Children Of Bodom has made a bit of a comeback in recent years with Halo Of Blood and I Worship Chaos, and is poised to continue the streak this year. According to drummer Jaska W. Raatikainen, Children Of Bodom will be writing new material this spring and summer, and plans to hit the studio this fall. This will be the band's first album with Daniel Freyberg (Naildown, ex-Norther) on guitar, who replaced guitarist of 12 years Roope Latvala in 2016.
We will start creating new songs during spring and summer, and will head to the studio during fall. The album will be our tenth studio album, which is also quite a milestone. It seems that after the studio I will have some time to get my back better somehow, possibly an operation if all the other options have been tried out.
I hope next year will bring good moments and memories to everybody. I also hope the world situation would not be so tense.
Raatikainen also says he's been having some serious back problems, and may have to have surgery after the new album is wrapped up.
Even though so many great things happened to me this year it was still overshadowed by severe back pain that made me really frustrated and anxious. I needed pain killers to be able to perform a show and still wasn’t able to enjoy it. Sometimes it was just surviving through the set. The days I didn’t have pain and I could play normally were rare. Those shows I played like it could be my last show and just couldn’t help thinking that this great thing what I was doing on stage could end any day. The tour in South America and all the festivals in the summer made me think my life and career more deeply. Being a drummer with a body that is a total wreck is probably the worst combo. All the flying and suffering from sleep deprivation was just too rough for me. It really made me think if this all work is worth the pain. Though, I don’t give up very easily when it comes to what I love the most.
While the new album bit is great, we're hoping whatever Raatikainen before resorting to surgery works out for him!
