"G’day mate! How are you going? Grab your togs and the Esky coz’ there’s this fair dinkum Aussie band we have to check out this arvo, so crack open the XXXX and let’s fuckin’ rock ya bogan!" Now that I’ve likely offended a lot of you stereo-typically because let’s be honest, you re-read that sentence with an accent, let’s get serious for a moment…in case you hadn’t realised we’re going to be talking about an Australian band and coincidentally, it was recently Australia Day, so that’s a nice segway. We’re going to be looking at a band by the name of TONIGHT ALIVE…formed in Sydney in 2008, the 4-piece (Consisting of vocalist Jenna McDougal, guitarist Jake Hardy, bassist Cameron Adler and drummer Matt Best) have always had natural comparisons to PARAMORE but they rightfully ignore that (Let’s be honest any group with a female vocalist post-“Riot!” was influenced by Paramore…right?) and so-far in their 10 year run they’ve always done their own thing. They’ve recently released a brand new album by the name of “Underworld”…so, get ya’ thongs on mate we’re going down under!

The album gets underway with “Book Of Love” and we’re met with some low-key electronica…the softness of it allows for a very ambient vibe and it’s rich in harmony, before it erupts into this bold, confident chorus, Jenna belts this one out and musically this is something fans of ANAVAE would lap up, a lovely start this…before we keep the quality coming with lead single “Temple”.  The guitar is more prominent here for the most part adding an extra level of grit and weight, giving the track a more serious tone initially, but again it bursts into this massive, up-tempo chorus and it’s truly infectious…structurally it’s a 50/50 track but it works really well and it’s a definite album highlight.

There is a bit of a theme that runs through this album and it’s evident in tracks such as “The Other”…another up-beat, modern pop-rock anthem in every sense of the word, it’s got all the hooks, the intensity and massive chorus, likewise with “Just For Now”…Jenna’s got some powerful vocals when she gets going and again they ramp up the melody and throw this massive groove-laden chorus at the listener, they’ve nailed it on this record it has to be said, with really enjoyably choruses and hooks spread thoroughly across this whole album like a dollop of Vegemite…and their softer offerings aren’t bad too either! Closing track “My Underworld” is a wonderful collaboration with SLIPKNOT / STONE SOUR vocalist Corey Taylor and here he’s allowed to showcase his impressive clean vocals in a wonderful little duet, while “Looking For Heaven” is a quaint albeit soppy piano ballad. If there are any faults with this album, surprisingly it’s “Disappear”…featuring Lynn Gunn from PVRIS, it’s here you expect to be blown away with a dual-assault, bombastic, electronic pop-rock masterpiece given both of their strengths as front-women but, it’s really rather tame and a bit of a wasted opportunity. Other than that it’s a solid album from start to finish and well worth the listen…wherever you are in the world, tonight is very much alive…carpe noctem and all that. [8]

There are certain situations in life where you just can’t win…for example, say…an argument with your wife…or there’s that saying about playing chess with a pigeon. No matter how good you are at chess, the pigeon is just going to peck at the pieces, shit on the board and strut around like it’s won anyway. My point is sometimes it’s a case of why should we even bother and to try and elaborate I’m going to use BLACK VEIL BRIDES as an example. They formed in 2006 following the massive emo explosion but were always aiming for a heavier crowd, very much inspired by their love of KISS and MOTLEY CRUE (You’d never tell looking at them would you?) and in 2011 they made their big breakthrough with the album “Set The World On Fire”…with massive singles like “Fallen Angels” they put themselves on the map and were touted as the next big thing…but the trouble is that with endorsements like this, there is always backlash.

While the younger fans lapped them up, making front-man Andy Biersack a poster-boy in the process, many traditional metal fans labelled them as rip-off artists and posers (I remember a distinctly hostile reception at Download 2012) and thus, they became one of those Marmite bands. Fast forward a couple of years and after a couple more albums, they’ve toned down on the appearance ever so slightly and focussed on delivering a less glam-metal  inspired sound leading into their brand new record “Vale”…and here lies the problem…let’s check it out.

We open up with “Incipiens Ad Finem” or roughly “Starting At The End”…that was sudden, quickest review ever! I jest…but no it’s literally a 21 second intro that serves literally no purpose being its own “track”…Biersack rambles on about having found their stage, preaching to the legion of the black and it’s all very melodramatic, before the first proper track “The Last One” gets the album going. It’s a very underwhelming transition to be honest not sounding very natural at all but when it reaches its peak it’s BVB by numbers; gang vocals and a soaring chorus, even the solo sounds forced but really its nothing special at all. “Wake Up” is a decent little track in an annoyingly literal sense…it’s a decent up beat piece of melodic rock but at less than 3mins it may as well be an alarm clock ring tone, it’s over just as you’re getting into it which is frustrating.

