Children of Bodom wrote some of the best melodies in heavy metal. I'm not a fan of screaming/growling vocals, but CoB was so good that I listened to them regardless.
People always talk about how much of a guitar god alexi was, and for good reason. But sometimes it gets overlooked at what an insane level songwriter he was too. So many memorable hooks and breakdowns and grooves but that were all purposeful in their placement.
For me to read this (as someone who have listened COB for two decades) i would say i haven't heard anyone say that alexi wasn't great song writer. The main reason i started listening Bodom was the excellent song writing and (for compared to metal i heard before bodom) unusual Song stuckture. Alexi being sologod was just cherry on a top. I still listen 4 first albums irregulary but mostly hatebreeder, if i listen bodom
Профессор на первом рифе слился😅 тут там сдесь я рыбу заворачивал, ну мы не будем в точности до ноты😂😂😂 мелодию на 14 нот не снять можно было сразу заткнуться и больше не гундеть. Но нет же он продолжил. Прогрессия тональность лидийский ионийский... Алекси такие ходы делает неудобные для игры и разбора в мелодиях, что буквально на каждую фразу нужно заново переучиваться. Очень талантливый гитарист и композитор.
That’s amazing, you probably heard him writing like lake bodom and dead night warrior maybe, that’s wow cool. Were they loud lol Did you ever talk or was he not your age group? What was he like when he was young? Popular? In England if you’re at football in school you’re pretty much going to be popular but in Finland it’s like if you’re a good musician then that’s thing to be. The place I work I got a dude from Finland call in shortly after Alexi passed, I mentioned it and he was in class at school with drummer when he younger lol.
Careful there Strat players. Once you go into Alexi ''Wild Child'' Laiho composition and playing Rabbit hole, there's no turning back. He was the Randy Rhoads of his generation and the more you listen to it, the more insane his playing sounds. Weeee! COBHC for life!
My favourite metal band (I'm a blues and classic rock player). Alexi was the most fearsome guitarist I ever saw live. He was sweep picking and singing at the same time!
"guitar teacher reacts" -> can't figure out a simple 4-chord power chord progression (10:40) -> completely ignoring the first guitar solo very wow, much sad
So I’m an acoustic guy. Love old blues, trad music, bluegrass, etc., but I’m also an 80s kid who had an 84 Kramer pacer and still love to hear a massive heavy metal riff. This is probably the first time I have stopped your video after the first couple of measures and immediately found the source clip. Damn! Instant fan! Sad that this guy passed. Really great stuff.
Look up Children of Decadence, Every Time I Die and Are You Dead Yet. These songs will lock you in forever. Then you can graduate to Bed of Razors, Downfall, Kissing the Shadows. They also do a killer cover of Hellion by WASP. I won't lie, the band put out a LOT of trash, but they have (debatably) 5-10 legit ELITE level tunes and a double handful of good ones. THIS song is definitely NOT one of their best.
Anyone tuning into this video with even an inkling of a desire to dive into this artists' discography, I recommend "Follow the Reaper" their third album from 2000. You get a glimpse into the life of a young guitar virtuoso who was VERY neo-classically trained and influenced (some of this influence was sadly abandoned more in his later albums) and it's also just a really neat, hard-hitting, fun, intensely melodic ride of an album. I would bet that metalheads and non metalheads alike would find at least something in this album that would pique their interest and have them saying "damn, that was neat." RIP Alexi, a true rocker. Thanks for the deep-dive, Michael.
I love Hatecrew Deathroll, love are you dead yet, Hatebreeder... But at the end of the day it's Follow the Reaper all the way. Blood drunk and beyond aren't for me though unfortunately.
@@deadtothewxrld I can't argue with that, such a great album... And not even my favorite Bodom album. It really is close between Follow the Reaper and Hatecrew Deathroll... And Are You Dead Yet, which is maybe the most consistent of the albums... Just killer the entire way through, every note, as you said.
Yes! When people say what would Randy have done if he lived longer, I always think maybe he would have evolved into Alexi. Alexi is the next step, and the highest level.
Any band that can work "I don't give a fuck if you hate me!" Into their chorus is okay in my book. Children of Bodom were top 5 bands of my high school soundtrack. Honorable Mentions: Opeth, Dimmu Borgir, Nevermore, Sonata Artica, Iced Earth.
It's funny, how people who really like Dimmu also often really like Bodom, and then there are the metal-purists who hate them both equally, because "symphonical composition, colorful melodies and keybords aren't _metal_ ". In my opinion they took their own respectable genres more forward than dozens of their peers.
Alexi is a god. Shredding while singing even! But live he almost looks bored... I didn't even stay for the whole set (they were headlining) because even though I LOVE CoB, it was just kinda boring. Alexi was either bored that night or he is just so concentrated that he looked like a robot haha. I've only seen them once though so I'd have to see them again I guess.
Jesus Christ... I somehow just learned that Alexi died... I have NO EFFING CLUE how that news slipped past me... But needless to say it's completely unexpected, he was too young... Guess I won't ever have a chance to see Bodom reunite and play again. Glad I saw them while I could, even if I didn't enjoy it a whole lot at the time.
