In an industry that encourages musicians to pin themselves to one style or another, it’s hard to label exactly what Children of Bodom’s sound is, as it is often labeled as different genres across the board. The band’s music can fall under melodic death metal, symphonic black metal and even neoclassical metal. But both fans and critics enjoy the styles this group embraces.

Originating in Espoo, Finland, Children of Bodom was initially considered a heavy metal band. Over the course of the group’s decades-spanning career, the band has toured all around the world. Now, they will find themselves at The Westcott Theater on Tuesday night, with doors opening at 6 p.m.

The band’s most recent album, “Hexed,” was released in March and maintains the same distinguished sound that the band has popularized. Bassist Henkka Blacksmith said that they went into the studio not trying to approach this album any differently than they have before. But the production of the album fell under different circumstances as the band had to stop recording in order to tour.

“We actually left the rehearsal aside,” Blacksmith said. “Then we came back to the songs. It was kind of refreshing to redo the songs with a two month break.”

According to Blacksmith, the group enjoyed taking a brief hiatus because it allowed them to see their songs in a different way, giving them the opportunity to make immense changes.

“I think it would be a good idea to do it more often,” Blacksmith said, with a laugh.

In one of their songs, “Platitudes And Broken Words,” the beginning of the track transformed dramatically when the group returned to it several months later, Blacksmith said. The song came out as a single prior to the album debut.

Another song Children of Bodom decided to revisit was a track released in 2004, called “Knuckleduster.” Even though lead vocalist Alexi Laiho had to rewrite some of the lyrics, the group has always loved the song.

“It was kind of overlooked and we just figured that we needed to do it again — it needed to be heard again,” Laiho said in a press release.

“Hexed” is their first album since the 2015 release of “I Worship Chaos.” After 10 albums, Laiho feels like they have learned what works for them.

“People have said that the album is generally catchier. So, I started thinking about that, perhaps the song structures are easier to grasp on initial listen,” the lead vocalist Laiho said, per the release.

In a Facebook post, Jaska Raatikainen, drummer and co-founder of the group, expressed his and the rest of the group’s excitement for this tour. Specifically, they were looking forward to all of the new music they will be able to perform live for the first time.

Songs the group is expected to perform, Raatikainen said, are “We’re Not Gonna Fall” and “If You Want Peace…Prepare For War!” The latter had never been performed live in concert until they hit the road this past November.

After their concert in Syracuse, the group will make stops in Boston, Reading, Pennsylvania and New York City before they depart for Europe, where they will cap off their tour in Derby at the Bloodstock Open Air festival in early August.

During the summer, the group will perform at various European summer music festivals. Blacksmith said he believes these performances set the standard for how metal music and festivals operate in the industry.

Published on April 15, 2019 at 10:21 pm

Contact Kerri: kmcanene@syr.edu