror.

I've been fantasizing with this idea of one day getting a custom shop made ESP SV made to look like Alexi's, but in a custom color scheme and in an HH configuration. Again, only a fantasy for now!


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

It would've been interesting to see what Alexi would've done with a song like this as he did with Oops and Party All the Time.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

Alberto7 said:


> Gosh those are terrible to watch. Give me Alexi at his worst, let me give you Alexi at his best in return:
> 
> 
> ... I'm not crying, you're crying...
> 
> ...ahem, anyways. I got the Chaos Ridden Years DVD when it came out, and that was the first. I must have watched that a million and one times. I've watched a hell of a lot of Bodom media, but that DVD is how I'll always remember them and Alexi.
> 
> Expectedly, I've been listening to A LOT of Bodom the last few days. Also, muscle memory is a hell of a thing; I still remember like half their catalogue! I shocked myself when I realized I still remembered how to play Bodom Beach Terror.
> 
> I've been fantasizing with this idea of one day getting a custom shop made ESP SV made to look like Alexi's, but in a custom color scheme and in an HH configuration. Again, only a fantasy for now!



I'd want an H/S one with Freddy stripes and a claw slash (if they slash looked like comic book style shredded paper).


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands

NoodleFace said:


> I've been watching a lot of Alexi videos just to remember the good times. Stumbled across this one... probably the worst I've seen.







Alberto7 said:


> Gosh those are terrible to watch. Give me Alexi at his worst, let me give you Alexi at his best in return:
> 
> 
> ... I'm not crying, you're crying...




The most shocking thing to me is that he actually was on the up before he died. He was REALLY kicking ass and was lookinb healthier during the BoM show last year.


----------



## Alberto7

Spaced Out Ace said:


> I'd want an H/S one with Freddy stripes and a claw slash (if they slash looked like comic book style shredded paper).



Yeah I haven't developed that idea fully. I always wanted to see one in purple and voilà a few months ago. I am sucker for those Scythe inlays though.



HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> The most shocking thing to me is that he actually was on the up before he died. He was REALLY kicking ass and was lookinb healthier during the BoM show last year.




Yeah  he was really sounding and looking like himself again. The whole thing has just been untimely and really shitty. Quite a big shock. I have a feeling it was probably some recurring cancer related to his older habits.


----------



## mungiisi

Alberto7 said:


> Gosh those are terrible to watch. Give me Alexi at his worst, let me give you Alexi at his best in return:
> 
> 
> ... I'm not crying, you're crying...




I'm sorry, but I have to disagree.

THIS is Alexi at his best, most definitely:



That playing, those Jacksons, that era at the whole... It's me who's crying!


----------



## p0ke

Spaced Out Ace said:


> You have to buy the main plugin and then buy an additional add on for the Lee Jackson based amp sims? Yeesh.



Yeah and the Lee Jackson "DLC" is $49 so I imagine the main plugin will be even more (didn't even bother checking). $4.90 would be more suitable for the Lee Jackson stuff and then I wouldn't mind paying something like $20 for the main plugin.
So nah, won't be buying it anytime soon.
I guess I'll stick to trying to tweak similar tones out of the stuff I already have.

Let's just hope Ugritone gets their plugin finished soon.

... Fuckin' hell, looks like, first of all, those prices were already in euros, and second the main plugin costs 269€. No way I'm ever buying a plugin for that much.

Another edit: that's the price of the full package, for example the metal-package can run that expansion and it's 79€. Still waaay too expensive though.


----------



## Rikardo

mungiisi said:


> I'm sorry, but I have to disagree.
> 
> THIS is Alexi at his best, most definitely:
> 
> 
> 
> That playing, those Jacksons, that era at the whole... It's me who's crying!




I remember this interview. What he said he would do if he could not play guitar anymore has stuck with me all these years.


----------



## Ataraxia2320

p0ke said:


> Yeah and the Lee Jackson "DLC" is $49 so I imagine the main plugin will be even more (didn't even bother checking). $4.90 would be more suitable for the Lee Jackson stuff and then I wouldn't mind paying something like $20 for the main plugin.
> So nah, won't be buying it anytime soon.
> I guess I'll stick to trying to tweak similar tones out of the stuff I already have.
> 
> Let's just hope Ugritone gets their plugin finished soon.
> 
> ... Fuckin' hell, looks like, first of all, those prices were already in euros, and second the main plugin costs 269€. No way I'm ever buying a plugin for that much.
> 
> Another edit: that's the price of the full package, for example the metal-package can run that expansion and it's 79€. Still waaay too expensive though.



As far as I know the expansion also works with the slate version of overloud, so if you have the all access pass it might be worth it. I gave up on that one ages back though.


----------



## NoodleFace

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> The most shocking thing to me is that he actually was on the up before he died. He was REALLY kicking ass and was lookinb healthier during the BoM show last year.



Still looks sick there, but his playing hasn't been that good in awhile. He was always a sloppy player, but at least live I forgave him because he's also singing and running around the stage. But in these videos he's got it all.


----------



## potatohead

setsuna7 said:


> Euge just posted a tribute for Alexi, it’s fuckin’ beautiful, brought me to tears.




I've watched this like 20 times now. The part around 3:22 where he wipes a tear away gets me every time. This is so sad


----------



## Sermo Lupi

Rikardo said:


> I remember this interview. What he said he would do if he could not play guitar anymore has stuck with me all these years.



What did he say? 

Agreed with others, though. Alexi's playing was at its peak in his early 20s. He chose to write music, record and tour for the rest of his life rather than woodshed his chops. He was always an excellent guitar player, obviously, but I'd argue he was something of a virtuoso when he was young.


----------



## Rikardo

Sermo Lupi said:


> What did he say?


He said he would end his life if he couldn't play guitar. He would not be able live without music or playing guitar. Playing guitar is the only thing he wants to do in his life and couldn't imagine anything else he would like to do.


----------



## myrtorp

Ever since reading about this I have had COB songs in my head 24/7. You know when a song gets stuck in there, but im not complaining  
Didnt listen to them for a long while honestly until the sad news but I remember it all so well, i really listened the crap out of these songs up until Are you dead yet. Listening back all of it isntantly comes back. 

I remember having one of their songs for a school project for arts. Made a clay stop motion and for the intro I used Tripple Corpse Hammer blow. My hot dog daschound ate the protagonist (and pooped colorfull turds lol) and just sampled all of the clay, which i had borrowed home from school. The teacher hated me for it haha!


----------



## Alberto7

Sermo Lupi said:


> What did he say?
> 
> Agreed with others, though. Alexi's playing was at its peak in his early 20s. He chose to write music, record and tour for the rest of his life rather than woodshed his chops. He was always an excellent guitar player, obviously, but I'd argue he was something of a virtuoso when he was young.



This.

That's kind of exactly why I like Alexi, and why the dude was such an impactful figure during my teenage years. His playing was incredible in his early 20s, and, had he kept honing his chops, there's no doubt in my mind he would have probably become a full fledged guitar virtuoso.

Instead, he chose to be an absolute rockstar. His playing became kinda sloppy, but he became a total showman. Entertainment, attitude, and chops was what the guy was all about, and he delivered exactly that. Granted, he probably took that too far...  but it's what we looked up to. Kinda like a death metal Steven Tyler, though without quite the same budget.


----------



## MadYarpen

I just stumbled upon another one, he was really in a good form...



E: I mean it is shocking how one month he can be looking so great at the stage and in 2 months he is not around any more. Fuck whatever took him.


----------



## lewis

MadYarpen said:


> I just stumbled upon another one, he was really in a good form...
> 
> 
> 
> E: I mean it is shocking how one month he can be looking so great at the stage and in 2 months he is not around any more. *Fuck whatever took him*.





I know its morbid but the not knowing things like this bug me even though it shouldnt.
Any idea what it was? I was assuming cancer but obviously thats total guesswork.


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands

I've been wondering if it was cirrhosis just from the years and years of alcohol abuse. Same thing that apparently took Hanneman.


----------



## lewis

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> I've been wondering if it was cirrhosis just from the years and years of alcohol abuse. Same thing that apparently took Hanneman.


thats probably particularly accurate sadly.


----------



## MadYarpen

lewis said:


> I know its morbid but the not knowing things like this bug me even though it shouldnt.
> Any idea what it was? I was assuming cancer but obviously thats total guesswork.


I don't know, you can guess knowing how he was handling himself for a long time, but I think it is equally possible this was something completely different. I don't want to speculate, but it is hard to accept that regardless of the cause. 

I just introduced my 4 y. old son to children of bodom, he was playing air guitar to Chaos Ridden Years gig all weekend. I thought that's... a good thing to do. Could stay with him, who knows

Gonna cry now again a little.


----------



## Ataraxia2320

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> I've been wondering if it was cirrhosis just from the years and years of alcohol abuse. Same thing that apparently took Hanneman.



I thought it was a spider bite that got hanneman in the end?


----------



## works0fheart

Nah. The spider bite just drove him to drink more because he was feeling so down about not being able to play live or anything.


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands

Ataraxia2320 said:


> I thought it was a spider bite that got hanneman in the end?





works0fheart said:


> Nah. The spider bite just drove him to drink more because he was feeling so down about not being able to play live or anything.



I don't recall the latter, but yeah, the official cause of Hanneman's death was cirrhosis due to alcohol. The dude's liver was apparently in bad shape and no one knew of the extent of it.

EDIT: Nevermind, he did start drinking heavily after the spiderbite.

https://loudwire.com/slayer-jeff-hanneman-death-anniversary/


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

Slayer would've been a lot better if the solos weren't like children scribbling nonsense all over a notepad.


----------



## Wuuthrad

RIP!

_“I guess now the Heaven Heavy Metal Band has its Lead Guitar Player...”_

-Dave Mustaine


----------



## narad

Wuuthrad said:


> RIP!
> 
> _“I guess now the Heaven Heavy Metal Band has its Lead Guitar Player...”_
> 
> -Dave Mustaine




Dude's just trying to set himself as the heavenly rhythm guitarist, but frankly Alexi would cover a lot of Dave's normal territory.


----------



## p0ke

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> I've been wondering if it was cirrhosis just from the years and years of alcohol abuse. Same thing that apparently took Hanneman.



Most likely, yeah. Still no official statement though, which is a bit strange IMO. I don't think anyone would be surprised about something like that, so why not just put it out there...

Listening to Tokyo Warhearts right now, and damn, this is still as awesome as the first time I heard it. It doesn't sound like they're playing to a click, but it's still pretty damned tight. Guitars are also panned to the sides pretty hard, so it's really easy to separate what each of them is playing.


----------



## Kaura

p0ke said:


> Most likely, yeah. Still no official statement though, which is a bit strange IMO. I don't think anyone would be surprised about something like that, so why not just put it out there...
> 
> Listening to Tokyo Warhearts right now, and damn, this is still as awesome as the first time I heard it. It doesn't sound like they're playing to a click, but it's still pretty damned tight. Guitars are also panned to the sides pretty hard, so it's really easy to separate what each of them is playing.



My favorite part is always the beginning of Deadnight Warrior;

Alexi: "Okay, people. How many of you have heard about our first album called Something Wild?"
*crowd starts chanting*
Alexi: "Yeah, but.."
*Alexi does a sick sweep lick*


----------



## p0ke

Kaura said:


> My favorite part is always the beginning of Deadnight Warrior;
> 
> Alexi: "Okay, people. How many of you have heard about our first album called Something Wild?"
> *crowd starts chanting*
> Alexi: "Yeah, but.."
> *Alexi does a sick sweep lick*



Back in the day we used to analyse the crap out of that album and there's a bunch of funny small details on there. For example at about 3:18 in Hatebreeder Alexi randomly shouts "APINA!" and I always wondered if someone was doing a prank on him or something and he noticed


----------



## feilong29

Random, but are there any videos of Alexi playing his ESP Blacky live? I've just realized that I've never seen him play it during a live show lol. And echoing the above--I know the family is still healing and dealing with this all, but gosh I would love some closure as to how he passed :/ In time...


----------



## MadYarpen

p0ke said:


> Most likely, yeah. Still no official statement though, which is a bit strange IMO. I don't think anyone would be surprised about something like that, so why not just put it out there...
> 
> Listening to Tokyo Warhearts right now, and damn, this is still as awesome as the first time I heard it. It doesn't sound like they're playing to a click, but it's still pretty damned tight. Guitars are also panned to the sides pretty hard, so it's really easy to separate what each of them is playing.



It is in my top 5 albums ever, I don't even remember for how long. other albums change, this does not.

I've read somewhere they've added quite a lot in the studio, but it is awesome regardless of that. Imagine DVD like chaos ridden years for this. Different times though


----------



## Lorcan Ward

MadYarpen said:


> It is in my top 5 albums ever, I don't even remember for how long. other albums change, this does not.
> 
> I've read somewhere they've added quite a lot in the studio, but it is awesome regardless of that. Imagine DVD like chaos ridden years for this. Different times though



It's quite common for bands to re-do vocals and other instruments in the studio. Sometimes its cause a snare mic wasn't setup correctly, a guitar went out of tune or a vocalist was letting the audience sing that part forgetting they were recording a live show. Other times its a complete re-do of a solo, if you've ever watched a live DVD and the camera pans away for most of the solo its an obvious studio overdub.

Steve Vai's Live in the Astoria has countless punch-ins and entire guitar tracks re-done in the studio. Vai is pretty open about it saying his guitar went out of tune, out of time, missed vital bends and harmonics. 

That said Tokyo Warhearts has such a rawness to it that it could be the genuine performance. It's been a long time since I listened to it. It's an amazing album and would have been an incredible live DVD. I've always felt Chaos Ridden Years wasn't an accurate representation of Bodom live.


----------



## Exit Existence

I doubt he finished their new album with Bodom After Midnight, but they did shoot a video for it so I'm assuming at least a single is done.
Hopefully we will get one last performance from the man in the form of that.

I still have a bad feeling in my gut that the cause of death might be a little darker than what's been talked about and hence all the silence. A lot of bad shit happened... Alexi lost the COB name and his old band pretty much abandoned him, all their BAM 2020 festivals were pretty much canceled. He had to be going through some hard times, especially for someone like him who has been touring nonstop for the entirety of his adult life. I can't think of a single metal band that toured more frequently than COB, seems like they never had any real time off ever. Either way doesn't really matter at this point.


----------



## MadYarpen

Lorcan Ward said:


> It's quite common for bands to re-do vocals and other instruments in the studio. Sometimes its cause a snare mic wasn't setup correctly, a guitar went out of tune or a vocalist was letting the audience sing that part forgetting they were recording a live show. Other times its a complete re-do of a solo, if you've ever watched a live DVD and the camera pans away for most of the solo its an obvious studio overdub.
> 
> Steve Vai's Live in the Astoria has countless punch-ins and entire guitar tracks re-done in the studio. Vai is pretty open about it saying his guitar went out of tune, out of time, missed vital bends and harmonics.
> 
> That said Tokyo Warhearts has such a rawness to it that it could be the genuine performance. It's been a long time since I listened to it. It's an amazing album and would have been an incredible live DVD. I've always felt Chaos Ridden Years wasn't an accurate representation of Bodom live.



Chaos... was still quite good IMO, if you compare it to some other performances. Back then Alexi used to have worse days, I think Nosturi was one of such shows?

This isn't a genuine video, right?  Though Janne's hair lenght is correct


----------



## potatohead

Exit Existence said:


> I doubt he finished their new album with Bodom After Midnight, but they did shoot a video for it so I'm assuming at least a single is done.
> Hopefully we will get one last performance from the man in the form of that.
> 
> I still have a bad feeling in my gut that the cause of death might be a little darker than what's been talked about and hence all the silence. A lot of bad shit happened... Alexi lost the COB name and his old band pretty much abandoned him, all their BAM 2020 festivals were pretty much canceled. He had to be going through some hard times, especially for someone like him who has been touring nonstop for the entirety of his adult life. I can't think of a single metal band that toured more frequently than COB, seems like they never had any real time off ever. Either way doesn't really matter at this point.



This crossed my mind too, but it is obvious he was struggling with health problems for several years so it is hard to say. Of course whether "health problems" are cancer or just alcohol and/or drug abuse is another question entirely.