Such a good band. I got to see them a lot and they were so good. Alexi was one of a kind. Had his own style and sound, wrote riffs and melodies like only he could. RIP
The first concert I've ever went to was Children Of Bodom/Cannibal Corpse in Belgium. I'm a little emotional watching this video. I love how you dissect and appreciate his work.
Alexi was a guitar genius, but a lot of CoB's melodies come from the keyboards too. It's that layering of the two instruments that put the "melodic" in melodic death metal. I'm jealous of anyone who got to experience CoB live while Alexi was with us.
actually in intro riff 5 chords, first it goes D, C, Bb and goes up to D. After this riff repeats but it doesn't go up, it goes down, D C and F E on 6 string
I love how many different genres you take on and break down, dude. As an amateur musician who's always learning (including on your site!), I wonder if you have gone through the same thing I have where the more you learn about the mechanics of music, the more you can appreciate almost any genre, any kind of playing because you learn to hear the passion and the practice that went into it. Thanks for another video, and I'll get around to making one of my own requests sometime soon!
The more one listens to COB, the more you realize it's almost impossible to frame their music in a key like we typically think of them. They either change it a bunch of times in the same song or defy the box entirely.
Their key changes are one of my favorite things about them. The key change in Follow the Reaper is one of my favorites. It just makes that section drive so hard. He really understood the place to put them. I wish more popular music utilized key changes to drive the direction of a song. Very underutilized tool.
@@negativexmilitia1 A really effective trick to make an epic chorus more epic-er is to do a key change on the very last chorus. Do a double chorus and on the second one change the key. Best example of this I know of is F.E.V.E.R. by Orden Ogan.
COB always had those minor-major modulating lines, depending on the progression and tonal center. Their progressions were very much similar to those you would find in pop music, and many people would easily pick up on them, with heavy riffs and classically-influenced melodies on top. Truly a unique sound and approach. Another signature Alexi-ism, if you wanna call it that, is the syncopated accent right before the count goes from 4 back to 1 to repeat the line. For example, main lead hook/melody in Hate Me starts on the D note. This lead line is repeated 4 or 8 times whenever it's played. First time it comes in he won't do that accent because he comes from a different section into the melody on 1 count and it would mess up the flow and the groove. But every consecutive repeat, he throws in a little C to D slide (you can clearly see on the video that his middle finger is sliding into the note to repeat the melody again) anticipating the 1 count and accenting the offbeat between 4 and 1 with an 8th note in this case (the C-D slide is essentially the duration of an 8th note), or two 16th notes like he does on Downfall and Thrashed, Lost & Strungout intro/lead riffs. It's very subtle but once you pick up on it, it's unmistakable and it's there in almost every song.
RIP Alexi. Children of Bodom have an incredible discography. It brings me continued sadness that Alexi is gone. Their most recent album Hexed in 2019 was a banger and sign of great riffs to come. All their albums are good but 2-4 are God-tier.
Alexi is one of my favorite players of all time. He could be a bit sloppy live, but the fact he could sing and play this stuff at the same time always blew my mind. RIP
The couple notes at the start u were trying to figure out at around 4:20 aren’t actually in the song I believe. The Song starts when these really high notes start together with drums and bass I think.
Alexi and his band in late 90s and early 00s were like the Mr Big of the 80s. Everyone listened to them at some point in time but never admit in general. 😁 #RipTheLastGuitarHeroOfOurGeneration #RipAlexi❤️
Not their best live performance. Take a listen to Downfall live at Stockholm. They also have their former guitarist at that time who was one of the most legendary guitarists in Finland. Mr. Roope Latvala.
Thanks for checking out COB! The world needs to hear them more. Please check out more of them, it's a treasure trove of superb melodeath with neoclassical tint. Obviously great guitar playing.
Very cool to see someone break this down. This guy made me and thousands of others pick up a guitar. Alexi was classically trained, and you hit the nail on the head. He was very clever, and extremely talented.
You are so authentic, man. I love CoB but you show the real process of learning a new song!! I am also a guitar teacher and this video is so fun! cheers from Santiago, Chile, Southamerica!
slayer meets sepultura eastern european vibe? wtf bro, it's melodic death metal, pure euro take on the death metal genre :D then again, if metal is not your stuff, it's easy to get lost in subgenres
At the begining he plays harmonics from G string 5th fret and B string 7th fret at the same time (Standard D tuning) to create that distinctive distorted sound
Alexi Laiho, the guitarist/vocalist is voted to be one of the best guitar players in the world. Multiple times. I wouldn't even try to replicate his playing :D
the insight being given here is actually quite interesting, specially what's mentioned about the last part of the song. These type of reaction videos are the ones worth watching imo, nice job!
