Venus Doom - HIM

Advantages: amazing new album from finnish love metal band HIM
Disadvantages: cyanide sun drags on a bit.

...the stellar 2007 launch of the finnish quintet's love metal album 'Venus Doom' created a wave of excitement through the metal community. going back to the less polished sound of Dark Light, and more towards the much older doom metal of Greatest Love Songs vol.666, Venus Doom presents a more mature evolution of the band. despite the 'back to basics' change however, we still see this as a HIM album, from the guitar filled love in cold blood, the crooning of bleed well to the doom laden title track. being a huge HIM fan myself, i definately praise this album as one of the band's best - my favourite being deep shadows and brilliant highlights - so any like minded fan may view this album the same way.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: An album for guitarists and music fans alike
Disadvantages: Johnson is often overshadowed by more "popular" guitarists

...Eric Johnson is somewhat of an oddity. A great guitarist, a talented singer and, most importantly, a first-rate song-writer, he is often overlooked and overshadows by his peers. A self-confessed perfectionist, Johnson can spent months (sometimes even years) working on a project. His technically brilliance on guitar is equal (if not beyond) that of the likes of Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Yngwie Malmsteen; however, whilst these three made their career in the eighties for "shredding" (for anyone who doesn't know, "shredding" is a style of guitar playing where the basic aim is to play as many notes as quickly as possible), Johnson reserved his abilities and instead crafted songs that are both powerful and thought-provoking. "Venus Isle" is Johnson's forth solo album and was released in 1996. I personally wouldn't class this solely... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: opening 3 or 4 tracks, ville's lyrics/vocals, 'tight' band structure
Disadvantages: fades badly in some areas....

...Wednesday, September 21st, 10am….. *annoying parent comes crashing through the bedroom door* Dad: "c'mon get up, it's far too late to still be lounging around in bed…." Alex: "couldn't you knock before you came crashing in here ?" Dad: "I pay the bills, I shouldn't have to knock before going anywhere in this house…… and what's this rubbish ?" Alex: "It's called a CD dad, bit beyond your time I know, but hey, get with it…." Dad: "cocky sod, who the hell are HIM anyway ?" Alex: "Scandinavian, Finnish to be exact…. A goth-rock band if you will….." Dad: "ah right, never heard you playing their stuff" *not remembering it bellowing from my speakers just the night before* "any good are they ?" Alex: "yeah, very good actually, better than the majority of rubbish floating around at the moment; you know, better than your... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful