Scared to Death

SCARED TO DEATH to look here ?

The James Copeman (Razorlight, Mystery Jets) directed video features the band in a dark setting, with some flashes of their taxidermied power animals overlapping from time to time. Of course, this is also a chance for Valo to ‘premiere’ his new tattoos, of Maya Deren and Klaus Kinski. Overall, Heartkiller is a decent song, not more, but it does the job: it states that HIM are up and running once again.

HEARTKILLER

Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice

Love, the Hardest Way, Heartkiller, Ode to Solitude

Early reports and interviews hint at a more accessible, hit-friendly album. Metal Hammer’s exclusive first review of the album suggests that the Matt Squire produced effort is a considerable departure from 2007′s Venus Doom, which was Ville Valo’s intention in the first place. Lyrically, it seems that this time around, in the old ecuation of love and death, the pulsating variable of sex plays a major role. Check the band’s official site for Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice artwork.

INFO

HEARTAGRAM

Finnish love metal pioneers, HIM are often mistaken for some poppy band, but in fact the core of their music is guitar-driven heavy metal. On that, they (actually Ville Valo, the songwriter) add some melodic synths or romantic lyrics. Still, to be completely truthful, two out of their six albums are more love than metal: Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights (2001) and Dark Light (2005), the latter being famous for making HIM the first Finnish act to go gold in the US. The title track of this album, which at one point was speculated to be released as a single, marks the highest pop point in their career. It is the one song where Valo’s vocals seem to be genuine happy and the catchy piano tune of the chorus certainly adds to that feeling of benign nostalgia. We have to remember that this song was written when he was having a difficult time being the “miserable poet”, i.e. the days of his highly-publicized engagement to a Finnish TV star. But, back to the sound, the guitars are loud, but not heavy and the multi-layered direction they adopted for the record really hits home. All sorts of synth sighs form a subtle sonic spectre, that reminds us of the black-sabbathy-horror aspect of HIM. Still, it is that hypnotic Twin Peaks spookyness, that Ville Valo often cites as an influence, not something 666-esque.

The light is definitely in the music, so the dark is underlined through the lyrics, which speak of “the poison tears of a life denied” and “To learn how to die, In peace with her God”. They are inspired by a Norwegian book of the same title, authored by Mette Newth. It is the story of a 13 year old girl dying of leprosy in a miserable hospital. Hence, the female character in the song, whose fears are blinded by the dark light, and hence the gentle lullaby melody. Dark Light wasn’t played live, maybe because it’s so un-rock for a love metal band, but it surely represents a special and unique moment in HIM’s history and for that alone, should get your attention.

LISTEN TO VILLE VALO’S HAPPY MOMENT HERE

Ville Valo

Ville Valo, singer-songwriter from HIM announced that his band is working on a new album, to be recorded in august. For now, the album title is ‘SCREAMWORKS: Love in Theory and Practice’, but Ville admitted that nothing is set. They gave themselves till Valentine’s Day 2010 to finish up everything for the release, including a video for the first single. This will be the first three-year break between albums since Razorblade Romance (1999) and Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights (you guessed it, 2002).

It will be produced by Matt Squire, who did some stuff with Taking Back Sunday and The Used, which makes me wonder if he’ll get fired like Andy Wallace, who was let go from working on HIM’s Dark Light, for making them sound “too American”, as the legend goes… It doesn’t really matter who’s producing, as long as they don’t mess up Valo’s catchy riffs too much.