Love metal - Love this album (Love Metal - Him)

Member Name: Glitterybee

Product:	Love Metal - Him
Date:	25/10/09 (15 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: 10 tracks of almost perfection.

Disadvantages: Slightly ruined by Bam Margera's constant over publicizing.

'Love metal' is the 4th album from Finnish 'goth' tinted band HIM. This really was their breakthrough album, they gained a lot of fans around this time as people suddenly became aware of them through the first single off the album 'buried alive by love', which Bam Margera helped make and a 'Making of the video' show was aired on MTV, which threw them into the public eye.

The album was released in the UK on the 14th April 2003, but wasn't released in the States until Early february 2005. As the ever raging "what genre are they" debate raged on, Ville apparently had grown tired of being asked, hence he titled this album 'love metal', which amusingly some 'true' metal fans said wasn't true. There's just no pleasing some people.

The track listing is as follows:

1."Buried Alive By Love"
2."The Funeral of Hearts"
3."Beyond Redemption"
4."Sweet Pandemonium"
5."Soul on Fire"
6."The Sacrament"
7."This Fortress of Tears"
8."Circle of Fear"
9."Endless Dark"
10."The Path"
11."Love's Requiem" *Only on the digipak edition.

HIM really have come a long way, from their early days way back in the early 90's (yes they've been going that long!), their first album 'greatest love songs vol.666' had a very raw, unfinished sound - it is also a great deal heavier than the other albums, especially compared to 'deep shadows and brilliant highlights' which is a very light, melodic album.

But 'love metal' however, is something entirely different, which is the exact reason i love HIM, each album is extremely different. Showing they are far from being a one trick pony. 'Love metal' is a very melodic, yet heavy album, it's much more mastered and the songs are intricate and very well put together. Valo's voice has improved somewhat over the years and works perfectly with the sound of the band. The keyboards & synths really do help create the perfect dark atmosphere that HIM's music is now known for, getting Burton as the keyboardist is possibly one of the bands smartest choices.
The album has a gentle dark beauty, with flowing melodies throughout, but there's always that edge of heaviness, slight aggression at times and that makes the balance perfect.

It is an extremely listenable album, most albums you find yourself pressing the 'skip' button on some songs, but this is yet another HIM album where i never did that and still to this day, i still like all the songs. It is slightly more shaped for the mainstream than some of their previous material, but again the balance is just right. All their songs have a certain value that make them memorable and again, have that sing along value that the fans adore. If i had to choose the strongest songs on the album, they would probably be 'the sacrament', 'the path' and 'circle of fear', as i think they show off what HIM are best at, these songs, for me at least, sum up HIM. Beautiful lyrics, beautiful melody, raw emotion with that dark, heavy edge.

This may not be their best album, but it is certainly a strong contender and perfect for people who are new to the band. If your listening to HIM or this album for the first time, i'm jealous, i wish i could get to that all over again.

This album isn't perfect, but it's pretty damn close.

Summary: Blinding album which shows off HIM's signature sound perfectly.