----------



## NotDonVito

feilong29 said:


> Random, but are there any videos of Alexi playing his ESP Blacky live? I've just realized that I've never seen him play it during a live show lol. And echoing the above--I know the family is still healing and dealing with this all, but gosh I would love some closure as to how he passed :/ In time...


I remember seeing him use that guitar when I saw them open for LOG in 09, so best to search around that time. The problem is that all the concert footage from then was recorded with tmobile sidekicks and shit, so it's hard to make out details.


----------



## feilong29

I think it was hard to find or sold out at some point, but his book can be found in English from this site: hopefully I'll get it soon and can let y'all know. 

https://www.backstagerockshop.com/products/alexi-laiho-chaos-control-guitar-book


----------



## works0fheart

feilong29 said:


> Random, but are there any videos of Alexi playing his ESP Blacky live? I've just realized that I've never seen him play it during a live show lol. And echoing the above--I know the family is still healing and dealing with this all, but gosh I would love some closure as to how he passed :/ In time...


 When I saw them in 2011 he was using it.


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands

The Blackie and Pinkie will forever be Alexi's coolest guitars.

2nd/3rd place is the old Jackson Greenie.


----------



## works0fheart

I actually like all of ESP's quite a bit except the wildscythe and greenie. The Katakana one is really cool, so is the pink. When I first saw the White Scythe one it became my dream guitar for years. I own a Blacky and love it.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

Greeny is awesome. I don't this there are many Alexi Sig guitars I didn't care for. The two he got in 2019 or 2020 were super cool. Then again, I like the bigger American versions so what do I know. Kind of reminds me of an angular Star Trek symbol.


----------



## p0ke

News today: Alexi never got divorced, so technically he was still married to Kimberly Goss. Probably has nothing to do with anything but that's what they've managed to dig up.


----------



## MFB

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> The Blackie and Pinkie will forever be Alexi's coolest guitars.
> 
> 2nd/3rd place is the old Jackson Greenie.



Is it tough being wrong? The OG Scythe V is his best, then the Wildchild Jackson, and then Pinkie.


----------



## Blytheryn

MFB said:


> Is it tough being wrong? The OG Scythe V is his best, then the Wildchild Jackson, and then Pinkie.



This. But runner up goes to Blackie.


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands

MFB said:


> Is it tough being wrong?


Not sure. You tell me.


----------



## Sermo Lupi

MFB said:


> Is it tough being wrong? The OG Scythe V is his best, then the Wildchild Jackson, and then Pinkie.



Close, but any top-3 list of Alexi's guitars that isn't purely Jacksons is objectively wrong 



p0ke said:


> News today: Alexi never got divorced, so technically he was still married to Kimberly Goss. Probably has nothing to do with anything but that's what they've managed to dig up.



That's an interesting development. So is the woman who was recently announced to be his 'wife' of several years just a partner? Not that their union was any less significant than marriage. I say 'just' because I assume Finland doesn't allow people to have multiple marriages at a time.

Where did this info come from?


----------



## ArtDecade

Sermo Lupi said:


> That's an interesting development. So is the woman who was recently announced to be his 'wife' of several years just a partner? Not that their union was any less significant than marriage. I say 'just' because I assume Finland doesn't allow people to have multiple marriages at a time.
> 
> Where did this info come from?



It will also make for dividing the estate monumentally interesting.


----------



## p0ke

Sermo Lupi said:


> That's an interesting development. So is the woman who was recently announced to be his 'wife' of several years just a partner? Not that their union was any less significant than marriage. I say 'just' because I assume Finland doesn't allow people to have multiple marriages at a time.
> 
> Where did this info come from?



AFAIK they had a wedding, but it must've been unofficial if this is the case.
The news was from Ilta-Sanomat, one of the biggest newspapers over here.

Here's the english version of it:

https://www.is.fi/viihde/art-2000007748095.html



ArtDecade said:


> It will also make for dividing the estate monumentally interesting.



My thoughts exactly. According to the law Kimberly should inherit everything unless Alexi had made a will stating otherwise.


----------



## NoodleFace

I thought about the darker aspect too along with the silence. But it's all speculation. The more I read about him, the more I realize he was a super humble and nice guy. Whatever happened, we lost a legend.


----------



## feilong29

NotDonVito said:


> I remember seeing him use that guitar when I saw them open for LOG in 09, so best to search around that time. The problem is that all the concert footage from then was recorded with tmobile sidekicks and shit, so it's hard to make out details.




Thanks for the video! I was doing searches the past few days and could not understand why all the videos looked like hot garbage lol. Your reasoning is very sound. Sidekick was a badass phone at launch though haha. 

The Alexi Arrowhead is my favorite model of all. I used to have an Edwards version of it and stupidly got rid of it. I might ask a shop in Shibuya, Tokyo, if they can build one for me before I leave Japan. In the meantime, the Blacky is my current favorite but honestly, my Jackson RR24 plays and feels so good!


----------



## Exit Existence

Not really directly related to Alexi's passing, but since his death kind of got me interested in the Bodom sound again I started to prototype converting a clone of his original Jackson JE-1000 mid/gain boosts in pedal form. Next. I'm going to try and make the tone shift dipswitches onto the board into mini toggles and the gain boost trim pot into a full size pot, as well as add a DC power Jack and stomp switch for true bypass. I always liked these units but didn't like the fact they had to be married to a particular guitar, so converting it to pedal form I can use with any guitar will be a cool project.


----------



## Ataraxia2320

Spaced Out Ace said:


> I





Exit Existence said:


> Not really directly related to Alexi's passing, but since his death kind of got me interested in the Bodom sound again I started to prototype converting a clone of his original Jackson JE-1000 mid/gain boosts in pedal form. Next. I'm going to try and make the tone shift dipswitches onto the board into mini toggles and the gain boost trim pot into a full size pot, as well as add a DC power Jack and stomp switch for true bypass. I always liked these units but didn't like the fact they had to be married to a particular guitar, so converting it to pedal form I can use with any guitar will be a cool project.
> 
> View attachment 89237



Sound clips plz.


----------



## Viginez

lewis said:


> I know its morbid but the not knowing things like this bug me even though it shouldnt.
> Any idea what it was? I was assuming cancer but obviously thats total guesswork.


i remember somewhere on YT was stated that he was hospitalized with an infection in his stomach.
can't confirm, it's just what i heard in the video.


----------



## Exit Existence

Ataraxia2320 said:


> Sound clips plz.


My buddy and I are doing a Follow The Reaper cover for fun, I'll be re-amping this weekend and I'll post some clips up in here.


----------



## Metropolis

Apparently Kimberly Goss flew to Finland... to do some business. Technically they never got divorced with Alexi, and she has a right as heir for his belongings and property. If his possible testament doesn't specifically state otherwise. But this is some Bold And The Beatiful level drama right there.

https://kaaoszine.fi/alexi-laihon-y...mberly-gossille-jata-laihon-perhe-jo-rauhaan/


----------



## narad

The bitch is back


----------



## Vyn

Metropolis said:


> Apparently Kimberly Goss flew to Finland... to do some business. Technically they never got divorced with Alexi, and she has a right as heir for his belongings and property. If his possible testament doesn't specifically state otherwise. But this is some Bold And The Beatiful level drama right there.
> 
> https://kaaoszine.fi/alexi-laihon-y...mberly-gossille-jata-laihon-perhe-jo-rauhaan/



That's some heavy shit. If that's true, Goss is a vile human being.


----------



## Metropolis

Vyn said:


> That's some heavy shit. If that's true, Goss is a vile human being.



Seems very fishy.


----------



## Kaura

I always wondered why Alexi married that hambeast. Makes sense that it was just politics, not love.


----------



## Metropolis

Or those are just assumptions and she has to sign some papers before Alexi gets his rest. Who knows...


----------



## lewis

Kaura said:


> I always wondered why Alexi married that hambeast. Makes sense that it was just politics, not love.


can someone honestly tell me why anyone would do this though?

I mean for the love of god what a stupid decision. Im in a loving and stable relationship (going on 6 years) with 3 kids and Im never getting married. Yet people be out here marrying in situations like this?
I thought this was illegal too? Sham marriages for citizenship


----------



## aesthyrian

lewis said:


> can someone honestly tell me why anyone would do this though?
> 
> I mean for the love of god what a stupid decision. Im in a loving and stable relationship (going on 6 years) with 3 kids and Im never getting married. Yet people be out here marrying in situations like this?
> I thought this was illegal too? Sham marriages for citizenship



He obviously did it for his career, which at the time, Sinergy was a large part of. Goss was the vocalist, if he had not married her then she would not be able to perform live due to visa issues, and thus, the band is over with. Alexi dropped out if high school at 16, he knew what he wanted so he was going to do what was needed in order to obtain that. It might not make sense to you or many, but that's most likely the reality in the situation.


----------



## Lorcan Ward

Like others I was left questioning a lot of things from Kim's instagram posts, wether that post is true it leaves us with more questions than answers. 

He says she says aside reading all those IG posts about Alexi has made a lot of fans happy.


----------



## SloeGin

Anyone know whether Alexi was buried somewhere? Does he have a (public) grave?


----------



## akinari

Kim Goss dated Seth Putnam and has/had a tattoo of his name. Haha.


----------



## p0ke

Metropolis said:


> Or those are just assumptions and she has to sign some papers before Alexi gets his rest. Who knows...



Hope so. That's some pretty incredible bullshit otherwise... And I hope Alexi had a will that doesn't include her in any way if it's true.


SloeGin said:


> Anyone know whether Alexi was buried somewhere? Does he have a (public) grave?



I don't even know if the funeral has been held yet. I guess it'll be in the news here at some point.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

Kimberly might need to change her last name to Gross if that is the case.


----------



## ArtDecade

Maybe she just flew to Finland to get Marko Hietala to rejoin Nightwish.


----------



## groverj3

Yikes, that's some serious drama with the whole Kimberly Goss situation. I never listened to Sinergy and had no idea that they were married back in the day. It does make a certain amount of sense though that it was a business move related to visa status, etc.


----------



## groverj3

This was all discussed a while back in the thread, but I remember that the whole Jackson -> ESP move occurred when I was first getting into the band. At the time, Jackson had only recently been acquired by FMIC and had been in decline throughout the 90s. In that era they never were really a very trendy "metal" or "shred" guitar company. They had kind of a legacy where a lot of fans of the brand were older and 80s-centric. Like, they started out being an innovative company in the very early days, and then their innovations became "heritage" in the kind of way that many big Fender and Gibson fans refuse to buy anything that's forward-looking. Combined with mismanagement they weren't doing too hot in the early 00s (very low profit margins on their pro series gear was killing them). COB were one of a very small number of bigger bands out there using them in the metal scene.

When his RRs were stolen, or lost, or whatever, there was simply no way to rush production of anything to replace them. I highly doubt they told him he had to wait like a "normal customer" Rather, it was just impossible to build anything in the custom shop in the time frame needed. Jackson's Custom Shop has *never* been able to rush anything because there have been a max of like 5 master builders there at any given time. There were no production model 24 fret RRs at the time either.

I always kind of assumed that the MIJ RR24 was intended to be a signature model, but they didn't get to market until after he was forced to switch companies. I could be wrong though.

I was never a big fan of his ESPs because of the inlays, but it all worked out for the guy in the end.


----------



## mitou

Yeah can't wait for this Kim Goss marriage thing to turn into a complete disaster. Sigh.

Going down nostalgia lane I remembered Alexander Kuoppala's Hate Crew Deathroll M-I. One of the sickest ESPs ever imo. Shame I couldn't find better pics.


----------



## groverj3

Listened to Hexed for the first time today. I like it better than their other recent stuff.

That video a while back of him playing at Sam Ash... he looked rough. In recent pictures though, he was looking healthier. Such a shame. Hopefully this situation with Goss resolves so his family doesn't end up bogged down by it all.


----------



## Exit Existence

Here's the long post that's in the BAM facebook group from a friend of Alexi's accusing Kim of all this.


> I really hate that I’m having to write this post (Sorry admin).
> My dear friend has passed away and I’m seeing the most horrible stuff play out right in front of my eyes. I have watched deaths and money bring out the worst sides of people before but I’ve never seen anything this twisted.
> Alexi was incredibly private so he would hate this also.
> However he had my back always! And as his bro I feel I have to have his and more importantly his families backs right now. They were the most important thing to him and he would’ve never let any of this shit go down on his watch.
> You can all say what you want about me but I’d like to think if you’re friend wasn’t here to defend themselves and their loved ones you would do the same.
> I went through my ph recently whilst speaking to Alexis sister and I realised over the last 6 months barely a day went by where him and I didn’t speak throughout the day. I won’t claim to know his deepest thoughts etc. however I do know how he felt about a lot of things.
> My reason for writing this is Kimberly Goss. I’ve never seen anything so sick as what this woman is doing and it’s time she got called out.
> Alexi told me himself how scared he was that she would come for his money. That she was on food stamps, had lost her paycheque and was not doing too good. That he had to be super nice to her at the moment as he needed her to sign the divorce papers but usually she just disappears. This time he said “she’ll want $, she’s desperate”. Hence his contact with her.
> He told me she’s a c**t & he was right.
> The ENTIRE Laiho family despise this woman. That’s the truth & they have many good reasons.
> Kimberly has messaged every member of his family the most horrible shit! Making threats, causing problems for them.
> These are some of the most amazing people!! And they’re unable to just mourn their son, brother and husband in peace because of her.
> She has created this absolute circus and caused so much extra grief for the loved ones of someone she claims to care for.
> She continues to say she doesn’t want nastiness in public however she is the only one who has made everything public. Besides Kelli who was forced to respond to things in public due to threats being made by Kim!
> The accusations and messages to his family would blow your mind!!
> Yes, I’ve seen them all!
> It’s sick!!!
> I’m sure a lot of people are starting to see through it.
> But c’mon! If Kimberly was so close to Alexi, answer these questions....
> Why are there no photos of her and him since they were young kids?
> He lived in the states for awhile even! Surely they’d have caught up!
> Why did he write in his book that the wedding was only so Kim could stay and sing?
> (He told me this in his own words. They signed the paper then went to rehearsal. It was a non- event).
> Why is she so hated by every single member of his family?
> Why did she never ever share all this stuff while he was here?
> Alexi has been very unwell throughout last year.
> Clearly she could fly to Finland incredibly easily. Why was she not there for him while he was alive?
> Kimberly is nothing but a gold digger.
> The fact she hasn’t shared publicly what his illness was or how he passed leads me to believe she doesn’t know. Because from what I’ve seen, she is the type who would share that purely to get herself some attention!
> Only those closest to Alexi know these things. As like I say, he was incredibly private.
> The DAY AFTER his passing was announced this woman makes an Instagram page sharing old photos and claiming “love”!
> Honestly... FUCK OFF!!!!!
> Yuck!
> If she’d done this while Alexi was around, he’d have come for her in a big way!
> Then, she flies to Finland and starts causing all these problems. Talking to press, messaging family, hiring lawyers.
> All whilst writing “beautiful” things about him.
> It’s truly some of the most manipulative, sick, twisted, evil shit I’ve ever seen!
> Alexi loved his fans.
> He was always there for you all.
> When there was a shooting at a venue the night before a Bodom gig did he cancel?
> No!
> When he was clearly unwell in 2019 did he cancel shows?
> Fuck no!!!
> I had to watch my bro in tears on FaceTime recently because he missed his daughter.
> But Corona obviously stopped him being with her. He was so sad!!! He still recorded an EP(which absolutely rules btw!)
> He was sad again the day he shot the video but he did it!
> He was always there for you all.
> Now is the time to have his back.
> By all means enjoy the cool photos of Alexi and Sinergy. I am a fan myself and like seeing the photos!
> But realise what this evil b**ch is doing.
> I too am private and I’ve never publicly written anything like this. I’m really disappointed I have had to.
> But I speak only facts.
> Kimberly... I know you’ll see this.
> I know what Alexi wanted to happen if he passed.
> More importantly, you do too!!!
> Why are you there?
> What are you hoping to achieve besides boosting your name and attempting to take what isn’t rightfully yours?
> And doing all you can to make the families lives difficult at an already impossible time?
> Leave my mates family alone!!!
> Make me eat my words.
> Prove me wrong.
> Publicly state that you aren’t in Finland right now for no reason other than to get your hands on everything Alexi worked so hard for over the last 20 years!!!
> You do this and I’ll fly to see you and offer my most heartfelt apology in person.
> This is all i have to say on this matter. I will now go back to mourning my friend and consoling his family.
> You can go back to having drinks, sharing photos, talking shit, sending threats and enjoying your 2mins in the spotlight.
> You’re disgusting.



