Bodom After Midnight was a melodic death metal offshoot of influential Finnish black metallers
Children of Bodom, who officially ceased operations in 2019. Established in 2020 by guitar virtuoso
Alexi Laiho and fellow
COB bandmate
Daniel Freyberg, the project was short-lived --
Laiho passed away in 2020 -- but yielded the EP Paint the Sky with Blood, which was issued the following year. After the demise of
Children of Bodom in 2019,
Laiho and
Freyberg formed
Bodom After Midnight, looking to take their former band's incisive blend of melodic death and power metal to new extremes. After recruiting bassist Mitja Toivonen (
Santa Cruz), drummer Waltteri Väyrynen (
Paradise Lost), and
COB touring keyboardist Lauri Salomaa, the newly minted five-piece made their live debut in Helsinki in 2020. Sadly,
Laiho succumbed to ill health later that December, and
Freyberg and the rest of the group elected not to continue without him. A posthumous three-song EP, Paint the Sky with Blood, was released in 2021. ~ James Christopher Monger