You were sorta overthinking the solo. The whole B flat and A thing was just playing a fifth in a basic D pentatonic dad rock lick So in the key of D minor, he's playing A(the fifth) on top of a Bb power chord(minor sixth) which is pretty simple, just basic Zakk Wylde pentatonic stuff with your twos, flat fives, major sixths and major sevenths here and there (every guitarists favorite "haha three notes per string go brrrrrrr" pattern) Individual chords in a progression is pretty much irrelevant if you know what key you are in, they're passive chord progressions that tie together to the key which is sorta the main chord so to speak Of course you're not gonna play B flat pentatonic over a B flat chord if you're in the key of D - you don't modulate the solo everytime there's a chord change, you play in key Just for the sake of constructive criticism, your approach to analyzing stuff may be a bit mechanical and robotic in a way if that makes sense I don't know if that's because of your ear, which you have discussed previously, but a lot of the times a theory based approach ends up overcomplicating stuff that is at its core really simple and trivial Relying on theory alone is gonna cause major tunnel vision and leave you completely oblivious to your surroundings and the overall context Some advice with rock and metal soloing that I could give would be to go with the pentatonic scale of a given key as default, and treat everything else as sort of an extension or addition to that basic pentatonic basis You really just need to know the key, the root, and the fifth, and everything in between is pretty much fair game The reason for that is because a lot of guitarists just add intervals in between the basic pentatonic notes that make the most sense in a given situation to form a three notes per string pattern to just make playing fast easier
You should really consider checking out Wintersun. A lot of different songs that would amaze you. "Winter Madness" and "Death and the Healing" are great starting points.
Yeah this guy doesn't seem to know what he's talking about. He can't even figure out a simple Melody. So many fake gurus/teachers on RUclips. Watch ola Englund learn songs, that's how fast a teacher should pick up on melodies.
First time I heard CoB was 1999 and the song was Towards Dead End. It was probably the very first band I ever heard with growl in it and I actually liked it. But I mostly got hooked by their melodic riffs and solos. Been listen to them more or less ever since. Alexi inspired me a lot the first years of my guitar play. They have so many great and cool songs to check out. I'm really glad you did this reaction. Hate Me is such a good song! Thank you! It brings back a lot of memories.
Some Bluesy Intro Makes My Day Thank-you Sir, Hehehe Children of Bodom is one of The Iconic Melodic Death-Metal Band ever I was introduced to them way back when I was a kid and Alexi Laiho has a great guitar melody in every song he created as a masterclass, was a fan of him R.I.P to Alexi Laiho one of the inspirations sad he was gone.
Listen to kissing the shadows. I had the fortune of seeing bodom playing that song live and it was incredible the band was on fire that night. When Alexi did a dive bomb he used his tounge it was so bad ass! RIP my hero!
Alexi approached Metal from purely classical point of view, that's why CoB is usually classified as Neo-classical deathmetal in sub-genres. He took tons of stuff from Vivaldi and Sibelius and composed the music very carefully. Lyrics are bit different, when he wrote lyrics to "Are you dead yet?" album, he locked himself into his apartment into isolation and left his home only to buy a bottle of Jack every day for 3 months.
Hah, just found your channel today. So I started playing COB back 20-25 years ago. Alexi is a heavily Bach inspired, alternate picking/sweep picking savant. guy had some serious chops. I can see you have a super blues/country hammer on/pull off picking style. gotta work on that super fast alternate picking/string skipping skillset to get a lot of these types of riffs!! very accurate/precise stuff. loads of fun to study!!! RIP Alexi Laiho
You were interesting to listen to. I havn't picked up my guitar in almost 20 years for real, so I'm not sure I will get back to it. But it was still interesting to listen to this.
They're from Espoo Finland, and if you want one of the best metal bands ever, check out Banned from Heaven, Lake Bodom, Are You Dead Yet, If You Want Peace Prepare For War, Silent Night Bodom Night, Mask of Sanity, and many many more
12:30 the missing word is Melodic from MeloDeath? Hahah! They were very influencied by W.A.S.P songs and atmosphere, but you were very precise on comparisons, though!
Oh, you didn't pick up the Psycho reference. The keybord player is mimicking the legendary strings in the legendary shower scene (that the composer deliberately composed off-scale/off-key to make you feel anxious when you hear it). They're horror movie fanatics. Also when thinking about the composition of the songs, and how you said they're not just heavy riff after another, but there's clear progression with familiar logical forms, it's good to know that before picking up the guitar, the lead guitarist Alexi played classical violin. That's his background in music.
Man, R.I.P Alexi. I almost picked up Guitar because of him, despite deciding to play drums, I still study guitar because of this guy. Such a big inspiration for me, the band as a whole. Alexi and Janne play off each other so much and it’s always awesome to listen too. Hate me, and just Follow The Reaper in general is such a kickass album and song.
