Children of Bodom

Children of Bodom fused neoclassical guitar heroics with melodic death metal and made it look easy — which is why a generation of guitarists formed bands trying to keep up with Alexi Laiho. From Espoo, Finland, they turned a lakeside murder mystery into a band name and seven albums into a shred curriculum.

Laiho’s death in 2020 closed the band but not the influence: trace almost any modern extreme-metal lead player backwards and you hit a Bodom riff.