FYI Alexi's Sister and current "wife" both commented on the post confirming what OP said is "true".

...Got my popcorn ready....


----------



## p0ke

mitou said:


> Alexander Kuoppala's Hate Crew Deathroll M-I.



I'd totally forgotten about that one. I'm not into strat-style guitars at all but I certainly wouldn't mind having that one. I can't really think of another guitar where the album artwork would look that cool.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

Exit Existence said:


> Here's the long post that's in the BAM facebook group from a friend of Alexi's accusing Kim of all this.
> 
> 
> FYI Alexi's Sister and current "wife" both commented on the post confirming what OP said is "true".
> 
> ...Got my popcorn ready....


Awesome. So glad some pathetic worm could find a rock to crawl out of and try to rob what little Alexi had left, because quite frankly, he lost a ton when the band name Children of Bodom (and possibly more) was taken from him by ex band members. I'm sorry, but a brand, in legal and professional terms, is difficult to replace, especially for a band, and even more so when the new "band/brand" sounds like a tribute act.


----------



## Leviathus

Man, that sucks. Hope Alexi's family+loved ones prevail in this impending shitstorm.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

"beautiful man, I saw the message you left her. Please don’t engage her. She’s a very manipulative person and she really isn’t hanging out with his closest friends and loved ones at all (his closest “friends” wouldn’t let her steal one of his cars and hide it at their home from his sister/mum/wife) - those people are grieving and will not engage with her. Just enjoy the amazing photos that she is posting because Sinergy was a cool time for everyone who followed his legacy"

Wow. That's horrible if true.


----------



## ArtDecade

From Goss on her instgram:

*kimvoxrox*
I can’t believe I have to do this. My poor Alexi, there are certain people who will just not let you rest in peace.

It’s been brought to my attention that I am being accused of being a Golddigger who just wants his money and inheritance. It’s also being brought to my attention that people are skeptical of how close we were in the last days of his life. This is so beneath me to have to do this because in my heart I know I have nothing to prove. However, I’m now getting threatened by people who don’t know the truth of the situation.

Last month, on one of our many FaceTime calls, it occurred to me that we had not taken a picture together in quite a long time. So I said, “hey let’s smile pretty and pose for the camera”. Here we are on December 15, 2020.

Regarding the accusations that I’m only here for his money and property and that I refused to sign any divorce papers. Well let me tell you a little bit about Finnish law. The partner must apply for a divorce application. If they DO NOT, then the other party (me) cannot sign any divorce papers if none exist. The fact of the matter is that Alexi only applied for divorce one time in November 2002. He quickly withdrew those papers as stated publicly in the Finnish population register. This is something that anyone can obtain. He withdrew the divorce application so that we could work on our relationship, which did end up continuing for another two years. After all these years he has never once applied for a divorce again. He has had nothing but time during the pandemic and it would’ve been an easy 10 minute ordeal to apply for divorce and send the papers for me to sign. However, I cannot sign any divorce papers that do not exist in the first place. He never applied for them because he never intended to divorce me. That was a secret I was going to keep with me forever, but due to the nasty rumors that are being spread by the other party in Australia, I’m having no choice but to reveal the truth. Once again all this information can be easily accessed.

My intention was never to hurt these people, but they are choosing to go down this ugly road and I need to stand up for myself. I know they are grieving, but so am I.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

What a dummy. They are probably "going down this ugly road" because it was discussed by someone, and then confirmed by both Kelli and Anna.


----------



## p0ke

It's really hard to tell who to believe in this case. I sure am glad I don't have any stake in it, other than hoping that justice will prevail or whatever...
But yeah, given that Alexi's sister has confirmed the other side's story, it certainly seems like Kim's the one to blame.


----------



## Alberto7

Also, what am I missing here? Who are these other people in Australia?


----------



## NotDonVito

this shit's turning into real housewives of helsinki


----------



## NotDonVito

mitou said:


> Yeah can't wait for this Kim Goss marriage thing to turn into a complete disaster. Sigh.
> 
> Going down nostalgia lane I remembered Alexander Kuoppala's Hate Crew Deathroll M-I. One of the sickest ESPs ever imo. Shame I couldn't find better pics.


----------



## ArtDecade

Alberto7 said:


> Also, what am I missing here? Who are these other people in Australia?



Apparently the wife that isn't actually a wife is an Aussie and she hasn't actually been with Laiho in 10 months because of Covid.


----------



## Boris_VTR

ArtDecade said:


> Apparently the wife that isn't actually a wife is an Aussie and she hasn't actually been with Laiho in 10 months because of Covid.


Its strange that durring the summer when restrictions were kinda low they couldnt get together?


----------



## ArtDecade

The whole thing is screwy, but Finns will be Finns.


----------



## Kaura

NotDonVito said:


> this shit's turning into real housewives of helsinki



*Espoo

It's like fucking Six Flags out there right now.

In all seriousness. I'm feeling sorry for Alexi's close family. This is probably the last thing they want to worry about on top of mourning their son/brother.



ArtDecade said:


> The whole thing is screwy, but Finns will be Finns.



I'm sorry but what part of this whole ordeal is Finns' fault? The hambeast aka Kim Gloss is American and the other guy who flamed her didn't exactly sound Finnish either. Also, I bet this whole thing would be on completely next level if it happened in American. There would be lawsuits and shit up to the ass.


----------



## ArtDecade

Kaura said:


> I'm sorry but what part of this whole ordeal is Finns' fault? The hambeast aka Kim Gloss is American and the other guy who flamed her didn't exactly sound Finnish either. Also, I bet this whole thing would be on completely next level if it happened in American. There would be lawsuits and shit up to the ass.



Relax, sweetheart. Alexi made his bed and this is the result. He never finalized his divorce and he had another woman parading as his wife. And this will be easily covered in any court regardless of the country. No one likes Goss, but it looks like she has claim on everything.


----------



## Lorcan Ward

p0ke said:


> It's really hard to tell who to believe in this case.



“There is three sides to every story. My side. Your side. And the truth”

It’s an ugly situation and both sides are saying some nasty things now.


----------



## Kaura

ArtDecade said:


> Relax, sweetheart. Alexi made his bed and this is the result. He never finalized his divorce and he had another woman parading as his wife. And this will be easily covered in any court regardless of the country. No one likes Goss, but it looks like she has claim on everything.



Still. What do you have against Finns? Fucking racist.


----------



## ArtDecade

Kaura said:


> Still. What do you have against Finns? Fucking racist.



You are adorable. I just wanna squeeze you.


----------



## Kaura

ArtDecade said:


> You are adorable. I just wanna squeeze you.



Okay, whatever. Americans will be americans. Keep shooting each other and die of diabetes. 

If you still don't get my point. It's like going to a thread discussing on 9/11 and saying "Americans will be Americans".


----------



## groverj3

Some real maturity on display right here.


----------



## ArtDecade

Kaura said:


> Okay, whatever. Americans will be americans. Keep shooting each other and die of diabetes.



My sensitive lil baby bear. You are good enough. And smart enough. And gosh darn it - people like you.


----------



## aesthyrian

Well this was a fast way to kill a thread.


----------



## ArtDecade

groverj3 said:


> Some real maturity on display right here.



I can own that. I'm never the most mature, but I wasnt even being a shit poster this time out.


----------



## Kaura

Nevermind. Sometimes it feels like fighting windmills... I'm off to bed.


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands

TIL that Finnish people are a race and that there was a lot of drama in Alexi's private life.


----------



## arasys

I wish ESP considers making his new purple SV / RV models (with shorter lower horns) available at some point. I still feel sad about his passing, and haven't had a single drink since I found out. It really had an impact on how I view alcohol these days. 

I don't think his family needed such drama right now, considering how private he was.. If I visit Finland one day and see his grave, I would love to leave a pack of DR strings or something he would have appreciated instead of flowers.


----------



## works0fheart

Let's drop the racist conversation all together. It's serving no purpose here other than to derail the thread. People are wrong/stupid on the internet constantly. If I had to run in to argue about it everytime I see it I'd have a 2nd full time job. There is more important shit to be discussing than our own petty bullshit, such as the petty bullshit going on with Alexi's family.

On that note, I really don't know who to believe, but from an outside perspective, it does feel like Kim is suddenly swooping in out of nowhere to try to get a piece of something that she really shouldn't. Alexi has a kid out there that should be seeing whatever he had to leave behind, not an ex who hasn't been relevant in almost 20 years. For the record, I like Kim and Sinergy, and all of the posts she's been making recently have been great to see, but she very clearly shouldn't be trying to pursue anything inheritance-wise of Alexi's. Remembering someone fondly is one thing, but coming for Alexi's money is blatantly wrong when she very clearly hasn't been a part of his life in nearly two decades.

I've seen these kinds of things first hand with my own family and it gets downright ugly. Alexi's little girl doesn't deserve that.


----------



## ArtDecade

works0fheart said:


> On that note, I really don't know who to believe, but from an outside perspective, it does feel like Kim is suddenly swooping in out of nowhere to try to get a piece of something that she really shouldn't. Alexi has a kid out there that should be seeing whatever he had to leave behind, not an ex who hasn't been relevant in almost 20 years. For the record, I like Kim and Sinergy, and all of the posts she's been making recently have been great to see, but she very clearly shouldn't be trying to pursue anything inheritance-wise of Alexi's. Remembering someone fondly is one thing, but coming for Alexi's money is blatantly wrong when she very clearly hasn't been a part of his life in nearly two decades.



The estate should probably be divided between Kim and Alexi's child. Regardless of what team you are on, the law has to side with a legal marriage more than opinions on who we think Alexi loved more. That said, maybe he left behind a will of some sort and all this is moot.


----------



## works0fheart

I'm willing to bet he didn't though (leave behind a will) just because of how his family is reacting right now. If he had left one they'd probably just be ignoring her and whatnot.


----------



## ArtDecade

works0fheart said:


> I'm willing to bet he didn't though (leave behind a will) just because of how his family is reacting right now. If he had left one they'd probably just be ignoring her and whatnot.



Or is it possible that he did leave a will and that is why Goss is coming out? She is his wife (legally) and the estate may need her to sign off on everything. EDIT: If she was just going to lawyer up and see what happens, she wouldn't need to be there.


----------



## works0fheart

No idea. Honestly, regardless of who is telling the truth, I just hope that his kid benefits from this in some way. It's probably hard enough for her losing her dad without all of this going on. It's sad to see.


----------



## ArtDecade

works0fheart said:


> No idea. Honestly, regardless of who is telling the truth, I just hope that his kid benefits from this in some way. It's probably hard enough for her losing her dad without all of this going on. It's sad to see.



Agreed. Hopefully she gets her due - and that due should be at least half.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

Oh christ. Shut up.


----------



## works0fheart

?


----------



## Ataraxia2320

Dunno how it is in Finland but in in some parts of Europe a will will only take you so far. 

That being said the fact he is not cohabiting with his wife would help things dramatically.


----------



## Sermo Lupi

Complaining about unfair divorce laws is like beating a dead horse. However, seeing as Goss has offered a defense of her moral character instead of simply explaining her legal right, let's see what justifications she has offered for taking Alexi Laiho's estate. 

Goss' claims are basically: 

Goss continued to speak with Alexi 'almost daily' for the last 10 months of his life and says they were on good terms.
We know from her proof of their 'photo together' dated December 15th 2020 (which is just a reflection of her face on a Macbook screen) that these interactions were only virtual. 
Goss claims Alexi sought divorce in 2002 but withdrew so that they could work on their relationship. 
She also claims Alexi never sought divorce again (implying--perhaps incorrectly--that he wanted to stay married).
Goss claims it is the family who has made this ugly. It is unclear whether she means the public accusations or the disputes over the estate behind the scenes.
Goss refers several times to 'the other party in Australia' or 'those in Australia' in several statements posted to her Instagram account, presumably referring to Alexi's partner. Goss seems to be accusing Alexi's partner of instigating a public feud and refuses to comment on her own marriage to Alexi out of respect for him. 
I do not see how Goss can make a moral defense of her character considering the above. It seems their marriage was nothing more than a legal union for the better part of two decades--arguably right from the start if Alexi married her for visa reasons. More importantly, they were not living together and it seems she wasn't dependent on Alexi's estate while he was still alive (as a house wife would be, for instance). A few Facetime calls over the last 10 months to reminisce (and to gain closure with someone who might have known he was dying) is hardly grounds for entitlement for his entire lifetime earnings. To put yourself above his family in this context is morally repugnant. 

So many parts of her Instagram statements seem slippery as well. Goss seems oddly proud that Alexi never intended to divorce her (as opposed to saying they wanted to remain married in private). If Alexi knew she would fight him tooth and nail for every penny he ever made, why would he even attempt divorce? Amid health issues no less? This is proof of nothing. 

Also, why has Goss turned this into a feud between her and Alexi's partner when it seems it is the Laiho family that has concerns about her actions? Takes a gold digger to know one, I guess? 

This whole situation just reeks. How you can abuse the legal system like this and still defend your actions from a moral perspective while leaving so much emotional and financial hardship in your wake is beyond me. 

'I'm grieving, too'. Sobbed all the way over to Finland on that plane ride, I bet. Disgusting.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

works0fheart said:


> ?


The two dimwits acting goofy. I typically appreciate what both bring to threads, but what they were doing was obtuse.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

Sermo Lupi said:


> Complaining about unfair divorce laws is like beating a dead horse. However, seeing as Goss has offered a defense of her moral character instead of simply explaining her legal right, let's see what justifications she has offered for taking Alexi Laiho's estate.
> 
> Goss' claims are basically:
> 
> Goss continued to speak with Alexi 'almost daily' for the last 10 months of his life and says they were on good terms.
> We know from her proof of their 'photo together' dated December 15th 2020 (which is just a reflection of her face on a Macbook screen) that these interactions were only virtual.
> Goss claims Alexi sought divorce in 2002 but withdrew so that they could work on their relationship.
> She also claims Alexi never sought divorce again (implying--perhaps incorrectly--that he wanted to stay married).
> Goss claims it is the family who has made this ugly. It is unclear whether she means the public accusations or the disputes over the estate behind the scenes.
> Goss refers several times to 'the other party in Australia' or 'those in Australia' in several statements posted to her Instagram account, presumably referring to Alexi's partner. Goss seems to be accusing Alexi's partner of instigating a public feud and refuses to comment on her own marriage to Alexi out of respect for him.
> I do not see how Goss can make a moral defense of her character considering the above. It seems their marriage was nothing more than a legal union for the better part of two decades--arguably right from the start if Alexi married her for visa reasons. More importantly, they were not living together and it seems she wasn't dependent on Alexi's estate while he was still alive (as a house wife would be, for instance). A few Facetime calls over the last 10 months to reminisce (and to gain closure with someone who might have known he was dying) is hardly grounds for entitlement for his entire lifetime earnings. To put yourself above his family in this context is morally repugnant.
> 
> So many parts of her Instagram statements seem slippery as well. Goss seems oddly proud that Alexi never intended to divorce her (as opposed to saying they wanted to remain married in private). If Alexi knew she would fight him tooth and nail for every penny he ever made, why would he even attempt divorce? Amid health issues no less? This is proof of nothing.
> 
> Also, why has Goss turned this into a feud between her and Alexi's partner when it seems it is the Laiho family that has concerns about her actions? Takes a gold digger to know one, I guess?
> 
> This whole situation just reeks. How you can abuse the legal system like this and still defend your actions from a moral perspective while leaving so much emotional and financial hardship in your wake is beyond me.
> 
> 'I'm grieving, too'. Sobbed all the way over to Finland on that plane ride, I bet. Disgusting.