Hey there, nice analysis! It's very cool how you harmonically can analyze a song so quickly. I have been playing some songs of the band, and there are some recurring patterns. Since i played some songs, maybe a bit more in detail. He likes to switch tonality, favourably full step upward/downward. Then, what you probably didn't hear at the first runthrough, but he likes to make varieties of the riffs, with half steps up on the major notes. Not the base chord notes, but the additional ones which usually would add to the 'major' feeling. This adds to the gloominess or weirdness of the sound. And finally, timeshifts: He plays a riff, then plays it again, moved, by a) adding 2 bars in between or b) simply leaving out some And all of the above in combination sometimes. You can't hear it as a non musician, because he switches in to 'favourable' patterns quick enough. Not all is in this song, but some: shift before the last part (I think), some weird notes in the solo. Timeshifts I cannot hear in it. The song Morrigan is a nice example for all. What i wanted to say: Harmonically it's not rocket science (Well, what is, anyway?). But the songs in detail are hard, so he creates it out of standard :D
Alexi had a great understanding of musical composition. I like all COB material, but especially their older albums (like Hatebreeder) really show that. Cool of you checking them out 😎
Alexi called the COB style as Punk/ Black / Metal. He played Violin from 7 to 11 or 12 until he picked up the guitar and that was when he gave up the violin. RIP Alexi. Check out his 100 Guitars vid :D
RIP Alexi, i love his work, also he has some dvd in early 2000 playing vivaldi)) but his solos on live became worst, he suffer an accident in the arm and was painful play, but he fix it quick to continue the shows
First 3 albums are some of the best guitar writing in existence. Couldnt stand the recent few albums though. I watch your video occasionally. But I saw CoB and I was like uhhhhhh CLICK. lol Start doing more stuff like this to get a Broader audience. I suggest August Burns Red next. They are one of the biggest and best metal musicians pretty much in existence. But do something from the constellations or leveler albums and not the newest stuff.
Hey I hope you do more C.O.B. Alexi was unreal as a songwriter but also knew how to write magical solos. My favourites are everytime I die and not my funeral.
COB is one of the few metal bands I ever truly enjoyed. Are You Dead Yet is such a brilliant album, which is something I NEVER say about any metal album. Every song is awesome.
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
Children of Bodom wrote some of the best melodies in heavy metal. I'm not a fan of screaming/growling vocals, but CoB was so good that I listened to them regardless.
Ye alexi was exceptional
Same here bro
Same here bro
Couldn’t agree more
Pretty much the same. So sad to see exceptional musicians pass on. RIP Alexi
I am a simple metalhead, i see Children of Bodom I click !!
Me too
RIP allu..
@@muhanadm.shakir236 insomnium 🔛🔝
No matter how old the video is haha
Yes sir
People always talk about how much of a guitar god alexi was, and for good reason. But sometimes it gets overlooked at what an insane level songwriter he was too. So many memorable hooks and breakdowns and grooves but that were all purposeful in their placement.
That's the main thing I appreciate him for.
It angered me how _effortless_ he made it look! 😢
For me to read this (as someone who have listened COB for two decades) i would say i haven't heard anyone say that alexi wasn't great song writer. The main reason i started listening Bodom was the excellent song writing and (for compared to metal i heard before bodom) unusual Song stuckture. Alexi being sologod was just cherry on a top. I still listen 4 first albums irregulary but mostly hatebreeder, if i listen bodom
Профессор на первом рифе слился😅 тут там сдесь я рыбу заворачивал, ну мы не будем в точности до ноты😂😂😂 мелодию на 14 нот не снять можно было сразу заткнуться и больше не гундеть. Но нет же он продолжил. Прогрессия тональность лидийский ионийский...
Алекси такие ходы делает неудобные для игры и разбора в мелодиях, что буквально на каждую фразу нужно заново переучиваться. Очень талантливый гитарист и композитор.
Is 'Hate Me' even in the top 20 best cob songs? There are so many bangers.
These guys used to rehearse next door to me late 90’s. They we’re probably 15 at the time, but definitely put in the hours to make things happen.
If it was the late 90's they were more closer to their twenties. Alexi was born in 1979. Where was their rehearsal place?
@@NameName-id6cr at Lepakko (the batcave) in Helsinki, Finland
Thanks for not calling the cops on them and shutting them down lol🤘
@@ookami692 haha! not a problem for us, we played way louder...
That’s amazing, you probably heard him writing like lake bodom and dead night warrior maybe, that’s wow cool. Were they loud lol
Did you ever talk or was he not your age group? What was he like when he was young? Popular? In England if you’re at football in school you’re pretty much going to be popular but in Finland it’s like if you’re a good musician then that’s thing to be.
The place I work I got a dude from Finland call in shortly after Alexi passed, I mentioned it and he was in class at school with drummer when he younger lol.
Careful there Strat players. Once you go into Alexi ''Wild Child'' Laiho composition and playing Rabbit hole, there's no turning back.
He was the Randy Rhoads of his generation and the more you listen to it, the more insane his playing sounds. Weeee! COBHC for life!
I'd for sure agree with you! As much as I learned from RR and others... He definitely shaped my guitar playing in my early Teens haha
My favourite metal band (I'm a blues and classic rock player).
Alexi was the most fearsome guitarist I ever saw live. He was sweep picking and singing at the same time!
He surely was a fierce player
As good as they come
"guitar teacher reacts"
-> can't figure out a simple 4-chord power chord progression (10:40)
-> completely ignoring the first guitar solo
very wow, much sad
Proof that knowing music theory doesn’t make you a good musician. Can’t believe people pay to learn from this guy. 😂
So I’m an acoustic guy. Love old blues, trad music, bluegrass, etc., but I’m also an 80s kid who had an 84 Kramer pacer and still love to hear a massive heavy metal riff. This is probably the first time I have stopped your video after the first couple of measures and immediately found the source clip. Damn! Instant fan! Sad that this guy passed. Really great stuff.