I won’t be a complete villain…”My Vow” offers some much needed weight and we actually get some enjoyable riffs here, there’s much more attitude here and it’s more akin to the earlier work that made them and that’s welcome, though it’s annoyingly short yet again, while “The King Of Pain” has an infectious simplicity to it, soothingly plucked guitars and honey coated vocals with ample hooks provide a clear album highlight here. “Dead Man Walking” tries it’s best to utilise pop elements but it’s far too long, and the chorus is disappointingly weak and repetitive, and its here we hit the albums Achilles heel…the vast majority of “Vale” sadly sounds phoned in and it’s ironically summed up in “Ballad Of The Lonely Hearts”. There’s a lyric that goes “Here's to the lonely hearts and the ones that never change. Here's to the failed starts and the song remains the same” and you’d be forgiven for thinking Biersack was singing about this very album…there’s nothing here that truly leaps out at you as a statement, there’s nothing here that warrants BVB being as big as they are…and this is where I draw my analogy; the band can’t win. Glam metal and make up? Posers and scorned…a touch stripped back and more serious? They have absolutely no charisma whatsoever…the album is annoyingly flat and it really is a case of damned if they do, damned if they don’t. Ironically it was them that sang “Love Isn’t Always Fair” [5]

When they initially formed in the early 80’s, North Carolina’s Raleigh rockers CORROSION OF CONFORMITY were very much influenced by the big hitters in the hardcore punk scene, with the likes of BLACK FLAG and MINOR THREAT being among the bands that inspired them, but over the years, they’ve somewhat mellowed into a more stoner based syndicate as they’ve gotten older, and despite their seemingly revolving door policy for members, the original core line up of Woody Weatherman, Mike Dean, Reed Mullin and a returning Pepper Keenan have come together once again in early 2018 to deliver “No Cross No Crown”, their tenth studio album…having accepted these terms and conditions, let’s check it out.

The album gets underway with “Novus Deus” which roughly translates as “Revived God” which ties in nicely with the album title conceptually…the track itself is merely an intro at just under a minute and a half but it’s sludgy, doom-inspired tones echo early BLACK SABBATH efforts…there’s a coarseness to it and it builds up nice and slowly to first track proper “The Luddite”. The transition is a smooth one as it blends in almost immediately, picking up the pace considerably; the southern metal style prominent throughout, rich in groove but it’s got a heaviness to it within its riffs that sets it apart from most southern inspired bands. Lead single “Cast The First Stone” is much more energetic slab of music it has to be said…with its thrashing, up-tempo approach it’s a lot more comparable to their earlier work, with its ballsy, no fucks given attitude, in ways fans of GWAR could easily appreciate this one, an album highlight.

Speaking of highlights, we can’t ignore the similarly up-beat rip-ride of a track “Forgive Me”…with the stoner influences shining through a fine dose of hard rock, coupled with some truly infectious hooks and guitar licks, it’s a wonderfully enjoyable track and provides the albums peak. Highlights don’t necessarily mean bouncy and energetic mind you, as the band prove on the title track…a chilling slab of doom-inspired despair with a social/political pot-shot at the west, while “Nothing Left To Say” incorporates an emotive, soul-based tone, fully embracing southern blues heritage. The main faults with this album, if any really, are interludes…there are three of them, taking the whole track listing up to fifteen in total and, really there’s absolutely no need. “No Cross” comes across as filler from a low-budget horror movie score, “Matre’s Diem” or, “Mother’s Day” is a random little acoustic instrumental and “Sacred Isolation” is again, no more than filler. Overall though the rest of the tracks make up a decent stoner-rock record, and COC are showing no signs of corrosion after all this time. [7]

I’ve often touched upon the 90’s as being the era of grunge but we have to remember that it was a decade that saw a lot of evolution and development in alternative music, and none more so than metal. New ideas brought new sounds and new sounds came courtesy of new bands…and one of the most enduring bands to breakthrough, were MACHINE HEAD. In 1994 they dropped their debut album “Burn My Eyes” (Which became Roadrunner Records best-selling debut at the time) and metal was never same again…over the years they’ve established themselves as one of the biggest bands in modern metal itself (Arguably peaking at 2007’s “The Blackening”), and continue to pummel the masses to this day…and by this day, I mean January 26th, 2018. The band release their ninth studio album “Catharsis” and they’ve pulled absolutely no punches…let’s check it out.

