Children Of Bodom consists of Alexi "wildchild" (guitars), Henkka T (bass), Janne Warman (keyboards), Jaska Raatikainen (drums), Roope Latvala (guitars).
Children of Bodom is a band from Espoo, Finland. There is some contention regarding the band's genre classification, but, in general, the band's musical style can be described as a hybrid of Power metal, Melodic death metal and Melodic black metal.
The band's earlier releases leaned more towards a Power metal style (with some Melodic black metal influence), but more recently the band has focused on a style more closely related to Melodic death metal. However, several key traits have remained consistent throughout the band's history, such as a focus on rapid tempos and technical guitar and keyboard solos. Other traits, such as Alexi's vocal approach and Jaska's use of blast beats are also consistent across the band's discography. The lyrics of Children of Bodom's songs are written in English and most often are concerned with the subjects of death, personal struggles and the Lake Bodom murders.
The band was founded in 1993 by guitarist Alexi "Wildchild" Laiho and drummer Jaska Raatikainen under the name of IneartheD. Both musicians had known each other since childhood and had shared an interest in heavy metal and especially death metal bands, such as Stone, Entombed and Obituary. Bassist Samuli Miettinen completed the initial line-up of the band. IneartheD recorded its first demo, titled Implosion of Heaven, during August of the same year.
Samuli was the main composer of the band's lyrics for the two years that he took part in IneartheD, but his family moved to the USA in late 1995, making it impossible for him to remain in the band. His last contribution to IneartheD were the lyrics of the songs from their second demo, Ubiquitous Absence of Remission. In this demo, keyboards were incorporated into the band's songs for the first time. In order to achieve this, both Alexi and Jaska played the keyboards separately, and subsequently mixed the recorded track with the other instruments. Alexi, who had previously only composed the melodies of the songs, assumed the role of the band's lyricist.