[[quoteright:345:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Children_of_Bodom.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:345:Is Bodom proud of them?]]

Children of Bodom was a Finnish [[HeavyMetal metal]] band from Espoo, formed in 1993 under the name of [=IneartheD=]. Their name was inspired by the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Bodom_murders Lake Bodom murders]].

Their breakthrough was the album ''Follow the Reaper'', which was the band's first album to receive a Gold certification in Finland. Since then, all six of the band's studio albums have reached the same status. In Finland, Children of Bodom has released three consecutive albums that debuted at number one on Finnish album charts, and has also seen chart positions on the United States Billboard 200.

The band is also known for its rather [[GenreBusting vague genre]], which has caused much heated debate, but could best be described as a mix of death metal, elements of black metal in their early/later work, some groove metal elements, thrash metal in later works and (even though many will deny it) a bit of power metal.

In late 2019, Janne Wirman, Henri Seppälä, and Jaska Raatikainen all announced their departure after 25 years of uninterrupted membership, with their final show taking place on December 15, 2019. Alexi Laiho and Daniel Freyberg formed a new band called Bodom After Midnight along with Waltteri Väyrynen (drums, also in Music/ParadiseLost) and Mitja Toivonen (bass, ex-Santa Cruz). Unfortunately, the new band ended up recording only three songs before Laiho's untimely death due to alcoholism-induced liver and pancreas failure in late 2020.
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!!Members (final line-up in bold):
* '''Alexi Laiho''' - lead guitar, lead vocals (1993-2019)
* Alexander Kuoppala - rhythm guitar, backing vocals (1993-2003)
* Samuli Miettinen - bass, backing vocals (1993-1995)
* '''Jaska Raatikainen''' – drums (1993-2019)
* '''Henri "Henkka T. Blacksmith" Seppälä''' – bass, backing vocals (1995-2019)
* Jani Pirisjoki - keyboards, backing vocals (1995-1997)
* '''Janne Wirman''' – keyboards, backing vocals (1997-2019)
* Roope Latvala - rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2003-2015)
* '''Daniel Freyberg''' - rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2015-2019)

!!Discography:
* ''Something Wild'', 1997
* ''Hatebreeder'', 1999
* ''Follow the Reaper'', 2000
* ''Hate Crew Deathroll'', 2003
* ''Are You Dead Yet?'', 2005
* ''Blooddrunk'', 2008
* ''Skeletons in the Closet'', 2009, a cover album
* ''Relentless Reckless Forever'', 2011
* ''Halo Of Blood'', 2013
* ''I Worship Chaos'', 2015
* ''Hexed'', 2019

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!!Examples of tropes:

* AtomicFBomb: Heard in "You're Better Off Dead".
--> Did I ever hurt you in any way? If I did then hear my apology: '''FUCK YOU!!!!'''
* ChildProdigy: Alexi played violin as a child, and picked up a mastery of guitar in his early teens.
* CastFullOfPrettyBoys: Just look at the picture!
* ClusterFBomb: It would be a tall order to count how many times Alexi sings the word "Fuck" or any of its derivatives throughout their discography.
* CoverVersion: A whole cover album, ''Skeletons in the Closet''. They also covered "[[Music/BritneySpears Oops I Did It Again]]" at an earlier date; the song was also included on the album. ''Halo of Blood'' features a Music/{{Roxette}} cover, of all things.
* DudeLooksLikeALady: Alexi tends to be mistaken for a girl at times.
* GenreBusting: Happens frequently throughout their discography.
* GenreMashup: Their style can be summed up as "Neo-Classical [[ProgressiveMetal Progressive]] [[BlackMetal Blackened]] [[MelodicDeathMetal Melodic Death]][=/=][[ThrashMetal Thrash]] PowerMetal"... or something. Generally it's easiest to refer to them as "extreme power metal" (Note: Not to confuse them with Music/DragonForce, who call themselves this, but have more SpeedMetal than Extreme Metal in their sound), which is what people do. There's even some melodic black metal in their sound, though their later work mostly excised this.
* GratuitousEnglish: Alexi's English is not all that good.
* GuestStarPartyMember: During the interim between Roope Latvala leaving and Daniel Freyberg joining, Janne Wirman's brother Antti stepped in to fill the rhythm guitar spot.
* IndecipherableLyrics: The band does not publish the lyrics to half their songs, and Alexi is famous for singing whatever he feels like live, in addition to having a thick accent, generally poor enunciation, and occasional slurring if he's hammered. The result: a fandom constantly trying [[TheUnintelligible to figure out what the hell]] [[LyricalShoehorn they might be]] [[WordSaladLyrics singing in each song]].
* LeadBassist: Henkka Seppälä was primarily Type C, as the band's most recognizable member alongside Alexi Laiho.
* LeadSingerPlaysLeadGuitar: Lead singer Alex Laiho is also the band's lead guitarist.
* LongRunnerLineup: The Laiho-Raatikainen-Seppälä-Wirman-Latvala lineup lasted between 2003 and 2015.
* MeaningfulName
* MelodicDeathMetal: Probably the easiest label for them, and they most definitely served as an UrExample and TropeCodifier for the heavily keyboard-laden, power metal-flavored side of the genre as played by Ensiferum (who actually predated them but had nothing but a demo out by the time ''Something Wild'' dropped), Norther, Kalmah, Wintersun, and similar bands from the same region.
* MetalScream: Alexi uses type 3.
* NietzscheWannabe: Skewered in "Cry Of The Nihilist" and, to an extent, "Pussyfoot Ms. Suicide".
* OlderThanTheyLook: Alexi was 41 when he passed, but could pass for his mid-early 20's.
* RefugeInAudacity: The band name referencing the most infamous Finnish murder case ever is only the beginning.
* {{Sampling}}:
** "The Nail", the penultimate track from the debut album, opens with audio samples from ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet1984'' and ''Film/BenHur1959'' on top of each other.
** "Warheart" from ''Hatebreeder'' opens with a quote from ''Film/{{Amadeus}}'' ("From now on we are enemies... you and I").
** The title track and "Taste of My Scythe" from ''Follow the Reaper'' have snippets of dialogue from ''Film/TheExorcistIII''.
** "Bodom Beach Terror" from ''Hate Crew Deathroll'' ends with a quote from ''Film/AmericanPsycho'', which continues into the next song on the album, "Angels Don't Kill".
* SirSwearsALot: Alexi, through and through.
* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: Only an Espoo native will pronounce the band as "boo-dum". Everyone else will pronounce it "bow-dom" or "boddom".
* TropeCodifier: Along with Norther and Kalmah, they are this for the more bombastic, Europower-inflected style of melodeath.
* WordSaladLyrics: Very, very often. This can largely be owed to Laiho's less-than-spectacular grasp of English.
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