CHILDREN OF BODOM Frontman Is 'Proud' Of Band's Latest Album

Scott Smith of May The Rock Be With You recently conducted an interview with guitarist/vocalist Alexi Laiho of Finnish metallers CHILDREN OF BODOM. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

May The Rock Be With You: "Relentless Reckless Forever" has been out now for about six months. Have you generally been happy with the way the way the fans have responded to the album?

Alexi: It's been really great — like, for real. I've only heard good feedback, but it's not like people are going to come up to you and tell to your face, "Dude, the album sucks!" I mean, they do that on the Internet, but I don't even usually go to our web site or check any online stuff as I'm not into that stuff. But all the stuff I have seen, it's pretty much been positive!

May The Rock Be With You: As far as the whole process of recording and writing that album, would you say that was probably your most enjoyable or difficult, what is the feeling now when you look back on it?

Alexi: It was both. It was definitely tough, as we had less time in the studio than what you are normally used to. We took a bit more time on the songwriting and we worked with a producer this time, which was new for us. He was a good dude, Matt Hyde; he made sure the wheels were in motion and cracking the whip, something was always happening and people were not slacking off or anything. It was kind if tough, but I did enjoy it a lot, working so hard. Usually we will spend about six weeks in the studio just to record usually everything except for the vocals. Recording for us, while we take it very seriously, it's also been a big party for us. I'm actually really proud of this one as it was pretty much recorded in three weeks and it's better-played than anything we have done before.

May The Rock Be With You: Some bands will start working on songs for their new album practically as soon as the current one has been completed. Are you one of those bands, or do you only write when the time comes to start thinking about a new album?

Alexi: We are definitely not one of those bands! When an album is done, we just concentrate on the touring. Like you said, I know a lot of people can actually do writing while touring, but for me it doesn't work out man. Just the tour environment, it's so wrong for writing, at least for me, anyway. So we just want up concentrate on the touring and when that's over, it's all about the songwriting; that's how it works for us.

May The Rock Be With You: CHILDREN OF BODOM has been in existence for over 15 years, how has the metal scene in Finland changed in that time, is that very different to when you first started out?

Alexi: It's definitely different. As much as I've been able to follow the metal scene around here, it just seems now it's the whole kind of folk metal stuff with people dressed up wearing bear skins and stuff like that. That really seems to be the flavor of the month right now and there's a couple of decent bands that play that who I can listen to. Back in the day, it was different ;there was either really underground extreme death metal bands or more like '80s HELLOWEEN-type bands like STRATOVARIUS. Then just the fact of how big and popular metal has become over those 15 years. Metal music here in Finland is seriously considered mainstream and it's kind of like a double-edged sword. It's a good thing with albums and sales, but the one thing that appealed about metal to me was the whole rebellious nature, like it was our thing, not like the family-fun thing! But what are you going to do?! I can't complain.

Read the entire interview from May The Rock Be With You.