The album kicks off with “Volatile” and it’s exactly that…with an opening cry of “Fuck the world!” Robb Flynn is clearly full of piss and vinegar here, and the music matches his lyrical frustration pound for pound. Inspired by the state of the world we live in, it’s decidedly chaotic and aggressive and really hits home the sense of dissonance plaguing humanity right now. Musically up-tempo and riff-heavy with layers of thrash, in ways there are parts that can be likened to early SLIPKNOT in ways…this is a solid start. The title track follows up and so soon we find ourselves with a drastic change of pace, but it’s surprisingly welcome…it’s incredibly smooth and polished with rich melodies and a real sense of drama in tone, but while it does retain the trademark snarls of Flynn, the tender piano led sections are genuinely moving; a fitting title for a track that clearly deals with a lot of pent up emotions and issues with the world…and an interesting change of direction.

The highlight’s don’t end there either…”California Bleeding” has slight nu-metal qualities, especially within the hook-laden chorus and, more recognizably the lyrical style…it reeks of nostalgic, early 2000’s angst but it’s not hamming it up per se…before “Kaleidoscope” barges in with its frenetic, fast-paced thrash metal onslaught, though the chorus still uses a decent hook, but possibly the biggest surprise here comes courtesy of “Behind The Mask”…for Machine Head have delivered…a ballad. What apocalyptic fuckery is this I hear you typing angrily…but bear with me; you need to listen to this. The simplistic acoustic number is rich in delicate melody and Flynn’s vocal performance is actually quite impressive, opting for purely clean harmonic vocals instead of his usual growls. The change in tone here will offend many purists but this is a very well written, stripped back song that despite lacking in their typical weight, manages to add plenty of depth to the album structurally. “Eulogy” too is another wonderfully subdued piece of music for the most part, with two thirds of the track opting for a dreary, despairing closing number, which again is a welcome change.

The album isn’t without it’s downfalls mind you…firstly I must mention the length, it’s 15 tracks at 75mins which is a hefty listen…they could have cut the track-listing down a little for a more easily digestible listen…”Triple Beam” again champions the nu-metal revival with its semi-rap inspired lyrics…lacking the quality of the aforementioned, realistically with about as much appeal as, say, POD in places, or even INSANE CLOWN POSSE…make of that what you will…and then we come to “Bastards”…the message may be strong and it’s clearly emotional but…the best way I can summarize this is if…fuck…um…I don’t even know? Say JOHNNY CASH had a bastard failed abortion with the DROPKICK MURPHYS? I’ll leave you make your mind up on this one, it’s giving me a Machine Head-ache…overall a solid album but it has its controversies and question marks. Flynn has stated no fucks were given making this, it’s unapologetic in its creation and delivery, and that’s exactly the feeling you get as a listener, so he’s succeeded…so its debatable in a sense that, it’s very possibly their best album since The Blackening…[8]

Last time we left HIM…they left us on the cliff hanger with a foreboding sense of impending happiness…what did they mean? What did Valo have up his sleeve? What creative direction would they take next? The answer would surprise many…the previous release; “Screamworks: Love In Theory And Practice, Chapters 1-13” wasn’t received very well by a large portion of fans, with Valo himself even suggesting the album was a failure…so were the band done with the commercial radio-friendly approach? Would Valo brush his 80’s new wave pop influences under the carpet and pick up the guitar again? The short answer is, not quite…the band instead opted to do a LINKIN PARK and release a remix album entitled “SWRMXS” and if fans were confused before, this had them scratching their heads…