She also sort of implies that Alexi was possibly being dishonest to Kelli in a low key manner. She has been described as manipulative as hell, and that is what I gather from her post.


----------



## Boris_VTR

ArtDecade said:


> The estate should probably be divided between Kim and Alexi's child. Regardless of what team you are on, the law has to side with a legal marriage more than opinions on who we think Alexi loved more. That said, maybe he left behind a will of some sort and all this is moot.


I got the impression that its not really his child? I think its from her ex-husband/boyfriend.


----------



## Leviathus

Kaura said:


> hambeast


I have been laughing too much at this term today.


----------



## p0ke

Come to think of it, maybe Alexi didn't want to divorce her because he knew she'd get half of his property at that point. That would kinda match the Australian dude's explanation (from the facebook group) too.


----------



## Boris_VTR

p0ke said:


> Come to think of it, maybe Alexi didn't want to divorce her because he knew she'd get half of his property at that point. That would kinda match the Australian dude's explanation (from the facebook group) too.


She could easily divorce him herself if she wanted half of his estate. End result would be the same.


----------



## p0ke

Boris_VTR said:


> She could easily divorce him herself if she wanted half of his estate. End result would be the same.



Yeah but it was said in the fb-post that Alexi was trying to be nice to her just to get her to sign some papers, maybe he had some "don't give her anything" type contract or whatever. I don't know if that's even possible...

Either way, that would be reason enough to stay married.


----------



## mastapimp

works0fheart said:


> No idea. Honestly, regardless of who is telling the truth, I just hope that his kid benefits from this in some way. It's probably hard enough for her losing her dad without all of this going on. It's sad to see.


You guys keep mentioning his kid... Did Alexi have any offspring? In all the articles I've seen the child is referred to as Kelli's from a previous relationship.


----------



## works0fheart

Pretty sure he adopted her a while ago. She has his last name. Shelby Laiho. So yes, not biologically his kid, but that's not really anyone's place to say that they aren't close as father and daughter. To her and him I'm sure who the actual father was is of little significance.


----------



## Randy

works0fheart said:


> Pretty sure he adopted her a while ago. She has his last name. Shelby Laiho. So yes, not biologically his kid, but that's not really anyone's place to say that they aren't close as father and daughter. To her and him I'm sure who the actual father was is of little significance.



I think the relevance of "offspring" is because a child of his (by birth) would give immediate legal standing regarding anything from his estate, whereas we don't know how legal his "adoption" of this child was considering how slap-dash his other legal matters were.


----------



## mastapimp

Randy said:


> I think the relevance of "offspring" is because a child of his (by birth) would give immediate legal standing regarding anything from his estate, whereas we don't know how legal his "adoption" of this child was considering how slap-dash his other legal matters were.


Yeah, that was kinda my line of questioning. Considering he had a "commitment ceremony" and wasn't legally married to his new partner, i'm not sure how the daughter plays into this if nothing is bound by law. I guess we'll see what happens when these things play out in court.


----------



## BigLebowski

FYI - and since i am unable to post any links with my very first post here, google "whatwhybecauseican.blogspot just shooting"
I cannot watch this shit anymore from aside without coming out and defefnd family. I will post that everywhere as cannot let that Trump continue with her lies.


----------



## Alberto7

BigLebowski said:


> FYI - and since i am unable to post any links with my very first post here, google "whatwhybecauseican.blogspot just shooting"
> I cannot watch this shit anymore from aside without coming out and defefnd family. I will post that everywhere as cannot let that Trump continue with her lies.



That's cool and all that, but:

1) Who are you?
2) Who even wrote that?

Not that I've chosen to side with anyone here, but you need to provide credentials if you want people to believe you.


----------



## MFB

But Alberto, it was written on a BLOGSPOT of all places, it _must_ be legit!


----------



## BigLebowski

I acknowledge staying anonymous dont bring much credit of information provided. I cannot say much more that already in post, yes, was written by me. Close family friend who got arsed seeing them suffering because of that snake. Family has decided to keep radio silence for two reasons: attourneys advice and knowing it wont help anything, would just get worse and eat even all that small amount of energy they have. But i cannot watch aside she's abusing them by doing what she does, makes me so angry


----------



## Alberto7

MFB said:


> But Alberto, it was written on a BLOGSPOT of all places, it _must_ be legit!



Damn you! I cannot handle all this TRUTH!



BigLebowski said:


> I acknowledge staying anonymous dont bring much credit of information provided. I cannot say much more that already in post, yes, was written by me. Close family friend who got arsed seeing them suffering because of that snake. Family has decided to keep radio silence for two reasons: attourneys advice and knowing it wont help anything, would just get worse and eat even all that small amount of energy they have. But i cannot watch aside she's abusing them by doing what she does, makes me so angry



Fair enough. I'll stay interested, but with the info available so far I wouldn't expect any uninvolved and reasonable person to really side with anyone yet.


----------



## BigLebowski

Like mentioned in my initial post, FYI. I want everyone to be aware.
This shit will get ugly - that snake is after dollars and, well, just read your self what she has said in instagram about Kelli and Alexi's syster! So crazy shit especially when i have my self less than month ago mourned with Alexi his flight tickets cancelled to Australia - was his plan to spend xmas there - instead, was stuck in finland and spend it with her syster and her family.. Bloody hell, this is so fooking twisted that his family is now in position where they need someone trying to defend them in this kimberly circus! They told themselves how helpless they feel seeing Kimberly getting all love while doing what she does - just read my post again with thought.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

Kimberly isn't getting an ounce of pity from me. Kimberly Gross can kick rocks. Kelli and Anna have confirmed the Facebook post as being pretty much fact. Must take a real small person to go, "yeah I know you're grieving and shit, but I don't care. Gimme a bunch of shit ($$$, personal items, etc) that isn't mine. What? You're mad? Here, lemme put you down online and act like you're the problem."


----------



## NotDonVito




----------



## Alberto7




----------



## lewis

NotDonVito said:


>


----------



## Crumbling

groverj3 said:


> This was all discussed a while back in the thread, but I remember that the whole Jackson -> ESP move occurred when I was first getting into the band. At the time, Jackson had only recently been acquired by FMIC and had been in decline throughout the 90s. In that era they never were really a very trendy "metal" or "shred" guitar company. They had kind of a legacy where a lot of fans of the brand were older and 80s-centric. Like, they started out being an innovative company in the very early days, and then their innovations became "heritage" in the kind of way that many big Fender and Gibson fans refuse to buy anything that's forward-looking. Combined with mismanagement they weren't doing too hot in the early 00s (very low profit margins on their pro series gear was killing them). COB were one of a very small number of bigger bands out there using them in the metal scene.
> 
> When his RRs were stolen, or lost, or whatever, there was simply no way to rush production of anything to replace them. I highly doubt they told him he had to wait like a "normal customer" Rather, it was just impossible to build anything in the custom shop in the time frame needed. Jackson's Custom Shop has *never* been able to rush anything because there have been a max of like 5 master builders there at any given time. There were no production model 24 fret RRs at the time either.
> 
> I always kind of assumed that the MIJ RR24 was intended to be a signature model, but they didn't get to market until after he was forced to switch companies. I could be wrong though.
> 
> I was never a big fan of his ESPs because of the inlays, but it all worked out for the guy in the end.



There were production 24 fret RRs, just not USA one. All the domestic market Jackson Stars were 24 frets. There's photos of him playing a pinstripe RR1 so that's probably what they settled for. Could be FMIC not offering him a Japanese model, could be him not wanting to play a Japanese import, we'll never know.


----------



## feilong29

For those who were curious, I posted a link before for you to buy Alexi's Autobiography if you interested--I got my copy in English so the site is legit. https://www.backstagerockshop.com/products/alexi-laiho-chaos-control-guitar-book


----------



## p0ke

After Alexi's death, the Finnish music maganize Soundi had a poll about which CoB songs are the best. Here's the results by album (not very surprising tbh):






What I did find interesting however, is that every song from their entire discography got at least one vote 

... And here's the full story, use Google translate if needed 
https://www.soundi.fi/uutiset/nama-...f-bodom-kappaleet-soundin-lukijat-aanestivat/


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

More evidence for "nostalgia trumps all; gimme back my teenage years!" To see more of this, talk to wrestling fans about the Monday Night Wars and especially the Attitude! Era. Anyone who actually remembers the Attitude! Era and wasn't blinded by fanboy nostalgia realizes that, yeah, there was a lot of good, but with it, there was just as much (if not more so) that was complete shit. Far worse than the 1993-1995 time period that was supposedly the "drizzling shits for wrestling." This is why you have bands just going out, even with a new album, with 95% greatest hits set lists and 2 new songs (if they even release new albums at all -- looking at you KISS). This is also why you have people in the horror fandom fawning over bullshit like the 97th Halloween from Blumhouse or a Scream sequel, sans Craven, that will apparently abandon the meta aspect. To both, what is the fucking point? I mean other than cashing in. What is the point for the fans? Watching inferior versions of past glories because you can't get over your nostalgia boners? With regards to Halloween, Michael is not even a character. Every time a writer tries to give him some sort of character trait, you can be SURE the fans will bitch, whine, moan, and groan until it is scalpeled out of the series (hence Halloween 2018). As for Scream, seriously, why even bother? Meta was the entire point of the series, but hey man, that huge pay check does seem real good, so why not prostitute ourselves out, because being creative apparently isn't our goal anymore.

I saw Terrifier, and loved Art the Clown. I was watching it, thinking to myself, "this might be the start of a new group of horror villains, with Art as the leader. GREAT!" Instead, he'll likely be tending to the fucking old folks home so a 78 year old Michael Myers can still stalk his shit yogurt selling sister. Or so people can get "jUsTiCe FoR kAnE hOdDeR" when he's the lamest of the Jason actors. Fucking yawn.

Sorry for the rant, but it is getting real fucking old. Especially with wrestling fans, whom apparently do not even remember how bad some of that shit in the 90s was. Or how awful it is, regardless of the medium, when a band, artist, movie franchise, etc. "goes back to their roots." It is always a disappointment. I am a HUGE Freddy Krueger fan, but you know what I *do not* want? Another Freddy film. Why? Because Freddy outside of the 80s really doesn't translate too well. Even one of these 80s-core attempts would likely bomb (Goldbergs).

Then again, what should I expect, considering rock fans apparently thought 50 something year olds reuniting in the 90s for endless greatest hits tours was a great idea.


----------



## MFB

I wish I didn't overlook Something Wild as much as I do. It's a solid debut, and there's really not much else I've found like it, but the production isn't great (it's more listenable than some others I've heard) and the song writing is rough compared to the follow up (rightfully so, but it's surprising by how much). I do like it more than AYDY, so fuck that graph!


----------



## feilong29

MFB said:


> I wish I didn't overlook Something Wild as much as I do. It's a solid debut, and there's really not much else I've found like it, but the production isn't great (it's more listenable than some others I've heard) and the song writing is rough compared to the follow up (rightfully so, but it's surprising by how much). I do like it more than AYDY, so fuck that graph!



It's my least favorite, but what magic it was considering he was 18 when they debut as COB. Further more, he was 16 when they put our their IneartheD albums!


----------



## Crumbling

Something Wild's problem for me was that the songs just lacked structure, with the exception of Lake Bodom and Touch Like Angel of Death, it almost feel like they're just noodling.

...and that some of the best riffs are in fact Mozart.


----------



## works0fheart

I actually think Something Wild has some of the most original songwriting of all of their albums. Deadnight Warrior is the only one that is pretty simplistic. Redlight in my eyes 1 and 2 have some really neat ideas that you don't really see explored in their discography anywhere else. It also has the most black metal influence of all of the albums, which also adds to it. It's not often you get bm style riffing with crazy shredding.

Also, even though I hated on Are You Dead Yet at the time of its release because it sounded so different from the other stuff, I will admit it's grown to be one of my favorite albums. The riffing on it is actually pretty nuts and you could see that Alexi was definitely branching out from basic power chord progressions when writing a lot of the riffs for it. Go listen to We're Not Gonna Fall and you'll see what I mean. HCDR really started this, but not to the level that it was stepped up to on AYDY.

There were a lot of albums I wrote off for a while that actually ended up being pretty good now that I've been listening to Bodom non stop for the last several weeks. From that, I'll say that instead of just thinking the first 3 albums were untouchable, I'd now say the first 5 instead. Hell, I now think Hexed is the best album they've made in years.

With the following albums, there are more than enough good songs to be pulled from each for sure:
- Blooddrunk - Title track, Lobodomy, Done with everything Die for Nothing (Roope's first Bodom solo), Tie My Rope, Banned From Heaven
- RRF - Ugly (Not gonna lie, weakest album imo)
- HoB - Waste of Skin, title track, Transference
- IWC - Title track, Horns, Widdershins, I Hurt, All For Nothing (Possibly the best solo section out of all of the later albums)
- Hexed - This Road, Grass and Clover, title track, Kick in a Spleen

I'm in complete disagreement about the nostalgia bit. Sure it may play a small part of people's enjoyment, but having heard some of these songs for the first time recently, I can definitely say that if FTR or Hatebreeder were released tomorrow for the first time people would lose their shit. Those first 3 albums alone practically kickstarted a new breed of melodeath. Nothing before them sounded like that and look at how many other bands popped up after trying to emulate CoB. I can also say that I can put on Ace's High and still get goosebumps from the outro scream where it sounds like Alexi's head is going to rip open backwards like a pez dispenser. I can say that I STILL think the KTS solo section is easily one of the top 5 best solos ever written.

Point is, a lot of people get overhyped when they die. *Alexi isn't one of them.* The dude did things on a guitar and with his songwriting that people still can't come close to almost 20 years later.


----------



## p0ke

Yeah I didn't post that thing for nostalgic reasons, I was just genuinely surprised that each and every song got a vote. To me it basically just means that their entire catalogue is quality stuff  

I'm not that into Something Wild either, though it's mostly the production that ruins it for me.


----------



## Crumbling

Roope had a solo in If You Want Peace I'm pretty sure, it was a 3 way duel between him, Alexi and Janne.

And yea, HCDR and AYDY really marked the transition to more rhythm and riff focused writing rather than lead focused. I've also come to revalidate my option on blooddrunk after multiple listening, it grew on me. The riffs on there are a lot less chuggy than AYDY (i.e. In Your Face was probably the most blatant), and the return of the keyboard to the rhythm section gave Bodom back their signature sound


----------



## Mathemagician

I still don’t know how the chorus to Children of Decadence isn’t mentioned every single time people talk about his songwriting. 

Like, how is anything allowed to be that catchy? How? I mean follow the reaper as a whole was just bangers. But that fucking chorus is like if bees had double the normal amount of knees, know what I’m saying? It’s easily a 12 out of 6 knees.


----------



## p0ke

Mathemagician said:


> I still don’t know how the chorus to Children of Decadence isn’t mentioned every single time people talk about his songwriting.



That song just kind of blends in, and it's not among the first songs that comes to mind from FTR... But I agree, it is awesome. 
I've been considering doing a tribute video and I wanna do a song that hasn't been done a million times, so maybe I'll consider that one... I don't know how many years I'll have to practice to nail the solos though


----------



## Alberto7

p0ke said:


> That song just kind of blends in, and it's not among the first songs that comes to mind from FTR... But I agree, it is awesome.
> I've been considering doing a tribute video and I wanna do a song that hasn't been done a million times, so maybe I'll consider that one... I don't know how many years I'll have to practice to nail the solos though



I am DYING to do a tribute video for CoB. But my home setup is far from ideal at the moment. I'm moving this June to a bigger apartment, and I am looking into getting an Alexi signature I can keep in D standard. I currently only have one guitar with a tremolo, an Ibanez AZ tuned in E standard, and I really don't wanna have to bring it down to D only to bring it back to E 2 weeks later 

I should pick KST back up where I left off like 15 years ago


----------



## NotDonVito

Mathemagician said:


> I still don’t know how the chorus to Children of Decadence isn’t mentioned every single time people talk about his songwriting.
> 
> Like, how is anything allowed to be that catchy? How? I mean follow the reaper as a whole was just bangers. But that fucking chorus is like if bees had double the normal amount of knees, know what I’m saying? It’s easily a 12 out of 6 knees.


