Bodom After Midnight is dead, long live Bodom After Midnight.
Created as a new start for Alexi Laiho (vocals/guitar, ex-Inearthed, ex-Sinergy, ex-Inearthed, ex-Impaled Nazarene) after the disband of Children of Bodom in 2019, the band won’t live long unfortunately.
The tragic death of its frontman at the end of 2020 ended all hopes. Daniel Freyberg (guitar, Naildown, ex-Norther, ex-Children of Bodom), Waltteri Väyrynen (drums, Paradise Lost, Abhorrence, ex-Vallenfyre) and Mitja Toivonen (bass, ex-Santa Cruz) decided to release the EP Paint The Sky With Blood as a tribute to their friend. Keyboards were recorded by Vili Itäpelto (Seraphiel, Smackbound, ex-Tracedawn).
The EP contains the last two songs composed by Alexi Laiho, as well as a cover of Dissection, major Melodic Black/Death swedish band. Paint The Sky With Blood, the first song, is already known since some weeks. It offers what we love into the compositions of the late frontman: his unique voice, wild melodic harmonics on guitar, and solid riffs supported by heady keyboards, offering a perfecti basis to those piercing leads, just like on the groovy Payback’s A Bitch. We will notice those howlings that are close to Black Metal, while the rhythmic is getting heavier, unveiling a different inspiration, then the solo’s different parts pick into the band’s wide influences. We have some Thrash with this rage, some Power on softness, but also and above all Melodic Death Metal, that the band completes with Where Dead Angels Lie, the Dissection cover. I am happy but not surprised to see that this important Extreme Melodic band is present on the EP. The song’s ambience is respected, but the Laiho touch is also here, offering some kind of different but also complementary side of this legendary song.
Whether Bodom After Midnight didn’t really have time to pursue the legend, this EP joins Alexi Laiho’s legacy. Paint The Sky With Blood offers fans what they wanted, but also influences we would have loved to see being developed for years after that. Thank you, Mr Laiho, and goodbye.
95/100
