This is how they want Alexi Laiho to be remembered

The members of the band Children of Bodom remember their deceased bandmate Alexi Laihoa Louder Sound – in a British magazine.

The founding member of the band died at the age of 41 in December 2020 – about a year after the band played their last gig at the Helsinki Ice Hall. The cause of the guitarist-singer’s death was fatty degeneration of the liver and connective tissue of the pancreas caused by alcohol. Laiho’s urn was placed in the Malmi cemetery in December 2021.

Now the band’s keyboardist Janne Wirmanthe bass player Henkka “Blacksmith” Seppälä and the drummer Jaska Raatikainen say that to this day they still feel a common sadness about how things ended.

– At our last gig, I knew that he would die of his addiction. He wasn’t interested in getting help for himself — he told me that, Wirman recalls.

– You always wonder if something could have been done to prevent what happened to Alex. If I had talked to him more or something. But I knew how stubborn Alexi was. I think he wouldn’t have listened to me, but would probably have kicked me out, Seppälä reflects.

However, the members prefer to remember their friend as he was. In addition, they want the guitarist to be remembered for his achievements.

– Alex’s talent was so enormous that he inspired people to practice even more so that they could reach his level, says Jaska.

– We didn’t know anything about anything, but we exploded and became an international thing. Our legacy should be that you can do well with music as strange as Bodom if you believe in what you’re doing and don’t let anyone control you, concludes Wirman.

Children of Bodom started operations in 1993, and became one of Finland’s most internationally successful metal bands. After the band’s last gig, Laiho formed the Bodom After Midnight group around him, which managed to record three songs and shoot one music video before the man’s death.