Dig the first 4 albums
Alexi was amazing
Look up Children of Decadence, Every Time I Die and Are You Dead Yet. These songs will lock you in forever. Then you can graduate to Bed of Razors, Downfall, Kissing the Shadows. They also do a killer cover of Hellion by WASP. I won't lie, the band put out a LOT of trash, but they have (debatably) 5-10 legit ELITE level tunes and a double handful of good ones. THIS song is definitely NOT one of their best.
@@Gramasz Dig all his discography !! With "Sinergy'' and the "Local Band" as well.
Anyone tuning into this video with even an inkling of a desire to dive into this artists' discography, I recommend "Follow the Reaper" their third album from 2000. You get a glimpse into the life of a young guitar virtuoso who was VERY neo-classically trained and influenced (some of this influence was sadly abandoned more in his later albums) and it's also just a really neat, hard-hitting, fun, intensely melodic ride of an album. I would bet that metalheads and non metalheads alike would find at least something in this album that would pique their interest and have them saying "damn, that was neat." RIP Alexi, a true rocker. Thanks for the deep-dive, Michael.
YES, Follow the Reaper is by far my fav CoB album.
I love Hatecrew Deathroll, love are you dead yet, Hatebreeder... But at the end of the day it's Follow the Reaper all the way.
Blood drunk and beyond aren't for me though unfortunately.
@@danielnelson4881 are you dead yet is my favorite metal album of all time. Every note played is great
@@deadtothewxrld I can't argue with that, such a great album... And not even my favorite Bodom album. It really is close between Follow the Reaper and Hatecrew Deathroll... And Are You Dead Yet, which is maybe the most consistent of the albums... Just killer the entire way through, every note, as you said.
1.Hatebreeder
2.Follow the reaper
3.Something wild
Like the music or not Alexi Laiho was a true rock star. In many way I find Randy Rhoads in him
Yes!
When people say what would Randy have done if he lived longer, I always think maybe he would have evolved into Alexi. Alexi is the next step, and the highest level.
Randy was his Idol
@@wiblefbody90 True, among others.
Randy didnt sing while he was playing. 😁
Alexi has some of the best riffs and solos I've ever heard. Definitely worth a deep dive
I've been listening CoB since 1997. Definitely one of the best metal bands ever. Laiho was a genius.
Sick! There since the beginning.
Any band that can work "I don't give a fuck if you hate me!" Into their chorus is okay in my book. Children of Bodom were top 5 bands of my high school soundtrack. Honorable Mentions: Opeth, Dimmu Borgir, Nevermore, Sonata Artica, Iced Earth.
It's funny, how people who really like Dimmu also often really like Bodom, and then there are the metal-purists who hate them both equally, because "symphonical composition, colorful melodies and keybords aren't _metal_ ". In my opinion they took their own respectable genres more forward than dozens of their peers.
@@NiVoldiza ironically, im a metal head myself but only for Bodom.
@@NiVoldiza It does amuse me that those types of metalheads exist when bands like Fleshgod Apocalypse and Lorna Shore exist.
Was hoping you'd breakdown COB. Alexi is a true virtuoso with very memorable music and especially solos. Thanks man
Alexi is a god. Shredding while singing even! But live he almost looks bored... I didn't even stay for the whole set (they were headlining) because even though I LOVE CoB, it was just kinda boring. Alexi was either bored that night or he is just so concentrated that he looked like a robot haha. I've only seen them once though so I'd have to see them again I guess.
Jesus Christ... I somehow just learned that Alexi died... I have NO EFFING CLUE how that news slipped past me... But needless to say it's completely unexpected, he was too young... Guess I won't ever have a chance to see Bodom reunite and play again. Glad I saw them while I could, even if I didn't enjoy it a whole lot at the time.
@@danielnelson4881 First person I've ever heard describe a Bodom show as "boring".
Alexi Laiho was infact voted multiple times as the best metal guitarist in the world. He didn't think it's big of a deal.
That's the most Finnish thing ever haha RIP
Nice name
That's just how Alexi was man. Dude was a true front man who loved what he did.
If i remember correctly, three times he won the prize
Such a good band. I got to see them a lot and they were so good. Alexi was one of a kind. Had his own style and sound, wrote riffs and melodies like only he could. RIP
I saw Bodom about 6-8 times in Detroit, Harpos, iRock, etc. Best metal band of all time, I will never forget the amazing memories.
Hate me is played in D standard tuning :) One fo my favorites from Cob!
The first concert I've ever went to was Children Of Bodom/Cannibal Corpse in Belgium. I'm a little emotional watching this video. I love how you dissect and appreciate his work.
R.I.P Alexi! He is one of the best shredders, and solo players ever. He just needed help =\
That ”PERKELE” at the end was priceless!
PERRRRRKELE!!!!
Tuli kyllä sydämestä
Alexi was a guitar genius, but a lot of CoB's melodies come from the keyboards too. It's that layering of the two instruments that put the "melodic" in melodic death metal. I'm jealous of anyone who got to experience CoB live while Alexi was with us.
