Formed in 1993 by guitarist/vocalist Alexi Laiho and drummer Jaska Raatikainen, Children of Bodom were originally a death metal band named Inearthed. Soon joined by bassist Samuli Miettinen, they recorded their first demo ("Implosion of Heaven") in mid-1994. The line-up remained fairly fluid until '97, when the band at last began to resemble Children of Bodom in everything except name. They also released more demos and played some small gigs, but it was not until 1997 that things began to move much more quickly for the melodic death metallers from Espoo.

After sending demos to various record companies, Inearthed failed to get a deal, so their debut - "Something Wild" was self-funded. More complex than their early demo tapes, this album incorporated some wide-ranging influences - everything from black metal to neo-classical styles. Coupled with the band's technical proficiency, it was an impressive debut, and Inearthed was quickly singed to a Belgian record label. It wasn't a very good deal - they had to pay the costs of recording the album themselves, as well as promoting without the help of their label - but at this point Inearthed ha yet to encounter a better deal.

But a copy of "Something Wild" sound found its way to Spinefarm Records, who quickly offered the band a deal. Faced with a much better offer, Inearthed did the only thing to be expected in such a situation - they pretended to split up in order to leave their label, changed their name to Children of Bodom, and inked a deal with Spinefarm for three albums.

Unlike many bands, Bodom's name actually has a bit of a story behind it - it's a reference to an infamous triple murder that was committed in Finland in the 1960s. Four teenagers who were camping by Lake Bodom (near where most of the band members grew up) were brutally attacked while they slept in their tent. One survived, but appeared not to remember what had happened. The killer was never caught, but very recently the case has been reopened - with the sole survivor being accused of the murders. Despite this rather unsavoury tale, the band's name has caused surprisingly little controversy, and every one of their albums features at least one song about the murders.

After the release of their debut album, the Children embarked on their very first tour, with seven other bands. Prior to this, they had only played a few gigs. Ivory-tinkler Janne Warman had to take his exams, so Erna Siikavirta (later of Lordi) joined them on keyboards. In the meantime, more and more fans were discovering their unique brand of melodeath, with over 10,000 buying their debut album.

After their little jaunt around Europe, Bodom returned to the studio to record a couple of new songs. One of these - "Children of Bodom" - was released as a single, sharing a disc with tracks from labelmates Cryhavoc and Wizzard. It went to number one in Finland - and stayed there for eight weeks. After a successful appearance at the Wacken festival in Germany, the band headed off on tour once again - and once again, Janne's schoolwork meant that he was unable to join them. This time, his place was taken by Kimberly Goss (ex-Dimmu Borgir, Sinergy), who later asked Alexi to join Sinergy as a guitarist, and wrote the lyrics to one of Bodom's songs ("Silent Night, Bodom Night" on the "Hatebreeder" album).

Between December '98 and January '99, the band set to work on recording their second - and possibly best - album: "Hatebreeder". The two songs already recorded were joined by another seven. The album, with its fetching green cover (adorned, like all Bodom's albums, with a picture of the Grim Reaper), was released world-wide in 1999, to widespread acclaim. Combining melodic keyboard and guitar riffs with a more brutal, death metal edge, "Hatebreeder" is a perfect example of Children of Bodom's unique style, with its heavy, yet accessible songs and impressive displays of technical ability. It makes an ideal starting point for those new to the band, although their third album, "Follow the Reaper" is perhaps more catchy.

The band also found the time to tour Japan in 1999, accompanying Sinergy and In Flames. This tour also resulted in the "Tokyo Warhearts" live album which, while proving that the band's skills extend beyond the studio to the live setting, is probably only for the more hardcore fans.

After this, the band found the time to tour Europe again (in the company of Arch Enemy, Dark Tranquillity and In Flames), record a platinum-selling single ("Hate Me!"), spend some time on their other projects (such as Sinergy (Kimberly Goss' band, in which Alexi plays guitar) and Warmen (Janne's proggy power metal project)), and play their first ever gigs in north America. Phew.

Midway through 2000, the band began recording their next album. Released across the world in early 2001 (and in Finland a few months earlier), "Follow the Reaper" took a more melodic, keyboard-centric direction that "Hatebreeder". This might make a better starting point for melodic metal fans than the previous album.

2001 brought another tour, taking in Europe and Japan (again), and also South America. In addition, the band made a number of appearances at festivals throughout Europe. After a well-deserved break, the band headed for the studio again, beginning work on "Hate Crew Deathroll" - a more aggressive-sounding album, with meatier (and sometimes downtuned) guitar riffs. Representing a slight change of direction for Bodom, it is nonetheless a great album, containing some of the band's best work to date. The album hit number one in the band's native land, and eventually sold gold (15, 000 albums).

However, all was not well for the Hate Crew - guitarist Alexander Kuoppala, who'd been a member of the band since the Inearthed days, left the band. Although the band have stressed that this was not due to disagreements, and that there was no danger of Bodom splitting up, many fans took Alexander's departure very hard. The band was faced with trying to find a new guitarist just two weeks before the next leg of their tour - fortunately, Roope Latvala (Sinergy) agreed to step in as a temporary replacement. With their new axeman in tow, Bodom headed off on tour again, to Japan and the USA.

In 2004 the band released their "Trashed, Lost and Strung Out" EP, which includes two new songs, some covers, and a short video. The title track was also played at several festivals that summer, but, after bootlegs began to appear on the Internet, the band dropped it from their setlist. This song is also due to appear on their new album, the ludicrously titled "Are You Dead Yet?" due in September 2005.