CHILDREN OF BODOM Bassist Checks In From The Road

Bassist Henkka Seppälä (a.k.a. Henkka T. Blacksmith) of Finnish metallers CHILDREN OF BODOM has issued the following update from the road:

"In the beginning of the summer, we went to Janne's [Wirman, keyboards] small studio and recorded a couple of new cover songs for the forthcoming cover album. The songs turned out really good. Especially the slower song, that seemed to be a little hard to arrange. Then we kept on doing the festivals, as planned. Provinssirock, was good, even though we played soooo late. 'I hate these Finnish mosquitos!' as our German friend used to say. Then we went to hot Spain.

"Zaragoza city is beautiful, but it was very windy. Again we played very late, and the wind just kept getting stronger. We had to really choose our steps carefully on stage in order not be blown down by that wind. It was surreal. But it was good to be in Spain again, after a couple of years break.

"Today we came back from Belgium. Graspop [Metal Meeting] is known to be one of the best metal festivals in the world, and again it truly was nice. Sunday was sort a reunion feeling when LAMB OF GOD and GOD FORBID were playing too. And SUICIDAL TENDENCIES. Saturday we managed to get to the festival in time to see JOURNEY. We played on Sunday, and the tent was really hot. But the crowd was amazing. Best Graspop show ever for us.

"On Friday we played Sweden, Gothenburg. MUNICIPAL WASTE guys were hanging out as did some of the IN FLAMES guys too. It was good to have beers with friends from past tours. Show was our best show ever played in Sweden, in my opinion. And I fell in love with summer — Gothenburg."

CHILDREN OF BODOM will return to North America this fall to headline a massive, month-long tour. The 20-city trek will launch on Friday, September 18 at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel in Providence, Rhode Island and will run through October 14 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Support will come from THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER and SKELETONWITCH.

CHILDREN OF BODOM recently released a 79-song digital box set exclusively through iTunes. It retails for $49.99.

To view the complete track listing, which does not include any previously unreleased material, go to this location.

CHILDREN OF BODOM was forced to cancel several shows on the No Fear Energy Tour with LAMB OF GOD due to injuries sustained by guitarist and frontman Alexi Laiho. Laiho, 30, broke his shoulder in April when he was ejected from his tour bus bunk after the vehicle took a sharp turn. Laiho and the rest of CHILDREN OF BODOM were touring North America in support of the band's critically acclaimed album "Blooddrunk".

CHILDREN OF BODOM will embark on a tour of South America and Mexico in September. Support on the trek will come from AMORPHIS.