I was fortunate enough to see them 3 times. alexi is my favorite guitarist. can’t believe I’ll never see him again
Me too, four times. Always blown away. They we so tight that I started gasping for air In some point(s).
Janne and Alexi did many keyboard/guitar lines together that are mind boggling melodic bliss. COB4ever
Mr guitar teacher seems a little lost here :D
YES! My favorite band in high school when I was a pure metal head before getting into the jam scene.
actually in intro riff 5 chords, first it goes D, C, Bb and goes up to D. After this riff repeats but it doesn't go up, it goes down, D C and F E on 6 string
I love how many different genres you take on and break down, dude. As an amateur musician who's always learning (including on your site!), I wonder if you have gone through the same thing I have where the more you learn about the mechanics of music, the more you can appreciate almost any genre, any kind of playing because you learn to hear the passion and the practice that went into it. Thanks for another video, and I'll get around to making one of my own requests sometime soon!
COB was such a great band, lucky to have seen them live many times.
Alexi was masterful guitar player.
Kissing the shadows both live in Seoul and the record version would be a wonderful reaction video too.
Alexi was a beast
4th section is called PERKELE.
The more one listens to COB, the more you realize it's almost impossible to frame their music in a key like we typically think of them. They either change it a bunch of times in the same song or defy the box entirely.
Their key changes are one of my favorite things about them. The key change in Follow the Reaper is one of my favorites. It just makes that section drive so hard. He really understood the place to put them. I wish more popular music utilized key changes to drive the direction of a song. Very underutilized tool.
@@negativexmilitia1 A really effective trick to make an epic chorus more epic-er is to do a key change on the very last chorus. Do a double chorus and on the second one change the key. Best example of this I know of is F.E.V.E.R. by Orden Ogan.
COB always had those minor-major modulating lines, depending on the progression and tonal center. Their progressions were very much similar to those you would find in pop music, and many people would easily pick up on them, with heavy riffs and classically-influenced melodies on top.
Truly a unique sound and approach.
Another signature Alexi-ism, if you wanna call it that, is the syncopated accent right before the count goes from 4 back to 1 to repeat the line. For example, main lead hook/melody in Hate Me starts on the D note. This lead line is repeated 4 or 8 times whenever it's played. First time it comes in he won't do that accent because he comes from a different section into the melody on 1 count and it would mess up the flow and the groove. But every consecutive repeat, he throws in a little C to D slide (you can clearly see on the video that his middle finger is sliding into the note to repeat the melody again) anticipating the 1 count and accenting the offbeat between 4 and 1 with an 8th note in this case (the C-D slide is essentially the duration of an 8th note), or two 16th notes like he does on Downfall and Thrashed, Lost & Strungout intro/lead riffs. It's very subtle but once you pick up on it, it's unmistakable and it's there in almost every song.
RIP Alexi. Children of Bodom have an incredible discography. It brings me continued sadness that Alexi is gone. Their most recent album Hexed in 2019 was a banger and sign of great riffs to come. All their albums are good but 2-4 are God-tier.
word.
Man, please do more of them! They have a huge amount of the coolest melodies in their heritage!
Alexi is one of my favorite players of all time. He could be a bit sloppy live, but the fact he could sing and play this stuff at the same time always blew my mind. RIP
@Simr Khera so always lol
Alexi Laiho was 20 years old when I made this song... Rip legend you will never be forgotten.
Listen Sinergy's album Spit on your grave. Alexi and Roope on guitars....stunning guitar duo work!!
The couple notes at the start u were trying to figure out at around 4:20 aren’t actually in the song I believe. The Song starts when these really high notes start together with drums and bass I think.
Keep in mind how beyond drunk they prolly were at the time, they were amazing to see live.
Alexi and his band in late 90s and early 00s were like the Mr Big of the 80s. Everyone listened to them at some point in time but never admit in general. 😁 #RipTheLastGuitarHeroOfOurGeneration #RipAlexi❤️
Not their best live performance. Take a listen to Downfall live at Stockholm. They also have their former guitarist at that time who was one of the most legendary guitarists in Finland. Mr. Roope Latvala.
Thanks for checking out COB! The world needs to hear them more. Please check out more of them, it's a treasure trove of superb melodeath with neoclassical tint. Obviously great guitar playing.
The Swedes may have started melodeath, but the Finns are pioneering it. So much good Finnish melodeath out there right now. Rest in power Alexi.
It’s like a really aggressive renaissance fair soundtrack
Quick, someone update the Wikipedia page and save a bunch of text.
Very cool to see someone break this down. This guy made me and thousands of others pick up a guitar. Alexi was classically trained, and you hit the nail on the head. He was very clever, and extremely talented.
He is one of the biggest reason I play the guitar... He sang the guitar like no other.
Love seeing you have fun analyzing music, especially when it’s possibly my favorite band ever.
Bodom was hands down one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Alexi was a huge loss.
You are so authentic, man. I love CoB but you show the real process of learning a new song!! I am also a guitar teacher and this video is so fun! cheers from Santiago, Chile, Southamerica!
Love it! Thanks!!!
