Gelap Pekat

Bassist Henkka Seppälä (a.k.a. Henkka T. Blacksmith) of Finnish metallers CHILDREN OF BODOM recently spoke to Noisecreep about frontman Alexi Laiho's broken shoulder which he sustained when he was ejected from his bunk as a result of the band's tour bus taking an irregularly harsh sharp turn.

"It was a normal night," Henkka said. "He was in the bunk. Everybody went to bed and he sleeps in the highest bunk. Then at some point, he just woke up and he was trying to get out of the bunk at the same time the bus a little bit turned. It was bad timing. He fell down on the floor all the way from the bunk. I woke up and I helped him up. He was complaining that his neck hurts a little bit. Then he went back to bed."

A couple days later, Laiho sought a doctor's advice, according to Henkka. "It was pretty bad," he said. "X-rays showed there's a broken shoulder and internal bleeding. It should take six to four weeks to heal."

Against recommendation, Laiho has decided to remain on the road and will "bite the bullet" to give metal fans the electric live performances they have come to love from the Finnish act. For the duration of the "No Fear Energy Tour" — which also features LAMB OF GOD, AS I LAY DYING, GOD FORBID and MUNICIPAL WASTE and is set to run through May 15 — Alexi will be resigned to wearing the arm in a sling, restricting movement at all times when he is not on stage. "I am going through a great deal of pain every second that I am awake," Laiho said. "However, I can still play the guitar and I will give everything I have to try to finish this tour and play every remaining show!"

"He can play," Henkka concurred. "The thing is the movement of the arm is OK for playing. It's a little bit painful. I guess. He cannot move like normally. He can't do any tricks, he just has to stand and play. He has to take it easy to get it to heal. He just has to take a lot of painkillers, I guess. It's a big thing when you start canceling shows. If there's anyway we can do it, we'll do it. I think we've canceled two shows in our career. It would have to be pretty serious to do that."

Fan-filmed video footage of Alexi speaking about his broken shoulder during CHILDREN OF BODOM's April 29 set at The Uptown Theater in Kansas City, Missouri can be viewed below.

CHILDREN OF BODOM will release a new album, titled "Skeletons In The Closet", in September through Spinefarm Records. The follow-up to last year's "Blooddrunk" is a selection of cover versions, some of them existing recordings, others specially laid down for this release.

CHILDREN OF BODOM has been recording covers since the early days of its career, some predictably heavy ("Silent Scream" by SLAYER, for example), others reflecting an altogether broader taste ("Talk Dirty To Me" by POISON), so fans will be intrigued to see which of the existing ones get the final nod here, and also which news ones are added to the list.