On Jan. 4, the extreme metal community suffered a crushing blow when news broke that Children of Bodom’s Alexi Laiho had died the previous month. After diving back into Bodom’s catalog for two weeks, I was able to reflect on Laiho’s legacy as a once-in-a-generation guitar hero, a world-class showman and an inspiration to countless metal fans.
I’ll never forget the first time I saw Children of Bodom.
It was a gray, bitter February evening in 2008. My best friend at the time was sleeping over, and he had brought a copy of the Finnish quintet’s most recent live album/DVD,