You gotta check out this band called Crowbar. Incredible riffs.
slayer meets sepultura eastern european vibe? wtf bro, it's melodic death metal, pure euro take on the death metal genre :D then again, if metal is not your stuff, it's easy to get lost in subgenres
At the begining he plays harmonics from G string 5th fret and B string 7th fret at the same time (Standard D tuning) to create that distinctive distorted sound
Alexi Laiho, the guitarist/vocalist is voted to be one of the best guitar players in the world. Multiple times. I wouldn't even try to replicate his playing :D
Honestly, I don't think you got any of this song figured out. Talked a lot about the notes keys and scales... But that's about it..
you know
Not the guy to cover children. But I understand your point.
OMG, I love COB and Alexi! Thanks so much for breaking this down!
You are absolutely spot on. They were not just superb musicians, their songs ŵere so exquisitely written/build. Rip Alexi,we miss ya
the insight being given here is actually quite interesting, specially what's mentioned about the last part of the song. These type of reaction videos are the ones worth watching imo, nice job!
You were sorta overthinking the solo.
The whole B flat and A thing was just playing a fifth in a basic D pentatonic dad rock lick
So in the key of D minor, he's playing A(the fifth) on top of a Bb power chord(minor sixth) which is pretty simple, just basic Zakk Wylde pentatonic stuff with your twos, flat fives, major sixths and major sevenths here and there (every guitarists favorite "haha three notes per string go brrrrrrr" pattern)
Individual chords in a progression is pretty much irrelevant if you know what key you are in, they're passive chord progressions that tie together to the key which is sorta the main chord so to speak
Of course you're not gonna play B flat pentatonic over a B flat chord if you're in the key of D - you don't modulate the solo everytime there's a chord change, you play in key
Just for the sake of constructive criticism, your approach to analyzing stuff may be a bit mechanical and robotic in a way if that makes sense
I don't know if that's because of your ear, which you have discussed previously, but a lot of the times a theory based approach ends up overcomplicating stuff that is at its core really simple and trivial
Relying on theory alone is gonna cause major tunnel vision and leave you completely oblivious to your surroundings and the overall context
Some advice with rock and metal soloing that I could give would be to go with the pentatonic scale of a given key as default, and treat everything else as sort of an extension or addition to that basic pentatonic basis
You really just need to know the key, the root, and the fifth, and everything in between is pretty much fair game
The reason for that is because a lot of guitarists just add intervals in between the basic pentatonic notes that make the most sense in a given situation to form a three notes per string pattern to just make playing fast easier
You should really consider checking out Wintersun. A lot of different songs that would amaze you. "Winter Madness" and "Death and the Healing" are great starting points.
Slayer meets Sepultura? Really? No way man, Alexi was/is/will be the true legend of melodic death metal😈☠🤘.
Yeah this guy doesn't seem to know what he's talking about. He can't even figure out a simple Melody. So many fake gurus/teachers on RUclips. Watch ola Englund learn songs, that's how fast a teacher should pick up on melodies.
Alexi Laiho wrote so many great songs and in my opinion Hate me is maybe the number one. Such a great peace of heavy music!
I was so blessed to discover COB in 1999 during a IN FLAMES concert in Lyon (France) , there were also Arch enemy and Dark Tranquility
RiP Alexi! So happy you came around to checking CoB out!
First time I heard CoB was 1999 and the song was Towards Dead End. It was probably the very first band I ever heard with growl in it and I actually liked it. But I mostly got hooked by their melodic riffs and solos. Been listen to them more or less ever since. Alexi inspired me a lot the first years of my guitar play. They have so many great and cool songs to check out. I'm really glad you did this reaction. Hate Me is such a good song! Thank you! It brings back a lot of memories.
Never thought you’d do some COB. Greatest band ever
Some Bluesy Intro Makes My Day Thank-you Sir, Hehehe Children of Bodom is one of The Iconic Melodic Death-Metal Band ever I was introduced to them way back when I was a kid and Alexi Laiho has a great guitar melody in every song he created as a masterclass, was a fan of him R.I.P to Alexi Laiho one of the inspirations sad he was gone.
Listen to kissing the shadows. I had the fortune of seeing bodom playing that song live and it was incredible the band was on fire that night. When Alexi did a dive bomb he used his tounge it was so bad ass! RIP my hero!
Alexi approached Metal from purely classical point of view, that's why CoB is usually classified as Neo-classical deathmetal in sub-genres.
He took tons of stuff from Vivaldi and Sibelius and composed the music very carefully.
Lyrics are bit different, when he wrote lyrics to "Are you dead yet?" album, he locked himself into his apartment into isolation and left his home only to buy a bottle of Jack every day for 3 months.
Alexi will always be my favorite guitarist and biggest influence. Rest in peace
Hah, just found your channel today. So I started playing COB back 20-25 years ago. Alexi is a heavily Bach inspired, alternate picking/sweep picking savant. guy had some serious chops. I can see you have a super blues/country hammer on/pull off picking style. gotta work on that super fast alternate picking/string skipping skillset to get a lot of these types of riffs!! very accurate/precise stuff. loads of fun to study!!! RIP Alexi Laiho
You were interesting to listen to. I havn't picked up my guitar in almost 20 years for real, so I'm not sure I will get back to it. But it was still interesting to listen to this.
