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CHILDREN OF BODOM Release Animated Music Video For Title Track Of Latest Album ‘Hexed’
October 30th, 2019

Espoo, Finland-based melodic death metal group Children Of Bodom have released an official animated music video for the title track of their latest album Hexed. The RMIT University in Australia spent the last 15 weeks working on the video, with producers Aaron McLoughlin and Simon Norton spending around 3000 working hours with their team to create the video, which can be viewed below.

Co-producer Aaron McLoughlin stated: “As always, we like to come up with something that suits what the band is all about, so we drew inspiration from the song lyrics as well as the monochromatic imagery found in Children Of Bodom’s videos and album art. We decided a black and white horror film would be cool – set on a lake, of course! And we had to include a Roy cameo appearance, obviously!

“Although ‘Hexed’ is a fast track, it’s also particularly measured in the way it plays out over the five-minute duration, so part of the fun was crafting a cinematic narrative that flows with the amazing technical precision of the music.

“The animation students at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia are some of the most talented rising stars in the world, and I think they’ve done a terrific job on this project. Animating metal videos is such a fun thing to do at university, and the team felt very honoured creating this film for Children Of Bodom.”

Bassist Henkka Blacksmith added: “It’s such a cool thing to have a video of one my favourite tracks of the album. And the fact it’s made by Aaron and his 25 students in Australia is even cooler. The black and white calm mood suits perfectly to this not-so-calm song. The lake and it’s reflection makes a perfect ending for it.”

Children Of Bodom issued tenth full-length studio album Hexed on March 8th, 2019 through Nuclear Blast Records.

Frontman and guitarist Alexi Laiho commented: “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 (laughs).”

Henkka Blacksmith added: “For me, it has always been very hard to describe our new music. 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 [2000] 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.”

Hexed was recorded with producer Mikko Karmila at the band’s own Danger Johnny Studios in Helsinki, except keyboards which were recorded by Janne Wirman at Beyond Abilities Studios. The outing was mixed and mastered at Finnvox Studios in Helsinki.

Cover artwork was created by Deins Forkas.

Henkka Blacksmith commented: “For some years I’ve wanted to try a different approach with our cover art. 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.”

The track listing is as follows:

01. ‘The Road’
02. ‘Under Grass And Clover’
03. ‘Glass Houses’
04. ‘Hecate’s Nightmare’
05. ‘Kick In The Spleen’
06. ‘Platitudes And Barren Words’
07. ‘Hexed’
08. ‘Relapse (The Nature Of My Crime)’
09. ‘Say Never Look Back’
10. ‘Soon Departed’
11. ‘Knuckleduster’
12. ‘I Worship Chaos (Live)’
13. ‘Morrigan (Live)’
14. ‘Knuckleduster (Remix)’

Children Of Bodom’s line-up is as follows:

Alexi Laiho (vocals and lead guitar)
Daniel Freyberg (rhythm guitar)
Henkka Blacksmith (bass)
Jaska Raatikainen (drums)
Janne Wirman (keyboards)

Directed by Ykä Järvinen, music videos were filmed for the tracks ‘Under Grass And Clover’ and ‘Platitudes And Barren Words’. In addition, official lyric videos were created for the songs ‘The Road’ and ‘Hecate’s Nightmare’. All four clips can also be viewed below.

Ninth studio record I Worship Chaos was released in October 2015 via Nuclear Blast Records.

Promotional photograph by Marek Sabogal.

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