I was reading an old interview with COB while they were in Sweden recording Follow the Reaper, and they mentioned Peter pushing some "techno sounds" on them.
https://cobtranslations.livejournal.com/11028.html

I think that's why the album is so catchy, they broke off from the done-to-death symphonic and folk metal sounds and made songs that could be remixed into some late 90's trance hit. I remember the first time me and my friend heard that album, we thought it sounded like video game music. For us, COB was referred to as "Megaman-metal" before we learned the term melodic death metal.

For me, it's not a stretch to say that this..


Reminds me of something like this:


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

works0fheart said:


> I'm in complete disagreement about the nostalgia bit.


You can disagree all you wish, but you can see nostalgia in any fandom, and you can see nostalgia ruining everything it touches. (ie, Star Wars. The fans bitched about Lucas "ruining" Star Wars, so it got sold to Disney, and now it's completely turned that fandom into a war zone, so to speak.)


----------



## works0fheart

I mean, in regards to the things you mention, sure. Star Wars? Definitely. Wrestling? Couldn't say. Bodom? Nope.


----------



## MFB

He's not entirely wrong, I mean the only time I've cared about Bodom since Blooddrunk came out was when they did the 20th anniversary tour; and I regretted skipping out on that immediately, and now with Alexi passing, it'll legitimately never be possible again. I'm sure 90% of the audience was those that grew up with those first four and went out for a nostalgia only show as we're now at vastly different points in our lives.


----------



## works0fheart

I get that. Point I'm making is that aside from nostalgia, the music is still quality. When I think nostalgia I think of people remembering something fondly even though it wasn't great. Hopefully that makes sense.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

works0fheart said:


> I mean, in regards to the things you mention, sure. Star Wars? Definitely. Wrestling? Couldn't say. Bodom? Nope.


Lol, sure Jan.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

MFB said:


> He's not entirely wrong, I mean the only time I've cared about Bodom since Blooddrunk came out was when they did the 20th anniversary tour; and I regretted skipping out on that immediately, and now with Alexi passing, it'll legitimately never be possible again. I'm sure 90% of the audience was those that grew up with those first four and went out for a nostalgia only show as we're now at vastly different points in our lives.


Also see comments regarding setlists from mostly the first four albums, Hexed being "like HCDR," etc. But yeah, just "nope." Great rebuttal.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

works0fheart said:


> I get that. Point I'm making is that aside from nostalgia, the music is still quality. When I think nostalgia I think of people remembering something fondly* even though it wasn't great*. Hopefully that makes sense.


Not what nostalgia means. It doesn't make sense, because you are imposing your own idea of what the word means.




Do realize there is a difference between nostalgia, and people's nostalgia being used to demand a return to "greater times," as I mentioned with regards to wrestling, horror, etc. Nostalgia is typically a surefire way to have bad results, ie movies that aren't great, or wrestling fans demanding a return to the Attitude Era in terms of storyline and "violence" even though it was not that great as a whole.


----------



## Kaura

Haha. Saturdays bring the worst in this thread. 

_Finns will be Finns.

Nostalgia will be nostalgia

SS.org will be SS.org. 




_


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

Kaura said:


> Haha. Saturdays bring the worst in this thread.
> 
> _Finns will be Finns.
> 
> Nostalgia will be nostalgia
> 
> SS.org will be SS.org. _


"You wanna rock n roll with me, puss bag!?"


----------



## ArtDecade

Kaura said:


> Haha. Saturdays bring the worst in this thread.
> 
> _Finns will be Finns.
> 
> Nostalgia will be nostalgia
> 
> SS.org will be SS.org.
> 
> 
> 
> _



Kaura will be Kaura.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

ArtDecade said:


> Kaura will be Kaura.


John Bohlinger's Dank Stash will be John Bohlinger's Dank Stash.


----------



## ArtDecade

Spaced Out Ace is my favorite member of Kiss!


----------



## Sermo Lupi

p0ke said:


> After Alexi's death, the Finnish music maganize Soundi had a poll about which CoB songs are the best. Here's the results by album (not very surprising tbh):



I actually am a bit surprised that Are You Dead Yet ranked as highly as it did; it rivals Hate Crew Deathroll and roughly doubled Something Wild in terms of popularity. 

I got that album in high school when it released. It was good, but even back then I wouldn't have ranked it anywhere near Something Wild, Hatebreeder, Follow the Reaper, or HCDR. 



Spaced Out Ace said:


> More evidence for "nostalgia trumps all; gimme back my teenage years!"
> 
> Then again, what should I expect, considering rock fans apparently thought 50 something year olds reuniting in the 90s for endless greatest hits tours was a great idea.



Evidence to the contrary: see above 

I don't see how CoB's 4th and 5th albums could be as popular as they are (again, double CoB's debut album) if nostalgia were the only driving factor behind the results of the poll.

There are plenty of reasons why bands' early releases are better than their later ones. It is a documented phenomenon. The adage used to be that bands spent 10 years toiling in obscurity writing music for their first two albums, then had about a year to write music for every album after that due to pressures from labels and touring once they 'made it'. 

Having said that, plenty of bands have produced their most celebrated albums later into their careers, proving that fans are at least somewhat objective about it. Some random Prog bands for sake of example (using data from progarchives.com):

Dream Theater's 5th album is often considered their best. 
Opeth's 4th, 5th and 8th albums are considered their best.
Symphony X's 3rd and 5th albums are considered their best.
And so on. 

The flipside to your argument is 'recency bias'. Many people write off the critical significance of old music, movies, and other forms of entertainment simply on the basis that they can't be enjoyed except through nostalgia. I often find this point of view is misinformed and usually formulated in opposition to the status quo. In other words, it isn't that new media can't be appreciated just as much as old stuff, but if you find yourself sniping at classics to call something new underrated (e.g. "the marvel films are better movies than Citizen Kane"), then chances are you're only eliciting the comparison because you resent the status quo, not the old media itself. 

That's speaking in general terms, but if you specifically are arguing Children of Bodom fans are blinded by nostalgia simply because they prefer the band's 2nd, 3rd and 4th albums to the ones that came after, I simply disagree. Those early albums are crammed with hits that defined a genre. It is great music even today, nostalgia or not.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

I was not aware that melodic death metal and prog were comparable at all. I think we can all agree that prog fans are a different breed. Good on them for actually giving albums a chance.

I do not have a recency bias, as I do not think the newer stuff is better than the old albums. I like the recent stuff just as much because it isn't rehashing past glories. I enjoy something that tries to be different. KISS tried to go back to their nostalgic best, and those two albums (Sonic Boom and Monster), regardless of their production qualities (they sound garbled), have a few okay to good songs, and stuff that doesn't stack up. If a band goes for nostalgia, which I do not really get, then be prepared for fans to be at the ready to smash it with a hammer, because you have your supposed best albums as competition. This is especially problematic when your best albums, to some, were over 30 years prior.

I've been pretty vocal on the idea that I do not care for greatest hits tours (ie, when people were commenting that a recent setlist from 2019 or thereabouts was mostly from the first four albums), nor do I particularly like when the idea of "it's a return to _____" get bandied about, because I generally find that is a lack of creativity and growth. Hexed is decent, but I do not like it as much as HOB and IWC. Art is for trying new things, not repainting your classics or going back to that one style. 

Movies are especially hampered by this, but hey, they must be doing something right since the lemmings keep going to see the same shit over and over again. For instance, people are whining about the lawsuits between Victor Miller and Sean S Cunningham -- and how Sean and WB / Paramount over lost earnings -- because "wahhhh, we won't get another friday the 13th so we can shit all over it!" Want new F13 stuff? Go watch Never Hike Alone and the sequel. It's likely better than Hollyweird will give you. I think the biggest offender is Halloween, but I do not have the time nor patience to get into that dumpster fire of a franchise. I'll be glad when its "legacy" is tarnished even by the slightest bit.

I bring this up to show how nostalgia has lead to spectacularly unfulfilling pieces of art, and why I don't care to see a band I love doing that shit. I love that COB and Trivium were doing different shit. I loved Ascendancy, but I sure as fuck do not want to see Matt write a record trying to do that style again. If I want to listen to Ascendancy, I'll listen to it, not Ascendancy-lite. Same goes for any record by either of those two bands.


----------



## Vyn

I think something COB have done well though is that you can tell what album any individual song is off of almost immediately, even if the quality or the direction of some albums may be contentious.


----------



## Sermo Lupi

Spaced Out Ace said:


> I like the recent stuff just as much because it isn't rehashing past glories. I enjoy something that tries to be different. KISS tried to go back to their nostalgic best, and those two albums (Sonic Boom and Monster), regardless of their production qualities (they sound garbled), have a few okay to good songs, and stuff that doesn't stack up. If a band goes for nostalgia, which I do not really get, then be prepared for fans to be at the ready to smash it with a hammer, because you have your supposed best albums as competition. This is especially problematic when your best albums, to some, were over 30 years prior.
> 
> I've been pretty vocal on the idea that I do not care for greatest hits tours (ie, when people were commenting that a recent setlist from 2019 or thereabouts was mostly from the first four albums), nor do I particularly like when the idea of "it's a return to _____" get bandied about, because I generally find that is a lack of creativity and growth. Hexed is decent, but I do not like it as much as HOB and IWC. Art is for trying new things, not repainting your classics or going back to that one style.
> 
> Movies are especially hampered by this, but hey, they must be doing something right since the lemmings keep going to see the same shit over and over again. For instance, people are whining about the lawsuits between Victor Miller and Sean S Cunningham -- and how Sean and WB / Paramount over lost earnings -- because "wahhhh, we won't get another friday the 13th so we can shit all over it!" Want new F13 stuff? Go watch Never Hike Alone and the sequel. It's likely better than Hollyweird will give you. I think the biggest offender is Halloween, but I do not have the time nor patience to get into that dumpster fire of a franchise. I'll be glad when its "legacy" is tarnished even by the slightest bit.
> 
> I bring this up to show how nostalgia has lead to spectacularly unfulfilling pieces of art, and why I don't care to see a band I love doing that shit. I love that COB and Trivium were doing different shit. I loved Ascendancy, but I sure as fuck do not want to see Matt write a record trying to do that style again. If I want to listen to Ascendancy, I'll listen to it, not Ascendancy-lite. Same goes for any record by either of those two bands.



...what does any of this have to do with fans liking old albums? They're not the ones rehashing material. They're not even necessarily comparing old and new. They're just voting for what they like best across a 20+ year catalogue of varied material. 

If you prefer bands innovate over time, fine. That's your preference and its okay. But you've shifted considerably from your earlier claim that fans like the older albums due to nostalgia alone. To a lot of people it is just better music. You don't need to go calling them 'lemmings' or insinuate that they can't think for themselves just because they like different music than you. 

And if we're splitting hairs over genre, isn't The Sound of Perseverance considered one of Death's best albums, if not their very best? There's loads of examples in metal of this kind of thing.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

Sermo Lupi said:


> ...what does any of this have to do with fans liking old albums? They're not the ones rehashing material. They're not even necessarily comparing old and new. They're just voting for what they like best across a 20+ year catalogue of varied material.
> 
> If you prefer bands innovate over time, fine. That's your preference and its okay. But you've shifted considerably from your earlier claim that fans like the older albums due to nostalgia alone. To a lot of people it is just better music. You don't need to go calling them 'lemmings' or insinuate that they can't think for themselves just because they like different music than you.
> 
> And if we're splitting hairs over genre, isn't The Sound of Perseverance considered one of Death's best albums, if not their very best? There's loads of examples in metal of this kind of thing.


Sound of perseverance grates on my nerves and my ears. I'll leave others to enjoy it.

I haven't shifted, but you believe whatever you like. That poll was evidence of nostalgia. Spin it however you like.


----------



## NotDonVito

I have some weird random thought.. Alexi has some crazy fangirls on instagram and stuff, and it's only a matter of time until one of them starts claiming that he's reincarnating himself through them or some shit.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

NotDonVito said:


> I have some weird random thought.. Alexi has some crazy fangirls on instagram and stuff, and it's only a matter of time until one of them starts claiming that he's reincarnating himself through them or some shit.


They let people have Instagram in the crazy farm?


----------



## Mathemagician

NotDonVito said:


> I was reading an old interview with COB while they were in Sweden recording Follow the Reaper, and they mentioned Peter pushing some "techno sounds" on them.
> https://cobtranslations.livejournal.com/11028.html
> 
> I think that's why the album is so catchy, they broke off from the done-to-death symphonic and folk metal sounds and made songs that could be remixed into some late 90's trance hit. I remember the first time me and my friend heard that album, we thought it sounded like video game music. For us, COB was referred to as "Megaman-metal" before we learned the term melodic death metal.
> 
> For me, it's not a stretch to say that this..
> 
> 
> Reminds me of something like this:





Oh I know I like metal from growing up on SNES. That megaman X- X3 was the shiiiiiiiit. 



Sermo Lupi said:


> I actually am a bit surprised that Are You Dead Yet ranked as highly as it did; it rivals Hate Crew Deathroll and roughly doubled Something Wild in terms of popularity.
> 
> I got that album in high school when it released. It was good, but even back then I wouldn't have ranked it anywhere near Something Wild, Hatebreeder, Follow the Reaper, or HCDR.
> 
> 
> 
> Evidence to the contrary: see above
> 
> I don't see how CoB's 4th and 5th albums could be as popular as they are (again, double CoB's debut album) if nostalgia were the only driving factor behind the results of the poll.
> 
> There are plenty of reasons why bands' early releases are better than their later ones. It is a documented phenomenon. The adage used to be that bands spent 10 years toiling in obscurity writing music for their first two albums, then had about a year to write music for every album after that due to pressures from labels and touring once they 'made it'.
> 
> Having said that, plenty of bands have produced their most celebrated albums later into their careers, proving that fans are at least somewhat objective about it. Some random Prog bands for sake of example (using data from progarchives.com):
> 
> Dream Theater's 5th album is often considered their best.
> Opeth's 4th, 5th and 8th albums are considered their best.
> Symphony X's 3rd and 5th albums are considered their best.
> And so on.
> 
> The flipside to your argument is 'recency bias'. Many people write off the critical significance of old music, movies, and other forms of entertainment simply on the basis that they can't be enjoyed except through nostalgia. I often find this point of view is misinformed and usually formulated in opposition to the status quo. In other words, it isn't that new media can't be appreciated just as much as old stuff, but if you find yourself sniping at classics to call something new underrated (e.g. "the marvel films are better movies than Citizen Kane"), then chances are you're only eliciting the comparison because you resent the status quo, not the old media itself.
> 
> That's speaking in general terms, but if you specifically are arguing Children of Bodom fans are blinded by nostalgia simply because they prefer the band's 2nd, 3rd and 4th albums to the ones that came after, I simply disagree. Those early albums are crammed with hits that defined a genre. It is great music even today, nostalgia or not.



Whoah whoah whoah, HCDR is an amazing album. It’s fantastic and deserves its spot. Those first 4 were nuts.


----------



## works0fheart

I can see the video game music similarity thing. While I think the orchestra bits are a big part of it I think it's also the melodies. A lot of old games such as Ninja Gaiden, MegaMan, and Sonic would all establish a main melody and that would usually dominate the songs. I think when I heard CoB for the first time I used to have about the same opinion. I also reallllllllly like video game music in general so that's probably why I clicked with CoB right away.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

Mathemagician said:


> Oh I know I like metal from growing up on SNES. That megaman X- X3 was the shiiiiiiiit.


I'm gonna have to revisit Megaman X 1-3, as I forget what the soundtrack is like on those.



works0fheart said:


> I can see the video game music similarity thing. While I think the orchestra bits are a big part of it I think it's also the melodies. A lot of old games such as Ninja Gaiden, MegaMan, and Sonic would all establish a main melody and that would usually dominate the songs. I think when I heard CoB for the first time I used to have about the same opinion. I also reallllllllly like video game music in general so that's probably why I clicked with CoB right away.


Castlevania is probably consistently my favorite game soundtrack of any series. SOTN is the best.