We do we even begin? One thing that can be said about HIM is, they’ve always tried to stay fresh…each and every album they’ve released has, while retaining the core HIM sound and principles, always mixed it up a little…be it in tone, or genre influence, ranging from doom metal to hard rock, to Gothic piano ballads…but if anything the last album proved that heading down a commercially friendly mainstream route upset fans to some extent…so was this in essence a middle finger? A fuck you? Many viewed this as a die-hard fans only release, one for the collectors and a record that had no real place in the bands discography…but how good or even bad WAS it? The eleven track mix tape opens up just like its predecessor with “In Venere Veritas” but it’s been reworked by Finnish electronic composer HUORATRON (Real name Aku Raski) and what we find is a dirty slab of EDM, dotted with broken vocal samples and distorted dub qualities…its…different. “The Foreboding Sense Of Impending Happiness” can in ways be blamed for the project as a whole given the musical approach and here its mix by American house DJ MORGAN PAGE is very much the lo-fi, chilled listen it was always meant to be, rich in ambience. Some of this material DOES work…”Love, The Hardest Way” has the pleasure of having TIËSTO at the helm and is probably the sole source of credibility here for any casual listener…his approach is simple and trance-inspired with some genuinely catchy qualities, while “Dying Song” is given similar treatment…again, lo-fi but up-beat and at least enjoyable…when they get it wrong however, my god do they get it wrong. “Heartkiller” gets absolutely butchered courtesy of a MERCYFVCKS remix…I honestly wish it had mercy and fucked off…while the oOoOO remix of “Shatter Me With Hope” could put a glass eye to sleep…brave? Very. Stupid? Debatable…one thing’s for sure; it left a sour taste in many a fans mouth and is arguably the worst thing the band ever put their name to. [3]
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There would be another quiet spell following on from the Screamworks touring cycle and in ways, a period of recovery and reassessment too, on both sides to a degree…but fans got excited again in 2012 when HIM returned out of the blue with a new single; “Strange World”…another cover, this time by KÉ and another cover the band could ultimately call their own, credit to HIM, they know how to pick a cover…but excitement soon dwindled as the new song would be just that; one new song, merely to accompany another greatest hits collection…”XX: Two Decades Of Love Metal”. No more than an upgraded version of “And Love Said No”, it simply included the singles from the albums post 2004 and many fans felt disappointed. Sure the track was good, it was even more satisfying seeing the band pick up the guitars again and belting out some hard rock…but why just the one song? It turns out there was an issue with previous record labels who still owned rights to the bands back catalogue and wanted to put out a compilation…HIM literally recorded the song to shut the label up and the album was swiftly forgotten about; a brilliant cover and a solid collection of classic songs but…ultimately pointless. [7]

It wouldn’t be long however for HIM to release another full length album, spurred on by the recording process the year prior, the band had signed a new deal with RAZOR & TIE releasing “Tears On Tape” in 2013. The album wasn’t without its difficulties mind you…in fact the album very nearly didn’t happen, with the band worryingly close to calling it a day before it was even completed…an omen for things to come sadly. During the writing process, drummer Gas was suffering from nerve damage in his hands from repetitive stress and was ordered to take time out…would the album be completed? More importantly would Gas drum again and, with that, could HIM continue? Lucky after several months he returned and the album was finished…once again produced by long-time collaborator Hiili Hiilesmaa, it saw the band again return to their roots, delivering a raw, garage rock vibe full of grit and maturity. The back-to-basics approach led to Valo's vocals having a vulnerability to them, his morose poetic lyricism was showing an honest pain…tracks like “I Will Be The End Of You” and “Hearts At War”, blistering in their delivery, highlighted a suffering for love in their guitar driven frustration, while cuts like the title track and “Drawn & Quartered” tugged at the heartstrings with a strong sense of empathy…never afraid to experiment however, the album includes the band’s first and only instrumental pieces, breaking up the album allowing for a fresh listening style, before the album closes on the emotionally powerful “W.L.S.T.D.”…one of the bands heaviest, gloomiest and despairing pieces of music, coupled with one of Valo’s most impassioned vocal displays, it’s truly heart wrenching…and sadly…it was to be a fitting and poignant swan-song. [7]

After the record was released and the touring cycle was completed, Gas decided his time was up and left the band, leaving question marks hanging over fans worldwide. This…was to be the Finn’s final album…HIM were done. Stand-in percussionist Jukka took up the drum-kit to play for the band on live dates in the few brief years that followed, but in the March of 2017, HIM announced to the world that, they would be breaking up. The writing of new material simply wasn’t working, the spark had gone, the Heartagram was no longer beating, and the hearts of legions of fans were broken…tears were no longer on tape, they were on the cheeks of hundreds of thousands of fans worldwide as his infernal majesty relinquished his crown, kissing goodbye to us all. The band embarked on one last hurrah, a farewell tour dubbed “Bang And Whimper” (Still with a sense of humour on their way out) which led to the bands final ever performance at Helldone in Tavastia, Finland, on the 31st December 2017. After a 20+ year career…8 albums and having garnered one of the most cult-like followings in music…HIM were no more, and the world lost something truly magical. From here on out, I’d like to wish Ville, Mige, Linde, Burton and Jukka all the best in everything they set their hearts on, as we’ll always be there for them. You gave countless people hope, something to live for, something to cherish, and you'll be missed greatly, not just as a band, but by an extended family. Thank you, and farewell. Tears on tape…we will follow. <3

