The band's third studio album, Follow the Reaper, was their first album to receive a gold certification in Finland, and subsequent studio albums acquired the same status. Their next four albums debuted at number one on the Finnish album charts, and have also seen chart positions on the United States Billboard 200. They are one of Finland's best selling artists of all time with more than 250,000 records sold there alone.
In 2019, Children of Bodom held their last concert in Helsinki named A Chapter Called Children of Bodom, before disbanding the band. Laiho and Freyberg carried on as Bodom After Midnight in 2020. Laiho, who was one of the founding members of Children of Bodom as well as the only main songwriter, died on 29 December 2020.
Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_of_Bodom
Studio albums
Something Wild (1997)
Hatebreeder (1999)
Follow the Reaper (2000)
Hate Crew Deathroll (2003)
Are You Dead Yet? (2005)
Blooddrunk (2008)
Relentless Reckless Forever (2011)
Halo of Blood (2013)
I Worship Chaos (2015)
Hexed (2019)
If You Want Peace... Prepare For War
Children of Bodom Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Pain ain't even really what you wanna be
5 feet under seeing your humanity
The opportunity to divide
The opportunity of being apart!!
Soon be there, the moon in the sky tonight
Smash your face and then I beat it down
Are we really gonna die?!
Get up and fight, release your rage, come on and fight
Standing straight faced, it is your fate, calling my name
Calling me pain, and if you stay, you'll bite the scythe
Waiting for you I want to just tell you
If you want peace, prepare for war!
Fuck!
Get up and fight, release your rage, come on and fight
Standing straight faced, it is your fate, calling my name
Calling me pain, and if you stay, you'll bite the scythe
Waiting for you I want to just tell you
Get up and fight, release your rage, come on and fight
Standing straight faced, it is your fate, calling my name
Calling me pain, and if you stay, you'll bite the scythe
Waiting for you I want to just tell you
If you want peace, prepare for war!
The lyrics of Children of Bodom's song If You Want Peace...Prepare For War depicts a message of standing up and fighting for what you want, as peace can only be achieved through war. The song starts out with the idea of pain not being what one wants, but rather the fear of losing humanity and being divided. The lyrics then move on to depict a scene of purifying through burning and smashing faces with the line "smash your face and then I beat it down," portraying a sense of aggression and angst. In a sense, the lyrics can be viewed as a call to action, urging one to fight for what they believe in, for this could be the key to gaining peace.
Line by Line Meaning
Pain ain't even really what you wanna be
You don't want to experience pain
5 feet under seeing your humanity
Facing death and the realization of your mortality
The opportunity to divide
A chance to separate and create differences
The opportunity of being apart!!
The chance to be separate entities
Soon be there, the moon in the sky tonight
The arrival of nighttime
We're burning on a purified
The destruction of purity through aggression and violence
Smash your face and then I beat it down
Committing physical harm on the opposition
Are we really gonna die?!
Facing the possibility of death
Get up and fight, release your rage, come on and fight
Summoning the urge to fight back and unleash anger
Standing straight faced, it is your fate, calling my name
The other side accepting defeat and the realization of the final outcome
Calling me pain, and if you stay, you'll bite the scythe
Acknowledging the destruction and loss of life in battle
Waiting for you I want to just tell you
Anticipating the upcoming conflict and preparing to confront the enemy
If you want peace, prepare for war!
To maintain peace, one must be ready to defend themselves and fight back if necessary.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: ALEKSI LAIHO
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind