Finland melodic metallers CHILDREN OF BODOM will embark on the "Hexed" 2019 North American tour this spring. The trek will kick off in Quebec City on March 13 and conclude in New York City on April 19. Support on the trek will come from Finnish death-doom melody makers SWALLOW THE SUN and Finnish epic melodic death metal quartet WOLFHEART as well as SUMMONER'S CIRCLE (March 13-16 and April 9-19), HOLLOW CRY (March 18-29) and FRAGMENTUM (March 30 April 7). CHILDREN OF BODOM frontman Alexi Laiho comments, "Hello, North America! Just wanna say and empathize the word 'finally' ... fuckin' finally we'll be back on the road — like old-school style and over the pond too!! We'll be in your town just as you're getting your hands on the new record. Even if you do not have it, don't worry, 'cause we're gonna rotate the setlist to include old tracks that will blow your mind back to hell so it's gonna be a good fuckin' party, ladies and gentlemen. Hoping to see you there!!" Pre-sale tickets are available for purchase via American Express on January 16 starting at 10 a.m. local time as well as through Goldenvoice on January 17 starting at 10 a.m. and ending at 10 p.m. local time. Tickets go on sale to the public on Friday, January 18 at 10:00 a.m. local time. Tour dates: Mar. 13 - Imperial - Quebec City, QC* Mar. 14 - Corona Theater - Montreal, QC* Mar. 15 - Bronson Centre - Ottawa, ON * Mar. 16 - The Phoenix Concert Theater - Toronto, ON* Mar. 18 - St. Andrews - Detroit, MI** Mar. 19 - House of Blues - Chicago, IL** Mar. 20 - Skyway Theater - Minneapolis, MN** Mar. 22 - The Summit - Denver, CO ** Mar. 23 - Metro Music Hall - Salt Lake City, UT** Mar. 25 - The Palace Theatre - Calgary, AB** Mar. 26 - Union - Edmonton, AB** Mar. 27 - The Vogue Theater - Vancouver, BC** Mar. 29 - El Corazon - Seattle, WA** Mar. 30 - Hawthorne Theater - Portland, OR *** Apr. 01 - The Regency Ballroom - San Francisco, CA*** Apr. 02 - The Observatory - Santa Ana, CA *** Apr. 03 - Club Red - Phoenix, AZ*** Apr. 05 - Alamo Music Hall - San Antonio, TX *** Apr. 06 - Warehouse Live - Houston, TX *** Apr. 07 - Canton Hall - Dallas, TX *** Apr. 09 - The Ritz - Tampa, FL * Apr. 11 - Masquerade - Atlanta, GA * Apr. 12 - The Underground - Charlotte, NC * Apr. 13 - Baltimore Soundstage - Baltimore, MD* Apr. 14 - Mr Smalls Theatre - Pittsburgh, PA* Apr. 16 - Westcott Theater - Syracuse, NY* Apr. 17 - The Royale - Boston, MA* Apr. 18 - Reverb - Reading, PA * Apr. 19 - Irving Plaza - New York, NY * * SUMMONER'S CIRCLE opening (March 13-16 and April 9-19) ** HOLLOW CRY opening (March 18-29) *** FRAGMENTUM opening (March 30 - April 7) CHILDREN OF BODOM's tenth album, "Hexed", will be released on March 8 via Nuclear Blast Records. Laiho comments: "People have said that this album is generally catchier. So I started thinking about that; perhaps the song structures are easier to grasp on initial listen. But there's some crazy shit in there — almost progressive or at least technical. There are certain melodies across the album that could have come from jazz songs, although they're completely metal with us, of course. [Laughs]" "For me, it has always been very hard to describe our new music," comments bassist Henkka Seppälä (a.k.a. Henkka T. Blacksmith). "In a way, it always feels familiar, but the new stuff also always surprises me. Here we have something that's very BODOM, but somehow we haven't done this kind of stuff, possibly ever. Then again, someone said that there's a somewhat similar vibe to what 'Follow The Reaper' had. I don't know. Anyway, we had a really hard time choosing the songs for the videos. I guess that's a positive problem to have." "Hexed" saw the return to Finland's Danger Johnny Studios where COB was reunited with Mikko Karmila ("I Worship Chaos", "Halo Of Blood", "Hatebreeder", "Follow The Reaper" and "Hate Crew Deathroll") who recorded everything except keyboards and also produced the album with the band. Janne Wirman recorded keyboards at Beyond Abilities Studios. The album was mixed and mastered at Finnvox Studios in Helsinki, Finland. For this album, the band enlisted Deins Forkas to create the album artwork. Henkka commented on the cover: "For some years I've wanted to try a different approach with our cover art. We are so used to digital art, so it's really hard to do something else. Doing it completely with a computer is somewhat safe and convenient. This time we all agreed to try going old school. We found this cool dude and gave him simple instructions — the cover has to be purple and the reaper has to be central. Half a year later, we got his work, and with little tweaking, we now have the cover of 'Hexed'. It is very different from what we are used to, even the Reaper looks different, but at the same time very spooky."
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