Picking up from where we left things last time, HIM were taking over the world; BAM MARGERA had helped them break out of mainland Europe into the UK and America, by introducing them to the MTV generation…their sales and fan base were on the rise, they were playing bigger stages at festivals, they were all over the charts internationally, Valo even won Metal Hammer’s prestigious Golden God award, and pandemonium couldn’t be sweeter…his infernal majesty had finally taken his rightful place upon the throne…but there’s an old saying; what goes up must come down and sadly, this began to happen sooner rather than later for HIM and it all came around the time of their next album…

In the September of 2007, two years after they hit their commercial peak, the band did a dramatic U-turn, ditched the radio-friendly pop-rock of “Dark Light” and opened up the gates of hell with their follow up “Venus Doom”…praised by critics for its experimentation and total change of direction, the band had embraced a new found sense of heaviness, channelling the likes of PARADISE LOST, with Ville reacquainting us all with his love of all things doom metal (As if the title wasn’t a clue already)…musically it was far heavier than anything they had ever done before, even their earliest work…the riffs, bass and percussion were all full of aggression and suffering…the deep tones of the album allowed Valo to truly hypnotise the listener with his impressive baritone vocal range, on times sounding truly demonic and chilling like on the title track, the lead single “Kiss Of Dawn”, also on the hauntingly beautiful prog-metal journey of “Sleepwalking Past Hope”…but no matter how harsh the band gets musically there’s always a delicately balanced track listing and this album was no different. From the brief, acoustic campfire ballad “Song Or Suicide” to the tortured lamenting of “Cyanide Sun”…this was Adams Family level Gothic romance and it was stunning…their rise in popularity even found the song “Passions Killing Floor” used for the original “Transformers” soundtrack! Despite the change in direction, they were still big, still in the charts, even getting Grammy Award nominations…but the fame came at a price…Valo had developed worsening alcohol problems which over time became more and more of an issue…plagued by exhaustion from the pressures of success, plus problems in his personal life, the writing and recording process took its toll on Valo and he damn near drank himself to death…until he was admitted to rehab. With the blurry oil painting depicting Venus, the goddess of love, now forever a reminder that in nearly dooming himself to drown in a bottle, Valo unwittingly perfectly encapsulated HIM's marriage of love and death, even if he was looking at her through beer goggles...I’m sure he appreciates the irony looking back [8]

Their success in America and mainstream popularity up to that point led the band to release their first and only (The bonus 6-track DVD footage with “And Love Said No” doesn’t count) live album; “Digital Versatile Doom”…released not long after “Venus Doom”, it was recorded as part of their rescheduled American tour at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles. The tour and resulting live album was heavy on Venus Doom content but also featured several of the bands biggest singles to date, acting as an updated (Albeit live) version of their greatest hits…for those who were never fortunate enough to see the band live in person for whatever reason, this is essential, especially as it came with a DVD of the performance recorded as part of a 2-disk package…here you can get a real feel for the band; how tight they are as performers and how emotional the songs truly are on the raw environment of the live stage…not to mention Valo’s cheeky sense of humour mocking Linde for the amount of solo’s he has to play…[8]

The trouble HIM faced for their follow up album was quite simply a matter of, where the hell do they go from here? They’ve just dropped the heaviest album of their career and Valo nearly did a George Best and put his liver through unthinkable punishment which nearly killed him…the answer? Another U-turn…yes this is where the band lost a lot of fans, as they began to yo-yo in style and lost a sense of credibility among the rock and metal community. In 2010 they released “Screamworks: Love In Theory In Practice, Chapters 1-13” (It just rolls off the tongue doesn’t it) and Valo, again in his self-depreciating mentality dubbed it their DEPECHE MODE album…gone was the bleak bombardment of gloomy, doom metal…gone were the tortured wails of Linde’s guitar…in their place were gentle melodies and enough pop hooks to give Simon Cowell the horn…written and arranged with far, far more emphasis on Burton’s keyboard playing and a much softer song writing approach, HIM found themselves facing a lot of uncertainty…critics were again, generally in favour, praising experimentation once more and championing Valo’s song writing, but a lot of fans weren’t impressed. Many were confused at the direction and while though it retained plenty of HIM’s trademark melancholy, it lacked the bands usual depth and came across as all too synthetic. Even Valo had convinced himself that it was a failure upon release, but in honesty, it’s merely by their own already high standards…lead single “Heartkiller” was undeniably infectious and the majority of the tracks on the album followed suit; “Scared To Death” is quite possibly the sweetest thing the band have written since “Join Me”…while “Acoustic Funeral (For Love In Limbo)” does have a slight emo influence, which people were already moving away from. There were naturally tracks with a bit of attitude however, with the likes of “Shatter Me With Hope” and “Like St. Valentine” having the most bite, but they were a far cry from what had preceded them…before the album closed on the synth-heavy “The Foreboding Sense Of Impending Happiness”…possibly the lease HIM song HIM have ever written, but far from terrible. Ultimately this was a solid collection of commercially heavy pop-inspired alt. rock that sadly got lost in the shuffle…wrong place, wrong time with the wrong sound…from here on out things would slowly go downhill. [7]

