Band:	Bodom After Midnight
Album:	Paint The Sky With Blood
Style:	Heavy metal, Extreme power metal
Release date:	April 23, 2021
A review by:	ScreamingSteelUS

01. Paint The Sky With Blood
02. Payback's A Bitch
03. Where Dead Angels Lie [Dissection cover]

Alexi Laiho's recording career lasted the better part of three decades - an impressive span, but only half of what it should have been. This EP, for 14 short minutes, allows us a chance to remember Alexi at his best and also lament what never was.

It's safe to assume that anyone who had previously taken an interest in the development of Bodom After Midnight was a fan following on from Children Of Bodom, wondering what the band's iconic shred-captain would get up to next, and in the wake of his unfortunate passing, there's no real need to review or advertise the band's sole release; there was so little time to get used to the idea of a new project that considerations of quality are wholly beside the point of engaging with this release, and so this text may not constitute a satisfactory review of the EP per se. These three songs constitute the final recordings of Alexi Laiho. If we were interested enough to take note of Bodom After Midnight in the first place, we're probably interested enough to pay our respects to Paint The Sky With Blood, no matter its nature.

In the weeks after I published my eulogy for Alexi, I found that there was another sentiment I wanted to communicate; though I considered amending that article, I eventually decided that my additional thoughts would be better expressed here. As I reacquainted myself with Bodom's discography, I began to realize something, a notion that I observed many other fans and musicians repeating: I hadn't really sat down and listened to Children Of Bodom in a few years, but when I did, I was struck by just how influential they had been to me. Their music sounded so familiar and yet so ingenious, and I perceived how crucial their sound had been to the formation of my tastes at the time when I first discovered "Angels Don't Kill"; even though they stopped being a band I would instinctively reach for when looking for something to throw on, comparisons to them were always close at hand, and the more bands I was introduced to, the more I appreciated, however unconsciously, how different Bodom was.

Immediately following Alexi's death, I went through Children Of Bodom's whole discography a couple of times; as I did so, I found it so eminently listenable. There's such a punky, devil-may-care attitude to those albums and such lightning in every solo, shards of venom in the keys and murderous intent in the bass, a raw and totally natural melding of speed, groove, melody, and aggression that makes even the worst Bodom albums easy to sit through again and again for me. That's a truly special thing for a band to achieve: they had definite highs, but I'll gladly take their lows, too, any day of the week, and realizing this has made me reevaluate the esteem in which I hold Children Of Bodom relative to my hierarchy of favorites. The hellish banging of percussion on "Blooddrunk," the massive key stings on "Follow The Reaper," and that goddamn homicidal bass on "Warheart" - it's all just too good to beat, and we were all truly fortunate that Alexi had a gang like Warman, Blacksmith, and Raatikainen (plus Kuoppala, Latvala, and Freyberg) to bring those songs to life.

Of course, this band before us is Bodom After Midnight, not Children Of Bodom, and with a new assemblage of musicians joining Alexi, Paint The Sky With Blood is not a carbon copy of the Bodom boys. Drummer Waltteri Väyrynen comes to the band with membership in Abhorrence and Vallenfyre on his resume (as well as Paradise Lost), so there is more of the brute force of death metal in the percussion; bassist Mitja Toivonen opts for a springy, obtrusive tone similar to that of Henkka Blacksmith, which makes his playing in the title track sound right at home. Lacking a full-time keyboardist, with session player Vili Itäpelto filling the role, this EP doesn't have as strong a presence of stabbing Psycho synths, and when they do appear, they have a little more new-age character. Paint The Sky With Blood has more weight behind its rhythm section than I'm used to hearing from Bodom, replacing some of that frenzied lawlessness with coordination, balance, and a full-bodied sound that extends to the souped-up guitars; the overall feeling of these three songs is closer to modern melodeath than their predecessors, with Alexi and Daniel Freyberg (returning from the Hexed lineup) dominating the sound a little out front of where we might have heard them previously. The differences are slight, but noticeable.

But when the title track of this EP was finally released - with an accompanying music video that provided a captivating tribute to its central figure - I was blown away. This is 100% pure Alexi. A new band it may be, but this is the sound that history will remember Alexi Laiho for, and it is recapitulated with all the flair and conviction that could have fueled a full-scale comeback after years of vacillating quality with Children Of Bodom. "Paint The Sky With Blood" was a massive single to launch this band with, and for my money, "Payback's A Bitch" is just as killer. And the cover of Dissection's "Where Dead Angels Lie" - featuring one of the most vicious riffs ever written embedded in one of the most gloriously evil metal songs ever composed, given new life by an absolutely ferocious-sounding Alexi - is just icing on the cake.

So this is the last we'll hear of Alexi Laiho, a man who for 20 years helped to shape and define the sound of modern extreme metal. I wrote in the aforementioned article that it wouldn't be right to say something like "at least he went out on a high note"; a couple of great songs is no replacement for a life, and Alexi's death is still a terrible misfortune to have befallen such a young man. As electrifying as Paint The Sky With Blood is, it will always be tainted because of how much unfulfilled potential it signifies. But even if it can't bring him back or replace him, it's still great to hear Alexi one last time.