----------



## Sermo Lupi

Spaced Out Ace said:


> Sound of perseverance grates on my nerves and my ears. I'll leave others to enjoy it.
> 
> I haven't shifted, but you believe whatever you like. That poll was evidence of nostalgia. Spin it however you like.



Spin what? It is just data. You're the one spinning it, trying to undermine the results by calling it nostalgia. Your interpretation is disproven anyway by the fact the band's debut album is their 6th most popular. 



Mathemagician said:


> Whoah whoah whoah, HCDR is an amazing album. It’s fantastic and deserves its spot. Those first 4 were nuts.



Not sure if you meant to type AYDY, but yes, as I said in my comment I agree that HCDR is one of Bodom's best albums. It is a bit of a departure from the previous three but in a good way. It got a lot of playtime from me back in the day!


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

Well this is rather interesting.


----------



## p0ke

Sermo Lupi said:


> Not sure if you meant to type AYDY, but yes, as I said in my comment I agree that HCDR is one of Bodom's best albums. It is a bit of a departure from the previous three but in a good way. It got a lot of playtime from me back in the day!



Yep, even the production on HCDR is different, but definitely in a good way. It took a lot of getting used to after FTR, but in the end those two are my favorite CoB albums.


----------



## p0ke

Mathemagician said:


> Children of Decadence



I noticed a funny coincidence related to this, listening to HCDR. Children of Decadence is kind of in the shadow of Bodom After Midnight and Everytime I Die, and the same happened with Chokehold. It's also a great song, but for whatever reason Sixpounder and Bodom Beach Terror were always played live and Chokehold was skipped. They're both 3rd songs on the albums too


----------



## DielonKilo

Just wanted to chime in and say RIP to Alexi, huge influence for me in the mid 2000s. Learning "downfall" and "are you dead yet" was a huge boost of confidence in guitar playing for me.


----------



## p0ke

Hah! I took my first steps into actually making the tribute cover I mentioned wanting to do before. I started practicing Children of Decadence, and pretty much got the intro down. I gotta say, my lead playing is veeeeery rusty, so it'll take some time before I can get the whole song down though


----------



## Alberto7

Seeing his wife's couple of pictures of the funeral on her Instagram is rough. :/


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

Alberto7 said:


> Seeing his wife's couple of pictures of the funeral on her Instagram is rough. :/


Kelli, or the clown trying to steal his belongings from his family?


----------



## p0ke

Spaced Out Ace said:


> Kelli, or the clown trying to steal his belongings from his family?



Kelli. She posted a pic of his obituary and coffin, and it was on the news headlines this morning over here.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CK2r3H5pIt3/


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

p0ke said:


> Kelli. She posted a pic of his obituary and coffin, and it was on the news headlines this morning over here.


Sad.


----------



## Lorcan Ward

So it was spelt Aleksi. It also gives the date 29/12/2020.


----------



## p0ke

Lorcan Ward said:


> So it was spelt Aleksi.



Yep, X isn't a very commonly used letter in Finnish (especially back in '79), so no surprises there. It's funny that his actual first name was Markku, because the "vibe" I get from that name is about as far from his personality as you can get. Markku is a pretty typical Finnish name, and I just visualise an old farmer in a muddy flannel shirt (and a bottle of Koskenkorva in his back pocket) when I hear it


----------



## Lorcan Ward

p0ke said:


> Yep, X isn't a very commonly used letter in Finnish (especially back in '79), so no surprises there. It's funny that his actual first name was Markku, because the "vibe" I get from that name is about as far from his personality as you can get. Markku is a pretty typical Finnish name, and I just visualise an old farmer in a muddy flannel shirt (and a bottle of Koskenkorva in his back pocket) when I hear it



I can understand the spelling change and using his middle name since Markku Laiho isn't as rockstar and smooth sounding as Alexi Laiho. I guess it's a bit like Hollywood where foreign actors and actresses change their name to an English spelling and pronunciation.

I just googled a bunch of bands I like an no surprise some haven't being using their first names either. Marko Hietela also didn't use the K for his stage name Marco.


----------



## p0ke

Lorcan Ward said:


> I can understand the spelling change and using his middle name since Markku Laiho isn't as rockstar and smooth sounding as Alexi Laiho. I guess it's a bit like Hollywood where foreign actors and actresses change their name to an English spelling and pronunciation.
> 
> I just googled a bunch of bands I like an no surprise some haven't being using their first names either. Marko Hietela also didn't use the K for his stage name Marco.



Yeah, and it is actually one of his names so it isn't made up of anything. 

Using a middle name isn't that uncommon either, my sister has always been called by her middle name even without any international reasons. Makes me wonder why my parents gave her the first name in the first place though


----------



## Sermo Lupi

Lorcan Ward said:


> So it was spelt Aleksi. It also gives the date 29/12/2020.



Aside from others have said, it is just orthography. It may have been that Alexi felt adding the x better suited his name in English and used the k in Finnish. It is curious to think if anyone knew him as Markku and when he switched, though. He became famous so young that he probably used Alexi for his entire adult life. 

While I expect there wasn't any reason for concealing the date of death aside from privacy, I had the suspicion that it happened in 2020 from the way that it was reported. For a family seeking privacy, an avalanche of 'fuck 2020' memes probably would not have helped the situation. 

Are these photos old, by the way? I know from experience that there is a delay between death and burial, but a 5 week gap seems unusual. If it didn't have anything to do with the death itself, I suppose extra time would have been needed for family members to get into the country because of COVID protocols. This is especially true of his partner if she was living in Australia when he died.


----------



## Kaura

Sermo Lupi said:


> Are these photos old, by the way? I know from experience that there is a delay between death and burial, but a 5 week gap seems unusual. If it didn't have anything to do with the death itself, I suppose extra time would have been needed for family members to get into the country because of COVID protocols. This is especially true of his partner if she was living in Australia when he died.



The funeral was held on 28th of January.

Would be interesting to know where he is buried if he's buried at all. I guess getting cremated is more popular choice these days.


----------



## mastapimp

Lorcan Ward said:


> I just googled a bunch of bands I like an no surprise some haven't being using their first names either. Marko Hietela also didn't use the K for his stage name Marco.


Ever heard of Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck? Clas Håkan Jesper Strömblad? Pär Anders Fridén?


----------



## p0ke

Sermo Lupi said:


> Are these photos old, by the way? I know from experience that there is a delay between death and burial, but a 5 week gap seems unusual. If it didn't have anything to do with the death itself, I suppose extra time would have been needed for family members to get into the country because of COVID protocols. This is especially true of his partner if she was living in Australia when he died.



She wrote in her post that she and her daughter couldn't be at the funeral. 
But over here people usually aren't buried as quickly as for example in Australia - maybe it's because of the climate being generally colder so bodies don't start decomposing as quickly, that it makes it possible to delay it more so people can plan better?
My grandpa over here died a couple of years ago, and his funeral was more than a month later, whereas my grandma in Australia was buried less than a week after it happened...


----------



## ElysianGuitars

Interesting thing happened to me last week... 

When Am I Dead Yet came out, I viscerally hated the album, and it turned me off of the band entirely. I didn't listen to them again after that album came out more than a handful of times, and only HCDR and before. A couple weeks ago, an AYDY track came on on Youtube Music's melodic death metal playlist, and I really liked it, so I gave the album another chance and absolutely loved it. I don't know what I was thinking back then, really the only thing that stood out to me that I wouldn't like back then was the use of Zakk Wylde style pinch harmonics, but the album absolutely rips. Listened to Bodoms' last album after that, and it also ripped, so I realized I need to spend more time with the parts of the COB discography that I missed out on.


----------



## Sermo Lupi

p0ke said:


> She wrote in her post that she and her daughter couldn't be at the funeral.
> But over here people usually aren't buried as quickly as for example in Australia - maybe it's because of the climate being generally colder so bodies don't start decomposing as quickly, that it makes it possible to delay it more so people can plan better?
> My grandpa over here died a couple of years ago, and his funeral was more than a month later, whereas my grandma in Australia was buried less than a week after it happened...



The climate wouldn't have anything to do with it (Canada generally has quick burials, even despite the ground being frozen during winter, etc.), but if it isn't unusual in Finland than perhaps it is just a cultural difference.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

Kaura said:


> The funeral was held on 28th of January.
> 
> Would be interesting to know where he is buried if he's buried at all. I guess getting cremated is more popular choice these days.


He likely got cremated like Donny Kerabatsos.


----------



## Wuuthrad

p0ke said:


> But over here people usually aren't buried as quickly as for example in Australia - maybe it's because of the climate being generally colder so bodies don't start decomposing as quickly, that it makes it possible to delay it more so people can plan better?



Say what? You throw bodies out in the snow or something?

I guess that might serve a rather practical and utilitarian purpose though, just chuck em in the Old Black Sauna and cremate...whenever... (???!!!)


----------



## p0ke

Wuuthrad said:


> Say what? You throw bodies out in the snow or something?
> 
> I guess that might serve a rather practical and utilitarian purpose though, just chuck em in the Old Black Sauna and cremate...whenever... (???!!!)



That was just a guess. Either way over here funerals don't seem to be held as quickly as elsewhere. I only have "experience" from Finland and Australia though, don't know about the rest of the world...


----------



## Lorcan Ward

Here in Ireland it’s common to be in the ground within 3 days. It’s a bit overwhelming for all involved and then followed(Plus usually proceeded) by a lot of drinking. So a month wait is crazy to me. 




mastapimp said:


> Ever heard of Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck? Clas Håkan Jesper Strömblad? Pär Anders Fridén?



Jesper and Anders are normal names. It’s not like they are calling themselves Synster Gates or Shagrath.


----------



## works0fheart

Was just browsing for covers of this solo and coincidentally Lorcan and some other kid's are the only decent ones.
Regardless, I overlooked the hell out of this album and especially this song. Of the latter half of Alexi's career this is easily my favorite solo he's done.


----------



## p0ke

Lorcan Ward said:


> Here in Ireland it’s common to be in the ground within 3 days. It’s a bit overwhelming for all involved and then followed(Plus usually proceeded) by a lot of drinking. So a month wait is crazy to me.



Don't know if it actually makes any difference, though I get what you're saying. You'd want to get it over with ASAP so everyone can move on. I guess the point with the longer wait is that it allows people to travel from further away to attend the funeral etc. Might have something to do with bureaucracy as well...


----------



## Ataraxia2320

Lorcan Ward said:


> Here in Ireland it’s common to be in the ground within 3 days.



Depends where in the country you are. Out west its common enough to have the body in the main room of the house for a week before burial. 

It's less prevalent now thank fudge (It's dead creepy like) but it still goes on a fair amount.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

Ataraxia2320 said:


> Depends where in the country you are. Out west its common enough to have the body in the main room of the house for a week before burial.
> 
> It's less prevalent now thank fudge (It's dead creepy like) but it still goes on a fair amount.


...That is fuckin' weird!


----------



## brector

Spaced Out Ace said:


> ...That is fuckin' weird!



No, it was the norm until recently. The deceased would be put in the parlor for the wake/vigil/guard.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

brector said:


> No, it was the norm until recently. The deceased would be put in the parlor for the wake/vigil/guard.


I said what I said.


----------



## Boris_VTR

p0ke said:


> Don't know if it actually makes any difference, though I get what you're saying. You'd want to get it over with ASAP so everyone can move on. I guess the point with the longer wait is that it allows people to travel from further away to attend the funeral etc. Might have something to do with bureaucracy as well...


We also have funneral within couple of days. I would say this was transfered from old days when body would start decomposing so no need to wait.


----------



## Wuuthrad

p0ke said:


> That was just a guess. Either way over here funerals don't seem to be held as quickly as elsewhere. I only have "experience" from Finland and Australia though, don't know about the rest of the world...



I think it’s a big business here in the USA so that’s probably a big part of the reason for quicker funerals, along with other religious and cultural customs.

I wonder if the tradition of Finland has some connection to older customs? I imagine that it might, and wonder if these traditions might date back to certain pagan or animistic traditions?

This is particularly interesting to me having family origins dating back to what was NW Russia or what’s now Eastern Finland, and a more specific curiosity about any part of that culture or history, which isn’t a very common story by any means, at least as far as I’ve been able to figure out.


----------



## iamaom

ElysianGuitars said:


> thinking back then, really the only thing that stood out to me that I wouldn't like back then was the use of Zakk Wylde style pinch harmonics, but the album absolutely rips. on.


I think it felt like COB was "selling out" at the time: using typical drop-c tuning like nu-metal and alt-rock bands at the time, the generic hard to make out album art, featuring skateboarding in a music video, more understandable vocals that highlighted how awful the lyrics were, the music itself seemed to be slowed down 20%, the fandom was so split on HCDR and a lot of us were angry they were going the "wrong" direction with song writing, and finally I think we just got so use to Alexei's songwriting it just wasn't new or unique anymore.


----------



## feilong29

For what it's worth, I'm halfway through his autobiography and his Kim-drama started back in the Sinergy days. Homeboy was stressed for quite some time. Still love that band though.


----------



## p0ke

Wuuthrad said:


> I wonder if the tradition of Finland has some connection to older customs? I imagine that it might, and wonder if these traditions might date back to certain pagan or animistic traditions?



Don't know tbh... But if it does, then I'd be really curious to know!


----------



## Wuuthrad

p0ke said:


> Don't know tbh... But if it does, then I'd be really curious to know!



Interestingly, somewhat coincidentally I just found this news about an open air funeral pyre ceremony in Colorado, and also read in the comments you can Compost or do a Lye dissolve in Oregon.

https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilear...urce=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf


----------



## p0ke

The latest issue of Metal Hammer is dedicated to Alexi:


----------



## Leviathus

Still can't believe he's dead.


----------



## Blytheryn

https://loudwire.com/alexi-laiho-ex...QT8E69CNfXbLwc5wglkSusdBcMJTzGsRvSO7I3mfmA6wk

Oh god, this is a shitstorm.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

Jeez that went on and on.


----------



## p0ke

Spaced Out Ace said:


> Jeez that went on and on.



Yep, "jeez" is basically all I can say here too. I'm just wondering where she's getting all of that from - I haven't seen any similar posts from the other side, apart from the one from the Facebook group...


----------



## works0fheart

Here, have something that's not as cancerous as post-death drama.



Think this might be one of the few times I like a live version of something more than the actual recording. That part at 1:45 with Roope adding the pinch harmonics is so sick.


----------



## NoodleFace

Her opening line was that she tried to stay classy LMAO


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

p0ke said:


> Yep, "jeez" is basically all I can say here too. I'm just wondering where she's getting all of that from - I haven't seen any similar posts from the other side, apart from the one from the Facebook group...


Honestly, I didn't read her diatribe of manipulation. You could probably run an entire university course in manipulation based solely (or mostly) around her bs. Gaslighting, lying or deceitfulness, etc. absolutely silly. I've dealt with enough manipulative people, I don't need to subject myself to some nobody.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

works0fheart said:


> Here, have something that's not as cancerous as post-death drama.
> 
> 
> 
> Think this might be one of the few times I like a live version of something more than the actual recording. That part at 1:45 with Roope adding the pinch harmonics is so sick.



I'm glad that, so far, we haven't had much of that bullshit with Eddie. Perhaps there is some behind the scenes, which sucks if so, but needs to stay there in my opinion.


----------



## I play music

Spaced Out Ace said:


> Honestly, I didn't read her diatribe of manipulation. You could probably run an entire university course in manipulation based solely (or mostly) around her bs. Gaslighting, lying or deceitfulness, etc. absolutely silly. I've dealt with enough manipulative people, I don't need to subject myself to some nobody.


Not really into that whole thing but stumbled across the article and from what I can see the only claim that the outsider can check is the one with the divorce that could not be because Goss didn't want to sign
https://www.infofinland.fi/en/living-in-finland/family/divorce
To me looks like what Kimberly Goss says to this point is correct and the Facebook post from Australia woman false that Alexi couldn't divorce her because she wouldn't sign
So I'm surprised that everyone here seems to think Goss is lying but then again I know nothing about those people's private lives so maybe I'm missing something


----------



## neurosis

I have been reading through this thread and can't believe what I am reading. The guy seemed super private to me and I hadn't thought of Kim for 15 years at least. This just goes to show how important it is to have your life in order, not just for yourself but for those you leave after you're gone. All I can say is how disappointing and unnecessary it all feels and how sad it is despite the clumsiness and tone of the allegations. Without taking a side and without a way to know what's really going on I hope these people get some time to grief and feel better.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

She's also, by doing this, told on herself that she plans to take everything. Just like the people she is essentially calling criminals and liars.