Finland’s finest alt-rock romantics HIM have left behind a luscious and long-lasting legacy now that they have sadly called it a day, and last time round we revisited the band’s earliest albums as we reminisced over their formative years, and the tracks that laid the foundations for the band we grew to love. Continuing on from where we left things in 2001 and the band had established themselves throughout mainland Europe with multiple successful chart positions, but their journey didn’t stop here…oh no…there were other markets to tap into and thanks to a certain celebrity skateboarder and a shit load of plugging, Valo and co were about to break into the UK and beyond…and it all kicked off in 2003.

First and foremost, we need to talk about BAM MARGERA…say what you will (Some people disregard him completely but I personally believe that’s not fair) but without Bam, HIM certainly would not have taken the path they found themselves on, and you could argue that he directly contributed to a lot of their success outside of Europe. Bam discovered HIM while in Finland for a skateboard competition when “Razorblade Romance” was released and he was seeing HIM everywhere so, ultimately fell in love with the band. He was using songs for skate footage in the CKY DVD’s…he used tracks in soundtrack for his movie “Haggard”, he used the Heartagram on his official Element skate decks…HIM were getting exposed to the “Jackass” crowd and a lot more ears fell upon HIM’s music…the result? More success! Bam and Valo became good friends and when the opportunity arose, they naturally collaborated…he did them two music videos; "Buried Alive By Love" and "The Sacrament"...and they would both come on the next album…

HIM returned to the studio in 2002 with their original producer Hiili Hiilesmaa and the resulting album was a blistering return to form; “Love Metal”. Once a tongue-in-cheek term for their style of darkly romantic rock music, it had now become its own cult-like sub-genre so naturally, Valo (In all his sarcastic brilliance) does a VENOM and makes an album out of it! The Heartagram, in all of its glory emblazoned across the album cover in solid gold on a glossy, intricately designed Gothic black background was more than artwork, it was a thing of beauty, it was symbolic and the music within was just as powerful…opening up with “Buried Alive By Love”…with Gas crashing those cymbals, Mige and Linde bursting in with those powerful riffs…this was a band full of hunger and intent. As openers go you’d be pushed to find one with such impact…this was raw, this was rocking like a motherfucker and HIM were back! When the band get going it’s hard to stop them…tracks like “Beyond Redemption” feature some of Valo’s most powerful vocals and “Soul On Fire” is simply scorching…but they still manage to balance the beauty with the brutality. “The Funeral Of Hearts” with its rich melodies was their first foray into the UK charts hitting a very respectable 15, while “The Sacrament”, with Burton’s dreamlike piano intro was simply beautiful. Rounded off with “Love’s Requiem” and the seductive, spine-tingling “Circle Of Fear”…HIM were on the up. Very much like an erection Valo may say with a wry smile…[9]

With their music now reaching across the sea…and having already been around for nearly a decade, now was the perfect time to capitalise on all of the new fans they had accumulated and in 2004 the band released their first compilation album; “And Love Said No: The Greatest Hits 1997-2004”…not only spanning their four full-length releases up to that point, they also acquired Bam Margera to direct them another two music videos for two brand new tracks to accompany the collection. The first was the title track, which with its quaint melodies and gentle vocal harmonies provided blissful listening, but tugging on your heart strings just enough to remind you that it was HIM here, it was still a bit dark…while the main single was another cover the band would arguably go on to claim as their own; “Solitary Man” by NEIL DIAMOND. This powerful rendition added plenty of the Finn’s character and took the song to another level, eventually reaching number 9 in the UK charts…HIM were on top of the world, or so they thought…there was just one more place to conquer; America…and the only thing in their way, was the Atlantic ocean, but they’d crossed oceans of wine to find you before…[9]

