Alexi Laiho’s final recordings to be released on new Bodom After Midnight EP

Bodom After Midnight
(Image credit: Terhi Ylimäinen)

Children of Bodom electric guitar great Alexi Laiho passed away at the age of 41 in December. 

Now, the final music from Laiho, recorded with his post-Bodom supergroup, Bodom After Midnight, is set for release on April 23 via Napalm Records.

The three-track EP, Paint the Sky With Blood, was recorded in Laiho’s native Finland in 2020, and was meant to be the first taste of the Bodom After Midnight project, with a full-length to follow.

Said the remaining band members in a statement, "Like ourselves, Alexi was beyond stoked about these songs and anxious to get these out so we are happy that we can fulfill his wish. 

Bodom After Midnight

(Image credit: art by Travis Smith)

"Needless to say that we are honored and proud to be a part of his very last creative work and unleash it the way he wanted it to. It’s time to let the beast out of the cage one more time as a celebration of Alexi’s music, legacy and the man himself."

The EP features the title track, described as “strikingly reminiscent of early-Children of Bodom elements, while also adding exciting modern influences into the fold,” as well as the songs Payback’s a Bitch and a cover of Dissection’s Where Dead Angels Lie.

In addition to Laiho, the Bodom After Midnight lineup includes guitarist Daniel Freyberg, drummer Waltteri Väyrynen (Paradise Lost), bassist Mitja Toivonen (ex-Santa Cruz) and keyboardist Vili Itäpelto.

Paint the Sky With Blood is available for preorder via Napalm Records.

Richard Bienstock

Rich is the co-author of the best-selling Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion. He is also a recording and performing musician, and a former editor of Guitar World magazine and executive editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine. He has authored several additional books, among them Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, the companion to the documentary of the same name.