----------



## Lorcan Ward

works0fheart said:


> Was just browsing for covers of this solo and coincidentally Lorcan and some other kid's are the only decent ones.
> Regardless, I overlooked the hell out of this album and especially this song. Of the latter half of Alexi's career this is easily my favorite solo he's done.




Same. There's a few times Alexi got to rip a ballad style solo in Bodom and its one of his best solos the last decade. It reminds me of his solo style in Sinergy, specifically 3:20 onwards in Razor Blade Salvation:


----------



## Wuuthrad

Just found this on YT- A Very poignant and heartfelt statement by Alexi’s wife re. the details of his passing and her thoughts on addiction.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

Wuuthrad said:


> Just found this on YT- A Very poignant and heartfelt statement by Alexi’s wife re. the details of his passing and her thoughts on addiction.


----------



## p0ke

Oh, so this wasn't merged into the CoB-thread after all. Anyway, that video didn't contain anything that wasn't already posted a month ago and that's been discussed in the other thread... I wonder what's going on atm...


----------



## Alberto7

^ Bureaucracy and legalese.

I just want the dust to settle so I can know whether ESP will release the Alexi sigs again or not.


----------



## Nag

They sold really well AFAIK, and they're still selling the Jeff Hanneman signatures, so I'm guessing they most likely want to keep the Alexi Laiho guitars up for sale. If they get a legal green light (from whoever), I'm sure they'll re-release them.


----------



## ArtDecade

Just found this on YT- A very poignant and heartfelt message by Alexi to his ex-wife and his thoughts on her taking his estate.


----------



## Wuuthrad

ArtDecade said:


> Just found this on YT- A very poignant and heartfelt message by Alexi to his ex-wife and his thoughts on her taking his estate.



Are you married? What business is it of yours anyway? Ffs man...


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands

Alexi and Kim were estranged since 2004, they just legally never separated. It's why there's so much drama happening behind the scenes.


----------



## Wuuthrad

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> Alexi and Kim were estranged since 2004, they just legally never separated. It's why there's so much drama happening behind the scenes.



Ok I guess the fame attracts flies... is it shit or sugar? I don’t really know, it’s not my business so I don’t really care. I thought her message about addiction was worthwhile.


----------



## ArtDecade

Wuuthrad said:


> I thought her message about addiction was worthwhile.



Her message about addiction is meaningless in light of her actual motives for involving herself. Money. She didn't care enough to make a statement when he was alive.


----------



## Nag

Sinergy was garbage, she only got famous because she was Alexi's wife. And now she probably has the law on her side.


----------



## works0fheart

ArtDecade said:


> Her message about addiction is meaningless in light of her actual motives for involving herself. Money. She didn't care enough to make a statement when he was alive.



Statements like this are funny given the situation surrounding Alexi's quasi-wife thing (Kelli) and enabling his drinking behavior for years and blatantly denying anything being wrong with him just a few months ago. Every party involved in this situation sucks save for maybe his mom, dad, and sister. For the record, I don't care for Kim either, but she's not actively being toxic as hell on social media at least. I'd rather see her posts of old times of Alexi even if she is full of shit because at least she's not having a childish meltdown on facebook like the other party did.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

works0fheart said:


> Statements like this are funny given the situation surrounding Alexi's quasi-wife thing (Kelli) and enabling his drinking behavior for years and blatantly denying anything being wrong with him just a few months ago. Every party involved in this situation sucks save for maybe his mom, dad, and sister. For the record, I don't care for Kim either, but *she's not actively being toxic as hell on social media at least.* I'd rather see her posts of old times of Alexi even if she is full of shit because at least she's not having a childish meltdown on facebook like the other party did.


Lmfao.


----------



## NoodleFace

works0fheart said:


> Statements like this are funny given the situation surrounding Alexi's quasi-wife thing (Kelli) and enabling his drinking behavior for years and blatantly denying anything being wrong with him just a few months ago. Every party involved in this situation sucks save for maybe his mom, dad, and sister. For the record, I don't care for Kim either, but she's not actively being toxic as hell on social media at least. I'd rather see her posts of old times of Alexi even if she is full of shit because at least she's not having a childish meltdown on facebook like the other party did.


Found kims sso account

I kid... I kid...


----------



## Alberto7

works0fheart said:


> Statements like this are funny given the situation surrounding Alexi's quasi-wife thing (Kelli) and enabling his drinking behavior for years and blatantly denying anything being wrong with him just a few months ago. Every party involved in this situation sucks save for maybe his mom, dad, and sister. For the record, I don't care for Kim either, but she's not actively being toxic as hell on social media at least. I'd rather see her posts of old times of Alexi even if she is full of shit because at least she's not having a childish meltdown on facebook like the other party did.



Kelli may have enabled him, but Kim is a gold-digging liar. Everyone fucking sucks in this story, except probably his bandmates. Then again, idk what's going on behind the media's thick veil. I just want Alexi's direct family to get closure and finally bury him.

Imma go play more CoB songs now; probably the only thing Alexi would give a shit about now.


----------



## Wuuthrad

I don’t get it- A guy is married, but spends his life touring the world partying and abusing drugs, cheating on his wife with an enabler, and people are hating on his ex for trying to start an addiction rehab program. 

I do get it- A vicarious macho R&R All Knight and Party Every Day KISS Fantasy thanks to your guitar hero Alexi who said “the World is my playground”


----------



## NoodleFace

Wuuthrad said:


> I don’t get it- A guy is married, but spends his life touring the world partying and abusing drugs, cheating on his wife with an enabler, and people are hating on his ex for trying to start an addiction rehab program.
> 
> I do get it- A vicarious macho R&R All Knight and Party Every Day KISS Fantasy thanks to your guitar hero Alexi who said “the World is my playground”


Did he cheat on kim or are you using the term cheat loosely because they weren't divorced


----------



## p0ke

NoodleFace said:


> Did he cheat on kim or are you using the term cheat loosely because they weren't divorced



Was just gonna write basically the same thing - they were technically married but haven't had a relationship since what, 2004? So I wouldn't exactly count that as cheating. And apparently the only reason they didn't get divorced before, is that Kim would've gotten half of their combined wealth, which Alexi obviously didn't want to give. According to what I've read they were in touch before his death because he was trying to get her to sign some document to abandon that right, but he didn't succeed.

I don't really care who gets what in general, but the fact that his family can't bury his ashes because of her is just wrong IMO. I get really angry just thinking about it.

That said, I really like some of the memories she's been posting on IG.


----------



## ArtDecade

Wuuthrad said:


> I don’t get it- A guy is married, but spends his life touring the world partying and abusing drugs, cheating on his wife with an enabler, and people are hating on his ex for trying to start an addiction rehab program.
> 
> I do get it- A vicarious macho R&R All Knight and Party Every Day KISS Fantasy thanks to your guitar hero Alexi who said “the World is my playground”


----------



## works0fheart

Spaced Out Ace said:


> Lmfao.



Your contributions to any thread you post in are the most hilarious thing really. It's either overly edgy, vague, or the biggest hot take I've ever read.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

works0fheart said:


> Your contributions to any thread you post in are the most hilarious thing really. It's either overly edgy, vague, or the biggest hot take I've ever read.


Says the person white knighting for someone as manipulative as Kim.


----------



## ArtDecade




----------



## works0fheart

Spaced Out Ace said:


> Says the person white knighting for someone as manipulative as Kim.



Weird you say that, but apparently you have no reading comprehension either because I said I dont care for her as well. Go re-read my post a few more times until it clicks for you. 

Or don't. It's not like you can form any real coherent thoughts of value anyways.


----------



## Exit Existence

Alright boys and girls, lets keep it civil in here. No need to slam on each other. 
On a different note, I realized Follow the Reaper came out 20+ years ago and now I feel old as fuck.


----------



## Wucan

Well, the last few pages have sure been a refresher as to why you don't have to feel bad about missing out on being a rockstar.


----------



## soul_lip_mike

New Alexi sigs announced tomorrow


----------



## Blytheryn

soul_lip_mike said:


> New Alexi sigs announced tomorrow



Deadass!???

Now this is exciting.


----------



## p0ke

soul_lip_mike said:


> New Alexi sigs announced tomorrow



Cool. I'm hoping for the red bevels like someone suggested. Seems kinda likely as well since the "theme color" of the EP was red.


----------



## Blytheryn

p0ke said:


> Cool. I'm hoping for the red bevels like someone suggested. Seems kinda likely as well since the "theme color" of the EP was red.



imagine if they re released all the colors.


----------



## p0ke

Blytheryn said:


> imagine if they re released all the colors.



Realistically, why wouldn't they. I mean, of course it wouldn't make sense to do them all at once, but they could circulate them every few years. That'd be a great way to keep the hype up as well.


----------



## soul_lip_mike

Blytheryn said:


> Deadass!???
> 
> Now this is exciting.


That’s what it looks like. A few dealers hunting at the announcement on their Facebook groups and one included a pic of Alexi. Said 3 tiers of quality coming so I’m guessing ltd, esp, and custom shop.


----------



## NoodleFace

I noticed the Edwards Alexi models on reverb have some pre-order available with them coming out in a few months. Not sure if related?

I'd like to pick one up.


----------



## Crumbling

Edwards Alexi are built to order, if they're up for pre-order a dealer probably just got a batch they ordered about to come in


----------



## feilong29

soul_lip_mike said:


> That’s what it looks like. A few dealers hunting at the announcement on their Facebook groups and one included a pic of Alexi. Said 3 tiers of quality coming so I’m guessing ltd, esp, and custom shop.



Got a link to said posting? I want an Arrowhead again so bad!


----------



## soul_lip_mike

https://chondroguitars.com/alexi-laiho-esp/


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Axe Palace confirmed ltd, eii and custom shop versions of all.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

Hmm... do those not include the EMG ABQ boost?

EDIT: It doesn't really appear as if they do. I would have to pass based on that alone. 1.6k and you can't include the EMG ABQ boost? That's pretty lame.


----------



## works0fheart

His LTDs typically haven't had the ABQ. Also I wouldn't expect them to be 1.6k all in all. They'll probably come out to around 1200 to 1400 most places unless prices are going up.

I'd like to pick one of these up as I'm a huge fanboy, but I'm curious if they're going to re release any of the other models.

:edit: I may also wait to see if there's an Edwards version. I'm not a fan of the longer wing on the USA ones.


----------



## Crumbling

Yeah, waiting for an Edwards version as well, even with shipping its bound to be a better deal than the LTD. Though I don't think any of his signature has ever shipped with the ABQ, the ESP and Edwards all had the MM-04


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

Crumbling said:


> Yeah, waiting for an Edwards version as well, even with shipping its bound to be a better deal than the LTD. Though I don't think any of his signature has ever shipped with the ABQ, the ESP and Edwards all had the MM-04


That's pretty lame.


----------



## works0fheart

Crumbling said:


> Yeah, waiting for an Edwards version as well, even with shipping its bound to be a better deal than the LTD. Though I don't think any of his signature has ever shipped with the ABQ, the ESP and Edwards all had the MM-04



In good news though, even the LTD version is listed as having scalloped frets. That's not normal for those so at least there's that I guess. The only one they ever did that for that I can remember is the pink one with the solid striping when it came out for a limited run. The Edward's have usually had both the scallops and the boosts on some models though.


----------



## soul_lip_mike

I put a deposit down on a custom shop hexed. ETA is apparently November 2022.


----------



## Blytheryn

soul_lip_mike said:


> I put a deposit down on a custom shop hexed. ETA is apparently November 2022.



Did you get to choose if you want the American or the Euro body shape?


----------



## p0ke

I like the color scheme on that one, but what's with the single coil? I mean, Alexi never had a neck pickup on any of his guitars so why now?


----------



## BenSolace

p0ke said:


> I like the color scheme on that one, but what's with the single coil? I mean, Alexi never had a neck pickup on any of his guitars so why now?


I seem to recall not long before his passing he was pictured with a new ESP custom shop with a single coil in the neck.

Possibly looking into experimenting with a neck pickup after all these years (proper clean tone?), sadly now we'll never know.


----------



## works0fheart

One of his old Jacksons had a single coil in the neck. He also had an ibanez that he recorded Something Wild with that was either 2 hums or a single in the neck as well. I'm not sure how much use they ever got really as his tone was pretty much all bridge, all the time, but I could see it on Something Wild maybe.


----------



## Lorcan Ward

As far as I know Alexi used the bridge pickup for everything. COB, Sinergy and guest appearances. 

The single coil may have been for “The Local Band” gigs he did and needed one but he was always adamant in any interviews that he didn’t need one.


----------



## p0ke

BenSolace said:


> proper clean tone?



Yeah, that'd make sense. He didn't play much clean stuff though, but maybe he was planning on expanding that stuff more in BAM...


----------



## ArtDecade

Kinda wish they left off the neck pup and included the boost. Oh well. Cool otherwise.


----------



## mastapimp

ArtDecade said:


> Kinda wish they left off the neck pup and included the boost. Oh well. Cool otherwise.


The E-II version has a mini toggle...it's probably included in that version.


----------



## Ataraxia2320

ArtDecade said:


> Kinda wish they left off the neck pup and included the boost. Oh well. Cool otherwise.



There is an ESP version with no neck pickup and the boost and the white pinstripes. It's not the abq, but rather the mm04 but it's something.


----------



## Ataraxia2320

Blytheryn said:


> Did you get to choose if you want the American or the Euro body shape?



What's the difference?


----------



## ArtDecade

mastapimp said:


> The E-II version has a mini toggle...it's probably included in that version.



Look at that! Good stuff. Where were these pictures from? I can't seem to turn up info on these anywhere.


----------



## Ataraxia2320

Chondro guitars but I think they sold out already and took down the page. I seen it on my fb feed earlier today so if you search through the chondro group you might find it.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

ArtDecade said:


> Look at that! Good stuff. Where were these pictures from? I can't seem to turn up info on these anywhere.


i got the pics off of axe palace's reverb page


----------



## mastapimp

ArtDecade said:


> Look at that! Good stuff. Where were these pictures from? I can't seem to turn up info on these anywhere.


Bodom After Midnight's facebook account posted pictures, including the ESP version that's not yet in this thread.


----------



## Blytheryn

Ataraxia2320 said:


> What's the difference?



Here is the proper version of the guitar that is most similar to an RR shape that Alexi played.






Here is the USA model with the longer horn that Alexi never used. 





It looks like Musamaailma has the correctly shaped Alexi sigs, so they do exist.


----------



## soul_lip_mike

Ataraxia2320 said:


> Chondro guitars but I think they sold out already and took down the page. I seen it on my fb feed earlier today so if you search through the chondro group you might find it.


They’re back. The shops were asked to take it down since they jumped the gun.


----------



## works0fheart

So for anyone interested, the USA EII seems to be going for around $2600. Musamaailma has the Japanese/European version (with the proper sized lower wing/body proportions) going for €2779. That translates to about $3300. Musamaailma is usually reasonable to work with if you want it shipped to the states but be prepared to pay a difference of about $700 + shipping. 

I'm speaking from experience of course because I was ready to pull the trigger on it until I saw the price difference lol.


----------



## NoodleFace

I'd like that E-II. I don't really care if it has the single coil, I actually do like a single coil in the neck so its a bonus for me. And I'm not Alexi, so who cares.

I still think I might go for the pink sawtooth edwards if I get a chance though.


----------



## soul_lip_mike

works0fheart said:


> So for anyone interested, the USA EII seems to be going for around $2600. Musamaailma has the Japanese/European version (with the proper sized lower wing/body proportions) going for €2779. That translates to about $3300. Musamaailma is usually reasonable to work with if you want it shipped to the states but be prepared to pay a difference of about $700 + shipping.
> 
> I'm speaking from experience of course because I was ready to pull the trigger on it until I saw the price difference lol.