Ville Valo has always made little jokes about himself and the music, being really quite humble…and in 2005 HIM would go on to take over the world with what he calls their BON JOVI album. Yes in the September of 2005 they released “Dark Light” after signing a deal with Sire Records…produced by Tim Palmer, it would be some of the sleekest and most polished work of the bands career and it did them wonders. Tracks like “Wings Of A Butterfly” and “Killing Loneliness” saw the Finn’s stamp their name on the charts yet again with their infectious pop qualities and the direction, despite being primarily more mainstream earned them many positive reviews with critics. As a whole the album was produced with accessibility and radio play very much in mind, with the band losing much of the aggression from its predecessor, but it retained Valo’s darkly poetic writing style which the band still carried off superbly…tracks like “Under The Rose” and “Behind The Crimson Door” being up-beat and a little feisty, another superb cover in the form of THE RAMONES classic "Poison Heart", while “Play Dead” and the title track heaped on the melancholy…too smooth for some fans, but it saw them become the first Finnish band to go Gold in America…HIM had made it…but pressures were mounting. [7]

“When love starts to die it begins with a kiss; violently soothing and warm”…beautifully morose, melancholy has always played a major part in the lyrical style of Ville Valo and it’s that tortured feeling of love-lost that catapulted HIM into the hearts of legions of fans around the world. With a whole tongue-in-cheek genre of their own in Love Metal and with a logo reaching semi-religious status (The Heartagram is arguably the McDonald’s M of rock music) they steadily took over the world, branching out of their native Finland into mainland Europe, the UK and then beyond to the US, selling millions of albums worldwide and becoming Finland’s most successful musical export. On New Year’s Eve…Valo and co put those words into practice at their final performance at Tavastia, Finland for the last ever Helldone…calling time on their 20+ year career and kissing goodbye to a sold out teary-eyed crowd. With a rich back catalogue of albums and compilations, right now I’d like to pay respects to the band by taking a retrospective look at each of their albums and remind the world that, we’ve just lost something truly special in HIM, and the pleasure was all ours.

The bands journey started way back in 1991 when Valo and Mige originally came together playing covers but it wasn’t until the release of 1996’s now infamous “666 Ways To Love: Prologue” EP that the ball truly started rolling…with only 1,000 copies originally made, it’s considered by many to be the holy grail of HIM memorabilia, just short of kidnapping Valo himself…and it’s this little 4-track EP that started it all. From the opening screams of “Stigmata Diaboli” we soon get a taste of the hard rock inspired gothic tones the Finn’s would quickly master…Valo’s baritone vocal accompanied by the raw riff-heavy approach of Linde gave them a distinction that would before long have us eating out of the palm of their hands. The song that put them on the map however, was THAT cover of sombre CHRIS ISAAK ballad “Wicked Game” and here we have the bands earliest recorded version…again, raw, but it was impossible to ignore the potential in these Finn’s and as far as covers go, it was original. “Dark Sekret Love”, a far drearier affair highlighted Valo’s love of doom metal with its bleak, methodical style and an early, rough rendition of “The Heartless” rounds things off nicely. Early days but plenty to be inspired by…his infernal majesty wasn’t quite ready for his throne. [5]

Just a year later they were back and the world finally got HIM’s debut full length album…”Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666”…and here we got a much better sense of direction from the band. Despite being a touch more polished with slightly better production quality courtesy of Hiili Hiilesmaa, you can still sense the raw, garage rock feeling the band used to deliver their intertwined messages of love and death. Housing some of their darkest and grittiest pieces of music; tracks like “The Beginning Of The End” and “Our Diabolikal Rapture” really embraced the gloom and channeled the influence of the likes of TYPE-O-NEGATIVE and CATHEDRAL…the beautifully bleak “When Love And Death Embrace” became a trusted fan favourite, a song the band would later rely on as a solid encore, and another cover in the form of “Don’t Fear The Reaper”…the BLUE OYSTER CULT classic getting it’s wrists slit to be bled out on a bed of roses…dark and romantic…HIM were here to violate us in the most sensual ways…[6]

