Originating from the town of Espoo, in Finland, Alexi began his musical training at an early age by learning the violin. However, influenced by the music his sister heard (heavy metal music bands such as W.A.S.P., Poison and Stone), he ended up dropping the classical instrument at the age of 11, in favour of guitars. A taped live performace of Steve Vai's song "For the Love of God" (from the Passion and Warfare album) was especially influential in Alexi's decison to become a guitarist. He then began taking lessons at the Finnish Pop & Jazz Conservatorio in order to study the instrument. At the conservatory he also studied the piano. The development of his playing style was heavily influenced by Stone's Roope Latvala (who many years later became his bandmate in Sinergy and then in Children of Bodom). His vocal influences came mostly from Phil Anselmo (from Pantera) and Mille Petrozza (from Kreator).

After taking part of an experimetal music band named T.O.L.K. with friends from the conservatory, Alexi founded in 1993 the death metal band IneartheD (which later became Children of Bodom) together with drummer Jaska Raatikainen and then-bassist Samuli Miettinen - for information on IneartheD's career, refer to the Children of Bodom article.

At the age of sixteen, Alexi quit school in order to be able to dedicate himself fully to Children of Bodom. In 1997 he joined Thy Serpent, but did not remain for enough time in the band to record an album.

With the release of Children of Bodom's debut Something Wild, the band played a concert with Impaled Nazarene in Russia, and Alexi was invited to join the later band as a lead guitarist. Alexi joined Impaled Nazarene and remained with them until 2001, but never held much interest in the band, always relegating it to second plan.

In 1999, Alexi was invited to join Sinergy by kimberly Goss, as the lead guitarist and support keyboard player. In 2001, Roope Latvala joined Sinergy, and a "master against disciple" situation was created, resulting in several guitar battles on the solos of Sinergy's songs.

Alexi was a guest musicians on a song by To/Die/For ("In the Heat of the Night") and on a few songs by Norther, he also co-produced the debut album of the band Griffin, all between 2001 and 2002.

In September of 2002, Alexi's custom Jackson guitars (one of them bearing the famous "Wildchild" sticker, which was the guitar with which he appeared in all of the early Children of Bodom pictures) were stolen from him by an unidentified thief while he was asleep after a night partying with the other members of the band after finishing a successful concert. He later made a deal with ESP Guitars in order to get a replacement.

In 2004, Alexi founded a side-project punk rock band named Kylähullut, which was assembled together with Tommi Lillman (ex-Sinergy) and Vesa Jokinen (from Klamydia). The band was created merely for the entertainment of the musicians, and takes a carefree approach to their music. So far the band has released a 4-track EP and a full 12-song album.

Alexi's life is dedicated almost entirely to music, and whenever he is not on tour with one of his bands, he is playing video games, drinking or practicing. His main hobby are cars; he was taught how to drive by his father at the age of 10. Alexi owns a Pontiac Firebird, a 1974 Dodge Monaco and a Buick.

More than once, Alexi has referred to his bandmates as "probably the only real friends I ever had". He has the letters "COBHC" (Children of Bodom Hate Crew) tattooed on his hand, as an homage to Ozzy Osbourne, who has a similar tattoo. A couple of fans from across the world have reproduced the tattoo on their hands, a few of the more passionate ones reached the extreme of cutting it directly into their skin with knives and razors. Alexi has been featured on the cover of Young Guitar Magazine several times. The Wildchild nickname comes from a song by the band W.A.S.P. His first guitar was a Tokai Stratocaster.

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