Not heard of HIM? Here is a little background for all you non-rock fans out there.

HIM are a band from Finland, that first released an album in 1996, they are originally from Finland, and have reached a fairly high level of success in their home country. The name HIM stands for His Infernal Majesty, although they are known as HER in USA, due to copyright issue with a country band known as HIM. They define the genre Love Metal, infact they created it! Their music is a gentle blend of metal riffs and love ballads, to the point that even if you don’t like metal music you will at least like this, if not love it. HIM are the inventors of the genre of music known as “Love Metal”, it is a melodic mixture of smooth vocals, piano and guitars.

The band consists of Valo on vocals, Gas on drums, Mige on bass, and Linde on guitar (I’m not sure of their real names, but this is what they like to be known as!).
They have huge links with the rock scene in USA ever since Bam Magera (which many of you will remember from Jackass or CKY) fell in love with their music, he now organises tours with the band, appears at gigs, directs music videos and promotes the band at any opportunity possible moment. They have released 4 albums over the years and each one has been awesome, so early this year (2004) their first greatest hits was released (with a few new songs on it), called “And Love Said No”.

Here is a review of each of the songs on the album:

Track 1: And Love Said No
This is the title track of the album, previously unreleased. It is slightly heavier in parts than some of their songs, but the lyrics are very powerful, infact the chorus is “Kill me I begged, and love said No”. I’m not sure whether this is a reference to a personal part of the band/ Vilo’s life but the use of the imagery in this song is intense.

Track 2: Join Me In Death
My favourite song on the album starts with lyrics being sung over a piano playing a sad tune, this song is beautiful. The lyrics are really sad and it is very likely to touch its listener, and with a title like “Join Me In Death” it doesn’t take a genius to work out the main vibe of the song. This is one of my favourite songs ever, if there was one song you wanted to listen to before leaving someone you love this is the song I would guarantee would be best fitting.

Track 3: Buried Alive By Love
This is one of the most famous songs by HIM, regularly played on Kerrang TV. The tune is very catchy, with lyrics which make you think, for example “To cry is know your alive”. It is once again, a very touching, with a fast tempo to it.

Track 4: Heartache every moment
This song starts very melodically (unlike some of their other songs). Vocals are much more the focus of this song than others, and Vilo goes to town, displaying his immense singing talents. It is quite a sad song, and not the type of thing for a depressed person to hear as it might send them over the edge. It is a song of self-reflection, of not having an answer to life.

Track 5: Solitary Man

This probably the most well known HIM song, it is extremely catchy with a great chorus. It’s very listenable to, and I’m surprised it didn’t do better in the UK charts than it did (it got to number 9 in the UK charts). The lyrics are somewhat bizarre but as usually very enjoyable. A great track.

Track 6: Right Here In My Arms
This is probably their most famous song from this album. It was released as a single in Finland and did well. The song has a beautiful build up to it, and is the best song to have a perfect balance of rock metal and love in it. Again you get the impression that this is a sad song, that is out their to touch the heart of it’s listener.

Track 7: Funeral Of Hearts
This song is as poetic as it sounds. The lyrics are beautifully written, and gracefully delivered. This is another well known HIM song, and was released on the album Love Metal in the year 2003. It is a gentler song compared to some of the other HIM songs.
It is no doubt a classic in many HIM fans.

Track 8: In Joy and in Sorrow
Vilo’s rich vocals are really put on full in this song as he blasts out maybe the deepest vocal song on the album. The poetic lyrics are present once again, and as with a lot of the other songs a lot of imagery is used to create an aura to the song.

Track 9: Your Sweet 666
This song will have you hooked on their sound from the start. This song matches every mood I feel and is great to chill out too. Although the song doesn’t seem to go anywhere this is a great, but not ground breaking, addition to the album.

Track 10: Gone with the Sin
The song starts slowly, building up to a climax when the guitars kick in. The song addresses the morals of purity and beauty, and how they are related. It is quite a melancholy song, and would be perfect music for a romantic dinner (as it is not very heavy at all). A very good song.

Track 11: Wicked Game
This song was recently on a Kerrang album, and for one reason, it sums up the whole genre of love metal well. It is a very good song that displays Valo’s immense vocal power and also shows the talent of the band as well. The song is a cover, and in my opinion it is better than the original sang by Chris Isaac.

Track 12: Sacrament
The first thing you notice about this song is that is how an extremely catchy tune to it, and it’s hard not to tap your foot to the beat whilst listening. I’m not quite sure what this song is singing about but the chorus is “I know the church is not of Silver and Gold…”, lots of religious references in this song. Not their greatest song ever, but very catchy and fairly well known (it was on a Kerrang album in early 2003).

Track 13: Close to the Flame

This is perhaps the slowest and most melodic song on the album. The song sings of being burnt by something so beautiful (a flame), this is a metaphor for love and broken hearts, which shows this song, as do many on this album, have hidden depths. It’s a great track, and romantic as well.

Track 14: Its All Tears

This is a UK Exclusive track, produced just for the British version of the album! This is one of the more heavy song, relying on guitars and drums to mix with the vocals to create some soothing metal music (believe me its possible). There are some strange backing vocals on this track that really don’t sound like Vilo’s, how bizarre.

Track 15: Poison Girl
This song starts magnificently with vocals being sung quietly behind a veil of guitar music. The song is stronger than the first, by that I mean it has a more rocky feel to it. It feels rough and ready, yet full of emotion at the same time, a bit like a hard chocolate with a soft strawberry centre!

Track 16: Pretending (Album Version)

This song is a lot like other songs on the album, meaning even though you might (as I do) really like the track, it doesn’t stand out. Which sadly shows that HIM can only really produce one type of music, even though they do it REALLY well.

Track 17: When Love and Death Embrace

What a great way to finish off a great album, a re-recording of a brilliant song. This track is the longest on the album (it lasts just over six minutes) and has the balance between soft vocal solos and guitar backed vocals really well. There is a strong feeling to the song of sadness, as if it is questioning the very logics of love, and how close the bond between love and hate/ death really is.

My version of the CD had a free DVD with it, which was a very nice bonus. The CD is full of footage of HIM playing live. There are 5 tracks performed, of which 3 aren’t even on the CD which seems a bit stupid to me. The songs are, Soul On Fire, Buried Alive By Love, Sweet Pandemonium, The Funeral Of Hearts, Beyond Redemption.
The recordings are ok, performed in front of quite a small crowd. The videos however are well filmed, although the DVD is a great bonus I would have rather watched an interview of the band or footage of them at the recording studio.

The front cover to the album is not their best in my opinion (Razor Blade Romance is such a better cover) but for me this is not too important. The CD comes as any double CD/ DVD case with a double sided holder for each CD, this serves the job well enough for me.

This album is damn near perfect. There are hardly any songs on this album that dip below “very good”, and more than one are borderline “excellence”. This is a perfect album for anyone who loves metal music, and wants something to listen to something a little more melodic, or it is perfect for someone who wants something with more depth than their average pop song. The only thing I would say about this album, which isn’t a bad issue for me but an issue none the less, is that all the songs are very similar. Unlike other rock bands HIM’s music style pretty much stay the same throughout the album. This is a modern day classic; this album is not to be missed and is the perfect CD for anyone looking to reflect on their life, and love.

I found two cheap places to buy this CD from the internet:
(Copy and Paste the HTML to bring up the CD on each site)

Amazon.co.uk - £9.99
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0001MBJBG/qid%3D1091718177/sr%3D2-1/wrestlingvide-21

CDWOW.co.uk - £6.99
http://www10.cd-wow.com/detail_results.php?product_code=10298&affid=13795