HIM (Not H.I.M, damn you!) is a rock (I say rock because their genre is very disputed. I could also say Gothic Rock, Gothic Metal, Metal, Love Metal, or, I suppose, Alternative.) band from Finland composed of five members.
Ville Valo, vocals
Linde Lindstrom, guitar
Mige Amour, bass
Emerson Burton, Keyboard
Gas Lipstick, Drums (Yes. Stage names, for the most part. I actually know the real names but hey...its about the music....) Currently they have seven (almost 8) albums. 666 Ways to Love: Prologue; Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666; Razorblade Romance; Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights; Love Metal, Dark Light; Uneasy Listening Vol. 1; and Uneasy Listening Vol. 2
I love HIM.
Reasons:
- Melancholy lyrics that aren't afraid to appear blunt. (But really they're not. At all.)
- References are found through all albums to famous writers. Poe and Baudelaire, to name a few.
- Melancholy lyrics that are really about what all music is really about: sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll. (Yes, there are songs that are about other things. I'm making what's called a generalization.)
- Foreign music just beats new American music. (There is classic American music that wins. We'll get to it eventually.) It just DOES. Accept it.
- Use of keyboard is brilliant. (I.E. Both the use of keyboard, and the keyboardist, Burton Emerson. I refer to stage names because they're easier to spell.)
- The heartagram (which, yes, IS HIM's symbol. I've a whole rant on that as well. All in good time, darlings.) is an ace symbol.
- Valo has a versatile, varied, and wide vocal range.
- They only have one bad album so far, which is more than I can say about a lot of other bands.
- Even their bad album isn't the worst thing I've ever heard. It's just comparatively bad.
- They were a relative unknown in American up until late 2005. Which meant I could listen to them in peace.
Here's where the bitching starts:
My original HIM complaint was that Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights (2001) is an underrated album. Up until 2005, for anyone who knew HIM, the favorite album was either Razorblade Romance (2000) or Love Metal (2003). These are amazing albums, don't get me wrong. Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666 (1997) isn't too shabby either, but I've always had a special love for Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights. It wasn't my first HIM album (that honor goes to Razorblade Romance.) and it wasn't the best album I've ever listened to (I have yet to choose that one, actually.) but I always thought that HIM fans, even proper ones, never gave it the credit it deserved. Maybe I just like it best because no one else seems to, but up until 2005, that was my biggest complaint about the band and things associated it with it. (I.E. the fans). And then Dark Light came out.
Dark Light (2005, their latest) is a crappy album. It's very poppy, whether or not that's what the intention was. It's written and produced in such a way that, if you so choose, you can ignore any deeper meaning that could possibly be found. Either that or you're between the ages of eleven and fourteen and the words "deeper meaning in music" mean nothing to you. If you're younger than eleven your favorite song is probably something from the Pussy Cat Dolls (AKA The Spice Girls version 2.0), and also, what the hell are you doing on the Internet without parental supervision? (Which is the only way you found this blog.)
But I digress. I strongly dislike the album Dark Light, and I also eschew the singles from it. Wings of a Butterfly and Killing Loneliness are two of my least favorite songs from the entire album. The fact that I've been subjected to obnoxious young teens raving about them just makes it all the worse. The video for Wings of a Butterfly depends on too much green screen for my tastes and while the original video for Killing Loneliness wasn't terrible, the newer one contains too many fangirls for me to have any appreciation for it. Though I do applaud it being pretty much a straight performance video and the shots of Valo being tattooed (as well as the tattoo itself) are very cool.
I could let Dark Light go. Really, I could. I have the ability to forgive and forget, especially stumbles and missteps from my favorite bands. They happen to the best of us. The problem in forgiving Dark Light is the next HIM album, due out (was July tenth) September 18th,. The name of the prospective album is, I shit you not, Venus Doom. That is, quite possibly, one of the worst album names in the HISTORY of album names. And some of the track titles from this album include "Passion's Killing Floor", "Bleed Well", "Love in Cold Blood", "The Kiss of Dawn," and "Dead Lovers Lane".
Some of those sound good! They do! Kiss of Dawn? Bring it. Love in Cold Blood? Fits squarely in HIM's vein of track titles. Passion's Killing Floor? I can give it a pass. It has potential. I have faith in Valo's song writing abilities.
Bleed Well is where we hit the "too emo to have a chance" realm of music. I haven't heard the song, I can't judge. When the album comes out, I will certainly give it a chance. But a song title like that just automatically sets a track back. Add that to an album titled Venus Doom and, well… I don't know.
Dead Lovers Lane. I have a theory about this song. I think that if it embraces the wackiness of it's title and is somehow connected to a serial killer, that it could be a truly fantastic cult classic of a song. Chances of that happening are slim to none, but one can hope I suppose.
I have hope for the album. From all accounts, it's going to be very guitar-centric and the heaviest thing HIM's done yet. I'm all for that. Anything heavy to scare away at least a few of the fangirls Dark Light brought about is a good thing in my book. Will I be purchasing this album the day it comes out? Yes. HIM comes in a very close second to my favorite band. (The Rasmus. They win. They just do.) Chances of me, on the whole, liking this album are better than I thought they would be. After Dark Light I just about lost all faith in any future work, but I may be proven wrong. (I hope that I am proven wrong. A lot of the time, I would like to be proven wrong. Generally, I'm not.)
It comes down to this: if Venus Doom is good, I can forgive Dark Light. If it's not, then I will always be able to trace HIM's downfall to washed up, sellout band to that album.
Here's my final tidbit. Fangirls (and boys) are the bane of my existence. If your reasons for liking HIM include "Ville Valo is SO HOTT!" then I suggest you never visit this blog again. If you've ever pronounced Ville Valo's name as Vile Valo, I suggest you never visit this blog again. If you stared at your computer screen in horror and cursed me for hating the song Wings of a Butterfly because, like, it's your favorite song, I suggest you never visit this blog again. If Dark Light is the only HIM album you own, or the only one you've ever listened to, then I suggest you never visit this blog again. If you can't name any of the members of HIM past Valo (I'd even settle for stage names, because those ARE what I go by. I love the music, not the men.) then I suggest that you never visit this blog ever again. If you own a HIM shirt from Hot Topic (In fact, if you own anything from Hot Topic that you didn't steal.) then I suggest you never visit this blog again. And finally, if you frowned at number six on my list and frantically opened a Wikipedia page muttering "The heartagram is Bam's symbol!" then I suggest that you never visit this blog again.
I know there are fangirls for other bands. I KNOW. TRUST ME, I BLOODY KNOW! I just dedicated this post to my bitching about HIM, so I figured I'd use HIM fangirls as my example.
anywho, Not Downing on the band...but this is jsut what has been on my mind for sohhh so long.
HIM is still one of my Fav. Band's ever! Gotta Love em, but sometimes, Some bands albums jsut dont come out as good as alot of us hope. Yes, Dark Light was a HIT...but...jsut not so big in my book.
All Love in HIM!
Take Care Sweethearts.