Children Of Bodom have announced that they’ll release their new studio album in early 2019.
The Finnish outfit will launch Hexed on March 8 via Nuclear Blast – the follow-up to 2015’s I Worship Chaos – and vocalist and guitarist Alexi Laiho reports that it contains “some crazy shit.”
He says: “People have said that this album is generally catchier. So I started thinking about that, perhaps the song structures are easier to grasp on initial listen. But there’s some crazy shit in there – almost progressive or at least technical.
“There are certain melodies across the album that could have come from jazz songs, although they’re completely metal with us, of course!”
Bassist Henkka Blacksmith reports that he finds it hard to describe the band’s new music, but adds: “In a way it always feels familiar, but the new stuff also always surprises me.
“Here we have something that’s very Bodom, but somehow we haven’t done this kind of stuff, possibly ever. Then again, someone said that there’s a somewhat similar vibe to what Follow The Reaper had. I don’t know.
“Anyway, we had a really hard time choosing the songs for the videos, I guess that’s a positive problem to have.”
There are certain melodies across the album that could have come from jazz songs, although they’re completely metal
Alexi Laiho
The cover art for Hexed was created by Deins Forkas, with Blacksmith saying that he wanted to strive for a different approach to what they had done previously.
Blacksmith says: “We are so used to digital art, so it's really hard to do something else. Doing it completely with a computer is somewhat safe and convenient. This time we all agreed to try going old school.
“We found this cool dude and gave him simple instructions – the cover has to be purple and the reaper has to be central.
“Half a year later we got his work, and with little tweaking, we now have the cover of Hexed. It is very different from what we are used to – even the Reaper looks different, but at the same time very spooky.”
Pre-orders for Hexed will begin on December 7, but you can see the cover art and tracklist below.
The band are also expected to reveal a US and European tour in 2019, with further details to be announced in due course.
Children Of Bodom: Hexed
1. The Road
2. Under Grass And Clover
3. Glass Houses
4. Hecate’s Nightmare
5. Kick In The Spleen
6. Platitudes And Barren Words
7. Hexed
8. Relapse (The Nature Of My Crime)
9. Say Never Look Back
10. Soon Departed
11. Knuckleduster
12. I Worship Chaos (live)
13. Morrigan (live)
14. Knuckleduster (remix)