USA eII? EII are Japanese, no?


----------



## Ataraxia2320

Blytheryn said:


> Here is the proper version of the guitar that is most similar to an RR shape that Alexi played.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here is the USA model with the longer horn that Alexi never used.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It looks like Musamaailma has the correctly shaped Alexi sigs, so they do exist.



I could never put my finger on what was wrong with the alexi sigs. This is one of the things I'll never be able to unsee!


----------



## works0fheart

soul_lip_mike said:


> USA eII? EII are Japanese, no?



I'm not sure honestly. I know there appears to be 2 different versions: 1 with the longer horn like the USA models and one with the traditional shape. I'm not very familiar with the EII line but that would make sense.


----------



## Blytheryn

works0fheart said:


> I'm not sure honestly. I know there appears to be 2 different versions: 1 with the longer horn like the USA models and one with the traditional shape. I'm not very familiar with the EII line but that would make sense.



The Longhorns are meant for the US market where I guess Jackson/Fender have threatened ESP against using a similar shape or something.


----------



## narad

There appear to be two versions: one with a traditional shape that might have to be ordered direct from Japan, and a shitty version for poseurs that Alexi would never have played.


----------



## NoodleFace

Kelli posted his proto he had, so it makes more sense why these ones have two pickups


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

Nice. I wonder what the neck humbucker was. Probably an H2N.


----------



## Sermo Lupi

That's a million times nicer. Wish they would've just released that. Interesting pickup selector placement, though.


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands

Sermo Lupi said:


> That's a million times nicer. Wish they would've just released that. Interesting pickup selector placement, though.


It's actually not a prototype. It's pretty much a stock ESP USA V-II FR. Control config, finish, etc. Only mods appear to be the HZ pickups.

https://www.espguitars.com/pages/usa-v-ii-fr

Unless the fact its a prototype means it was a prototype for the USA V-II model.


----------



## works0fheart

I think she also said he gave it to his niece or something lol. That's a pricey guitar for a teenager


----------



## soul_lip_mike

Yea makes no sense Alexi would have a "prototype" built by the USA shop which is basically cookie cutter "pick off the menu." If he did have a prototype it would definitely be built by the Japanese shop I'd assume, right?


----------



## MFB

I'm most surprised by the inlays than anything else, I think not since Scythe/CKY has he not used the Sawtooth inlay? It's weird seeing a V, especially knowing it's HIS, with just offset dots.


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands

MFB said:


> I'm most surprised by the inlays than anything else, I think not since Scythe/CKY has he not used the Sawtooth inlay? It's weird seeing a V, especially knowing it's HIS, with just offset dots.



It probably wasn't a custom order. They probably sent a bunch of artists some stock ESP USAs and were like "hey pimp this shit for us so we can sell more kthx". Seems like they did that for guys like Alex Skolnick, Richard Kruspe, Willie Adler, etc.


----------



## MFB

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> It probably wasn't a custom order. They probably sent a bunch of artists some stock ESP USAs and were like "hey pimp this shit for us so we can sell more kthx". Seems like they did that for guys like Alex Skolnick, Richard Kruspe, Willie Adler, etc.



Oh, you mean Willie's new like purple quilt one? If so then that makes sense. It doesn't seem like one he'd order, but it was still a beautiful Eclipse at the end of the day.


----------



## NoodleFace

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> It's actually not a prototype. It's pretty much a stock ESP USA V-II FR. Control config, finish, etc. Only mods appear to be the HZ pickups.
> 
> https://www.espguitars.com/pages/usa-v-ii-fr
> 
> Unless the fact its a prototype means it was a prototype for the USA V-II model.


Ah gotcha. Went by what she said at face value, which... Everyone involved with alexi seems to be making shit up


----------



## SloeGin

from ESP Guitars Finland facebook :

We’ve received so many questions and wishes about this… now it’s real: ESP will make an Edwards Arrowhead Alexi Laiho Signature, this time with a deeper cutaway! Estimated availability: May 2022 and July 2022. Pre-order yours!
The Arrowhead is based on Alexi's own ESP Custom Shop Arrowhead, one of his most recognizable ones and a guitar he used live extensively.
This limited edition production model is made in Japan and features thick yellow arrowhead stripes on top and back. The pearloid inlays are also arrowhead-shaped.
This Edwards version features a deeper cutaway that Alexi started to use in his later Custom Shop instruments. It allows easier access to the upper frets. Other specs are also 100% ESP quality and familiar from other Edwards Alexi Laiho Signature models: Maple neck through body, satin grip neck finish, alder body wings, ebony fretboard with 24 frets, Floyd Rose 1000 tremolo bridge, EMG HZ humbucker pickup with volume pot and ESP MM-04 booster with on/off switch.


https://www.musamaailma.fi/en/esp-e...mc_4KhxKetyxMTTn_ZlCEPDRJHx8-u6j4RAsB11Mygdb8


----------



## feilong29

SloeGin said:


> from ESP Guitars Finland facebook :
> 
> We’ve received so many questions and wishes about this… now it’s real: ESP will make an Edwards Arrowhead Alexi Laiho Signature, this time with a deeper cutaway! Estimated availability: May 2022 and July 2022. Pre-order yours!
> The Arrowhead is based on Alexi's own ESP Custom Shop Arrowhead, one of his most recognizable ones and a guitar he used live extensively.
> This limited edition production model is made in Japan and features thick yellow arrowhead stripes on top and back. The pearloid inlays are also arrowhead-shaped.
> This Edwards version features a deeper cutaway that Alexi started to use in his later Custom Shop instruments. It allows easier access to the upper frets. Other specs are also 100% ESP quality and familiar from other Edwards Alexi Laiho Signature models: Maple neck through body, satin grip neck finish, alder body wings, ebony fretboard with 24 frets, Floyd Rose 1000 tremolo bridge, EMG HZ humbucker pickup with volume pot and ESP MM-04 booster with on/off switch.
> 
> 
> https://www.musamaailma.fi/en/esp-e...mc_4KhxKetyxMTTn_ZlCEPDRJHx8-u6j4RAsB11Mygdb8



I'm plotting to get one as that is my favorite model of all time!


----------



## MFB

Fuck me, I think I might have to cancel my Hexed pre-order if those come stateside, that's THE OG Wildchild V.


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands

MFB said:


> Fuck me, I think I might have to cancel my Hexed pre-order if those come stateside, that's THE OG Wildchild V.



THat would be really cool to see next year, given it'll be the 25th anniversary of the Something Wild album.

...I know that was done on the Jackson and Ibanez, but still. You'd have to wait until 2023 for his 20th anniversary of being with ESP.


----------



## MFB

I have a feeling the release will be staggered just enough that I end up with the Hexed when the Arrowhead pre-orders open up; wouldn't surprise me if I ended up with both, which would be highly unnecessary but YOLO.


----------



## Alberto7

feilong29 said:


> I'm plotting to get one as that is my favorite model of all time!



I saw this the announcement this morning and instantly thought of you 

I am thinking of jumping in on this one too. Alexi's guitars are just too sexy to pass up. It sucks cause it prevents me from buying other shit I also want and probably have more of a need for


----------



## feilong29

Alberto7 said:


> I saw this the announcement this morning and instantly thought of you
> 
> I am thinking of jumping in on this one too. Alexi's guitars are just too sexy to pass up. It sucks cause it prevents me from buying other shit I also want and probably have more of a need for



Bro! I nearly died when I saw the announcement! I almost thought about selling my Blacky, but I'm going to sell either my Jackson RR24 (maybe not) or my ESP Jerk, or some other combinations--I need to have my Alexi collection \m/ YOLO


----------



## works0fheart

Pretty hyped for that arrowhead release. Was thinking of getting the EII Ripped, but might pick that up now.


----------



## Metropolis

Alexi has finally been laid to the rest.

https://www.is.fi/musiikki/art-2000008467183.html

"Our family wanted a beatiful resting place for his worth, where fans can come to respect his memory, Anna Laiho says to finnish tabloid IS."

IS says with Laiho's permission the exact location of his resting place: Malmi Cemetery K58, line 2, place number 19.


----------



## Alberto7

Just read the article.

Finally. :/

Gotta say, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that seeing a picture of the actual coffin, with religious symbols, is kinda ironic, and a bit funny. It also reminded me that he's the only celebrity death that I actually, weirdly mourn.

Hope to be able to visit the grave some day. It would be as close as I ever got to seeing him live, unfortunately.

RIP again my man.


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands

Really must have sucked for the family that all this legal + COVID bullshit made it take this long. Glad they were able to finally lay him to rest


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

RIP Alexi.

PS: Fuck Kim Gross. Not a typo.


----------



## Lorcan Ward

Nearly a year between death and burial. What an awful time for the family and friends.


----------



## Spaced Out Ace

Lorcan Ward said:


> Nearly a year between death and burial. What an awful time for the family and friends.


Don't forget that in the interim, Kim has taken to share personal information, as well as drag his sister and his most recent girlfriend through the mid.


----------



## Metropolis

It's really a shame that his burial took so long...

I will take a visit hopefully soon since I live in about 10-15 minute drive from the cemetery. After the tombstone is placed of course. One thing I could do is to take a trip to Lake Bodom and to the cemetery after that.


----------



## CanserDYI

There have only been 2 celebrity deaths that really shook me, Ryan Dunn and Alexi Laiho. RIP gentleman.


----------



## Boris_VTR

How come there is a law in Finland (that has great if not one of the best living standard in EU) which prevents burial for almost the year? What was the actuall issue here? I get that his offical wife is taking some legal actions but why would that result in his ashes not being buried? Was she trying to take his ashes to USA and place it her living room?


----------



## Manurack

So glad that I saw Alexi and Children of Bodom live. It was a sold out concert when COB opened for Lamb of God in Edmonton in April of 2009.

Hearing Alexi shred solos on my stereo was sweet, but being just ten feet away from him in front row and physically see him shred those solos was an AMAZING experience. Rest in Peace brother.


----------



## p0ke

Boris_VTR said:


> Was she trying to take his ashes to USA and place it her living room?



Something like that, yeah. 

I'll probably visit the grave at some point as well once the tombstone is there.


----------



## NoodleFace

I agree this is probably one of the only celeb deaths that I ever cared about. I'm really surprised burial took this long. I haven't been keeping up and just assumed he was already buried. 

I went down an alexi rabbit hole on YouTube the other night. Damn


----------



## X1X

Finally. Rest in Peace.


----------



## mastapimp

Lorcan Ward said:


> Nearly a year between death and burial. What an awful time for the family and friends.


Another article I read said he'd been cremated and they just buried the ashes a year later. The original article posted here mentions an urn when translated to English.

Not that uncommon to hold onto cremated remains for some time before they're spread.


----------



## works0fheart

Today makes one year since Alexi passed away. It feels like it's gone by so fast and it still feels weird to think that he's gone. A decent handful of my musical heroes have died in the last year or two but Alexi seems to always the be the one that comes to mind first. So many good memories listening to his music, and few bands beat the sheer awe that I experienced hearing some of Bodom's songs for the first time. Downfall, Touch Like Angel of Death, Black Widow, Northern Comfort, KtS, etc. 

Whenever I hear these songs I'm instantly transported back to high school and playing Halo 2, Guild Wars, Diablo 2, or Morrowind with these playing in the background. I loved a lot of the staple melodeath bands around that time and it was for sure the time I was taking the deep dive into the genre. In Flames albums like The Jester Race, Whoracle, and Colony were so eye opening to me for the moods they succeeded in setting. Same with Character, Haven, and Damage Done by Dark Tranquility. While those albums were mostly just there for the feeling I got from them, the intensity Children of Bodom had on their first 4 or 5 (certainly the first 3) albums was just unmatched. The only things that ever came close for me was the self titled by Wintersun, but that one album, good as it was, wasn't enough to compete with the sheer amount of awesome material Alexi had by then. Kalmah would be a good candidate though if anyone, and I'm glad they're still around.

It's no secret that I'm one of the first around here to circlejerk Alexi and his playing. Hell, the reason I play Vs primarily to this day is because of him (there's nothing sexier than an offset/Rhoads style V, fight me). I miss the dude and whenever I'm lacking motivation to practice or do much else (indifference and laziness only seem to become more steeped with age) I can reliably put on his music and get inspired to go do something productive for a bit. I don't think it's ever going to stop feeling weird to me that I won't be hearing anything new by him since he clearly had much more to give musically. 

My job now days keeps me working long hours, but when I get home tomorrow finally I'm going to run through some of the CoB songs I know on guitar again I think.


----------



## ScatteredDimension

works0fheart said:


> Today makes one year since Alexi passed away. It feels like it's gone by so fast and it still feels weird to think that he's gone. A decent handful of my musical heroes have died in the last year or two but Alexi seems to always the be the one that comes to mind first. So many good memories listening to his music, and few bands beat the sheer awe that I experienced hearing some of Bodom's songs for the first time. Downfall, Touch Like Angel of Death, Black Widow, Northern Comfort, KtS, etc.
> 
> Whenever I hear these songs I'm instantly transported back to high school and playing Halo 2, Guild Wars, Diablo 2, or Morrowind with these playing in the background. I loved a lot of the staple melodeath bands around that time and it was for sure the time I was taking the deep dive into the genre. In Flames albums like The Jester Race, Whoracle, and Colony were so eye opening to me for the moods they succeeded in setting. Same with Character, Haven, and Damage Done by Dark Tranquility. While those albums were mostly just there for the feeling I got from them, the intensity Children of Bodom had on their first 4 or 5 (certainly the first 3) albums was just unmatched. The only things that ever came close for me was the self titled by Wintersun, but that one album, good as it was, wasn't enough to compete with the sheer amount of awesome material Alexi had by then. Kalmah would be a good candidate though if anyone, and I'm glad they're still around.
> 
> It's no secret that I'm one of the first around here to circlejerk Alexi and his playing. Hell, the reason I play Vs primarily to this day is because of him (there's nothing sexier than an offset/Rhoads style V, fight me). I miss the dude and whenever I'm lacking motivation to practice or do much else (indifference and laziness only seem to become more steeped with age) I can reliably put on his music and get inspired to go do something productive for a bit. I don't think it's ever going to stop feeling weird to me that I won't be hearing anything new by him since he clearly had much more to give musically.
> 
> My job now days keeps me working long hours, but when I get home tomorrow finally I'm going to run through some of the CoB songs I know on guitar again I think.



Dude, I share your nostalgia quite closely! Got into Bodom at around 2004 and the peak listening was in 9th grade/ first highschool year in 2005. We played Halo 2 online everyday with my friends and those times were f**** awesome, great memories. I made a total of 3 Halo 2 montages and the first song in my first montage was Touch Like Angel Of Death  Really got In Flames in 2006 summer because of a friend and it was almost as big of an experience as COB. Wintersun's first album is a masterpiece and was also played heavily in the same era. Dark tranquility is also a super cool band, started listening to them a little later though. RIP Alexi. It's really sad overall and when seeing him at their last concert, hi's playing was awesome and the whole band sounded really tight.


----------



## Kaura

Okay this is epic. Janne playing bass and Henkka playing guitar. All news to me.


----------



## slslipfilth

ScatteredDimension said:


> Dude, I share your nostalgia quite closely! Got into Bodom at around 2004 and the peak listening was in 9th grade/ first highschool year in 2005. We played Halo 2 online everyday with my friends and those times were f**** awesome, great memories. I made a total of 3 Halo 2 montages and the first song in my first montage was Touch Like Angel Of Death  Really got In Flames in 2006 summer because of a friend and it was almost as big of an experience as COB. Wintersun's first album is a masterpiece and was also played heavily in the same era. Dark tranquility is also a super cool band, started listening to them a little later though. RIP Alexi. It's really sad overall and when seeing him at their last concert, hi's playing was awesome and the whole band sounded really tight.


Same here...got into them during high school years 2002-2006ish. Alexi was probably one of the main reasons I was able to strive to play guitar really good. I would try to play their songs and by practicing them over and over helped solified my skills. I wasn't 100% accurate with their songs but came close.

Hard to believe its already been a year, feels like it was just last month when the news came out he died.


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