Pick it up!!
@@Guitargate I'll see if I can get off my ass and try to remember how to string it, tune it, and pull a chord ;D But not today, way too late for that.
They're from Espoo Finland, and if you want one of the best metal bands ever, check out Banned from Heaven, Lake Bodom, Are You Dead Yet, If You Want Peace Prepare For War, Silent Night Bodom Night, Mask of Sanity, and many many more
Also if you wanna see super young Alexi, check out Sinergy
Really enjoyed your perspective. Subscribed!
12:30 the missing word is Melodic from MeloDeath? Hahah!
They were very influencied by W.A.S.P songs and atmosphere, but you were very precise on comparisons, though!
Who is this dufus ??🤣haha this is painful to watch, bless him, can't seem to find a single note, gets it wrong every turn, pure comedy
Wylde Child started on the violin & it flows in sum of his leads. Wicked player. Bless his soul
Oh, you didn't pick up the Psycho reference. The keybord player is mimicking the legendary strings in the legendary shower scene (that the composer deliberately composed off-scale/off-key to make you feel anxious when you hear it). They're horror movie fanatics. Also when thinking about the composition of the songs, and how you said they're not just heavy riff after another, but there's clear progression with familiar logical forms, it's good to know that before picking up the guitar, the lead guitarist Alexi played classical violin. That's his background in music.
Come on Palmisano! Do more of these and play the lines! RIP Alexi Laiho.
Keep it in mind that this song came out 2000 and recorded 1999 when Alexi was 20 years old. All from COB and so many more. For me, the best 😌
Man, R.I.P Alexi. I almost picked up Guitar because of him, despite deciding to play drums, I still study guitar because of this guy. Such a big inspiration for me, the band as a whole. Alexi and Janne play off each other so much and it’s always awesome to listen too. Hate me, and just Follow The Reaper in general is such a kickass album and song.
Hey there, nice analysis!
It's very cool how you harmonically can analyze a song so quickly. I have been playing some songs of the band, and there are some recurring patterns. Since i played some songs, maybe a bit more in detail.
He likes to switch tonality, favourably full step upward/downward.
Then, what you probably didn't hear at the first runthrough, but he likes to make varieties of the riffs, with half steps up on the major notes. Not the base chord notes, but the additional ones which usually would add to the 'major' feeling. This adds to the gloominess or weirdness of the sound.
And finally, timeshifts: He plays a riff, then plays it again, moved, by a) adding 2 bars in between or b) simply leaving out some
And all of the above in combination sometimes. You can't hear it as a non musician, because he switches in to 'favourable' patterns quick enough.
Not all is in this song, but some: shift before the last part (I think), some weird notes in the solo. Timeshifts I cannot hear in it.
The song Morrigan is a nice example for all.
What i wanted to say: Harmonically it's not rocket science (Well, what is, anyway?). But the songs in detail are hard, so he creates it out of standard :D
Being the rythm guitar in COB was the best job indeed. In my opinion Alexi and Kuopala's line up was the best era of the band
Alexi had a great understanding of musical composition. I like all COB material, but especially their older albums (like Hatebreeder) really show that. Cool of you checking them out 😎
Love that you’re covering this! I’m a dead head but I started off a metal head so I appreciate the vid! ✌🏻🤘🏻
Alexi called the COB style as Punk/ Black / Metal. He played Violin from 7 to 11 or 12 until he picked up the guitar and that was when he gave up the violin. RIP Alexi. Check out his 100 Guitars vid :D
Please note that Alexi was rated the fastest guitarist for quite a few years. It takes much work as one user noted. I'll always be missing Alexi. RIP.
i had so much fun watching tis video, thanks ;D
This shit aways melts my face love you forever Alexi thanks bro one day I can hope to be half as good as you
RIP Alexi, i love his work, also he has some dvd in early 2000 playing vivaldi)) but his solos on live became worst, he suffer an accident in the arm and was painful play, but he fix it quick to continue the shows
Dude please listen to Hatebreeder album from start to finish with ear phones. Life changing.
One of my favorite bands! This was unexpected
First 3 albums are some of the best guitar writing in existence. Couldnt stand the recent few albums though. I watch your video occasionally. But I saw CoB and I was like uhhhhhh CLICK. lol Start doing more stuff like this to get a Broader audience. I suggest August Burns Red next. They are one of the biggest and best metal musicians pretty much in existence. But do something from the constellations or leveler albums and not the newest stuff.
First 5 are crazy sick
Generally the Finnish are from Finland.
He truly was a mastermind what comes to composing music.
At the time was the best guitarist in the world… surely gonna miss him.
Great video!
Is the hit song formula video series on this channel or is it in Guitargate?
Hey I hope you do more C.O.B. Alexi was unreal as a songwriter but also knew how to write magical solos. My favourites are everytime I die and not my funeral.
COB is one of the few metal bands I ever truly enjoyed. Are You Dead Yet is such a brilliant album, which is something I NEVER say about any metal album. Every song is awesome.
Ah, yes, I've always wanted to know how to play the annoying beeping at the beginning. COB used a lot of samples from horror movies.