Children of Bodom

Finnish heavy metal giant CHILDREN OF BODOM has announced a fall, 2008 U.S. headlining tour in support of its critically acclaimed new album Blooddrunk. The scheduled four week, 25 city CHILDREN OF BODOM tour will kick off on September 11 in Baltimore, MD and criss-cross the U.S., closing with a bang on October 10 in Worcester, MA.

  A new wrinkle in the ever-evolving CHILDREN OF BODOM U.S. trek has developed as COB has tapped metal veterans Testament as special support for its NYC tour stop on October 9 at the Hammerstein Ballroom.  Testament – currently on the road alongside Judas Priest, Heaven and Hell and Motörhead as part of this summer's "Metal Masters" tour – is touring to back its latest studio album, The Formation of Damnation.  The tour's previously-announced opening acts Between the Buried and Me and The Black Dahlia Murder will also appear.  The major market CHILDREN OF BODOM's U.S. headlining jaunt is the band's first in support of Blooddrunk and follows the quintet's red hot summer North American "Gigantour" live dates as hand-picked support for heavy music legends Megadeth.  



  Tickets for the CHILDREN OF BODOM tour dates are on sale now via www.livenation.com. The COB tour will be produced by Live Nation.



  Full details on the CHILDREN OF BODOM "Blooddrunk Guitar Contest and Sweepstakes" have also been released.  Live Nation is providing CHILDREN OF BODOM fans a chance to win a flyaway contest to Los Angeles to jam with the band before its show on September 19th.  Live Nation has set up a special CHILDREN OF BODOM contest homepage where fans can register and automatically be entered into the sweepstakes to win a prize pack that includes an ESP Alexi Signature Series Guitar, Hot Topic Gift Card, the entire Spinefarm Records U.S. catalog, Rock House Instructional DVDs and Guitar World.  The tour widget is also the source for CHILDREN OF BODOM tour information, videos, and more.  Check out the CHILDREN OF BODOM contest homepage and tour widget now at this location.



  The big prize in the contest comes via the Blooddrunk guitar competition, which involves fans uploading a video of them playing the guitar solo from the CHILDREN OF BODOM track "Blooddrunk".  The video entries will then be voted on by members of ESP Guitars and band management as well as the general public, who will select the grand prize winner based on technical prowess and skill of performance.  The grand prize winner and a friend will then fly to Los Angeles to see CHILDREN OF BODOM perform live at the Wiltern on Sept 19th and will earn the chance to play "Blooddrunk" with the band during their soundcheck that afternoon.  All entries for the sweepstakes and guitar competition must be made by August 29th.



  Blooddrunk skyrocketed to #22 on Billboard's Top 200 chart this spring, shifting over 19,000 units in its first week of sales.  Released in North America on April 15 via Fontana International / Spinefarm Records U.S., Blooddrunk is CHILDREN OF BODOM's sixth studio album, and is the highest charting record in the band's sales history.  The follow up to the band's acclaimed 2005 release, Are You Dead Yet?, Blooddrunk has been called COB's "strongest and most advanced recording to date" and features a "heavier, darker" take on CHILDREN OF BODOM's enthralling mix of modern thrash metal, melodic hooks and the guitar acrobatics of front man and metal guitar hero Alexi Laiho.  Laiho is widely recognized as a modern day guitar hero and is one of the premier shredders in metal / hard rock today, drawing praise from both peers and respected guitar publications the world over.



  In addition to Laiho, CHILDREN OF BODOM features Roope Latvala (guitar), Janne Warman (keyboard), Henkka Seppälä (bass) and drummer Jaska Raatikainen.