ALEXI LAIHO

Alexi Laiho, guitarist with Children Of Bodom, Sinergy, The Local Band, Kylähullut, and Bodom After Midnight, has died aged 41. At the time of writing, the exact date and cause of his death have not been made public. A 4th January post on his Facebook page said only that he had died the previous week, and that he had “suffered from long-term health issues during his last years.”

Laiho was born in Espoo, Finland, on 8th April 1979. His breakthrough act, Children Of Bodom, was founded in 1993 as Inearthed. Their third album, 1999’s Follow The Reaper, went Gold in their native Finland, while 2008’s Blooddrunk confirmed their international breakthrough by charting in the US and UK. Rising to prominence during the nu-metal era, Laiho helped bring shred guitar back into fashion. Beyond his astounding creativity, Alexi’s technique arsenal included devastating alternate picking, sweep picking, tapping, and whammy bar tricks.

Children Of Bodom’s fusion of power metal and melodic death metal won them fans across the world, and ESP has produced Laiho’s signature asymmetric V guitar since 2006. TG readers took to him in a big way, voting him the greatest metal guitarist of all time in 2011.

Laiho’s peers in the metal community were quick to post their memories of the guitarist. Lamb Of God’s Mark Morton called him “a monumental talent and a genuine, caring and thoughtful person”. Gus G wrote: “One of the greatest guitarists of my generation is gone way too soon.” Summarizing what made him such a great guitarist, Testament’s Alex Skolnick wrote: “Alexi Laiho created new possibilities in extreme metal with technically sophisticated solos that held their own alongside the best in more popularized metal genres.”