Niki N. Phaser

              HIM premiered their new video, Heartkiller, on MySpace this Friday, where it quickly became the most watched video for the day. This is the Love-Metallers first single off of their highly anticipated new album, Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice, which will be released next month. Embracing a more poppy sound, Heartkiller might just do the trick Ville Valo has hoped for every first single in the past: it gives a taste of the new direction, while still comforting worried fans. A definite departure from the ‘dirty’ sound of Venus Doom, this new material features a resurrection of the more synthy nuances of Dark Light and Razorblade Romance, as Valo himself admits.

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

             In a recent blog post on his official website, Linkin Park/Fort Minor member, Mike Shinoda gave fans an update on LP’s new LP. The band had their first meeting of the year, regarding the evolution of their future album, expected to be released, sometime in the summer/autumn of this year. It will be their fourth and the follow-up to the successful Minutes to Midnight. The MC seems happy with the way things are going and emphasizes a lot on the new direction of their recent songs. He even talks about initiating a new genre with this one, so the pressure to not repeat themselves seems to be really off. He also teases the army of fans, waiting for any new information: “I was going to tell you guys the working titles…but I changed my mind”, he writes. Though not a concept album, the new material is, so far, tied by “some thematic threads”, the producer also admits. Five songs are almost confirmed, with another 15-20 being worked on, a batch from which the final tracklisting is supposed to be picked. In earlier reports, there was talk of a more electronic sound, Blade Runner-inspired, but, as we all know, an album has many  gestation periods, so we’ll just have to wait and hear.

              It is official, pop-rock legends Blondie are going to make 2010 and even more special year, by releasing a new album. It will be their first since 2003′s The Curse of Blondie. The band is working with producer Jeff Saltzman and so far, they have around thirty tracks in the works. It’s still unclear if this is going to be a regular release or a digital one, but Chris Stein, talking about the new material, said: “does it sound like a Blondie recording? Yes I am sure it will be familiar”. The Curse of Blondie, though somewhat ignored, was a great collection of songs, so good things may be coming our way. Untill then, we can get into the holiday spirit with the band’s rocky rendition of the traditional We Three Kings, offered as a free download here.                      VIDEO