The next album wouldn’t follow for another three years but to say it was definitely worth the wait is by far an understatement…in 2000, after coming to Wales to record in Rockfield Studios, they dropped not only the album of their career…but arguably the greatest Gothic rock album for generations; “Razorblade Romance”. With its bright pink cover art acting as a middle finger to stereotypes and super slick production it saw the band rise to heights they’d never have expected in their own humble self-depreciating humour. With tracks like “Join Me In Death” hitting the top of the charts in both Finland and Germany, HIM could do no wrong and no wrong they did…with an album literally full of top tunes, they exploded onto the scene with tracks like “Right Here In My Arms” and “Razorblade Kiss”...and not forgetting that cover of “Wicked Game”…re-recorded here again but SO much smoother, it’s here the band claimed the song as their own, creating a modern Gothic rock anthem in the process. The newly found sense of melody also saw the band embracing their softer side too, adding a depth to their song writing and playing on their romantic rock style…songs like “Heaven Tonight” and “Gone With The Sin” helped balance the chugging with the charming and quintessentially, the record was a masterpiece. No…the record IS a masterpiece to this day…and HIM will forever be pretty in pink. Goth rock was sexy again. [10]

HIM’s next album wasn’t far behind as the band didn’t take long writing new material, but the huge success found with the preceding record had made the record companies aware that there was money to be made with these Finn’s…and a lot of pressure was put upon the band to release a record equal in commercial acclaim; the result was “Deep Shadows And Brilliant Highlights”. Aided by producer Kevin Shirley, the band found themselves embracing (albeit reluctantly) a far sleeker sound leaning more towards pop music, stripped away was the grit and vigour of their established style and in its place, was even more emphasis on melody and mass-marketing. While it raised questions from long term fans, it still had the strength of Valo’s song-writing backing it up and despite the criticism, songs such “Heartache Every Moment” and “Pretending” were still huge…Linde is allowed to perform some tight guitar solos and the lighter musical approach allowed Burton to shine on the keyboard. “In Love And Lonely”, “You Are The One” and “Please Don’t Let It Go” all highlight the beauty of not only Valo’s song-writing ability but the capability of the band too, to diversify and pull it off with ease. Deep Shadows behind the scenes, but brilliant highlights on record…and frankly an under-appreciated album. [8]

Many societies have numbers deeply rooted into their own cultures…for example the number 666 may trigger many of you as, Satanic…be it spiritual or even from just a horror perspective (Films like “The Omen” being a prime example)…some may even naively say it’s an IRON MAIDEN thing but…those people are idiots. Other numbers may include 420 which, for all intents and purposes is a call to arms for partakers of the devil’s lettuce (Marijuana if again, you are naïve…also a coincidence and a half)…but what about other numbers? Shy of a run-down bingo hall what do numbers really have to do with society? Well few numbers incite thoughts and superstitions like the number 13…to some it’s lucky but to many more, it’s not…again, I refer to horror and the whole notion of Friday The 13th…and many hotels won’t even acknowledge a 13th floor…going straight from 12 to 14…so what’s my point I hear you asking? Well today’s band have recently released their 13th album and in reality it’s both a blessing and a curse…let me remind you about ELECTRIC SIX. Having exploded like the most frustrated of sexual releases back in 2003 with the hit singles “Danger! High Voltage!” and “Gay Bar”…the Detroit rockers have since slid into all but obscurity in the years that have followed but has that stopped them? Hell no…against all odds and regardless of public opinion they have released an album every year since…let’s check out 2017’s “How Dare You”…

The album opens up with “Chicken Wine” and first things first its textbook randomness from not only E6 but their charismatic front-man Dick Valentine…a recipe for disaster or something far saucier? Truth be told it’s a wonderfully energetic, up-beat introduction to the record with some vibrant, light-rock attitude, vocal harmonies and synth elements…it’s a wonderful little opener and while far from their greatest work it’s infectious and gets us off to a solid albeit abrupt start. “Arrive Alive” slows things right down and here we get Valentine’s textbook drawl...many would call him a poor vocalist but his lack of tone in places is really a long running joke and they are very much aware of this…it’s part of their charm. The chorus here is the highlight of the track with its bold approach and there’s not much more you can say really…

There are a couple of talking points dotted throughout this album…the title track is a wonderfully slick, synth driven affair with a solid groove and while it plods along it showcases E6’s ability to excel at both bleak and the banter-filled song writing. “Hatchet Man” utilises a strong solo-driven outro and oozes passion building up to a well-crafted fade-out…it’s lengthy but it’s hypnotic and provides an unconventional album highlight…”The Chimes Of Titus” too makes the most of the outro approach with an energetic hard rock flurry providing ample enjoyment…while stand out track “Routine Cocooning” is at the utmost simplistic enjoyment. The chorus is catchy and it balances the deep-vocal approach of the track well. Album low points are minor…”Sex With Somebody” is a track a band this far into their career could have avoided…it’s a bit cringe worthy…and closing track “A Quiet Man” focuses too much on a spoken word narrative and it’s far from an easy listen. Ultimately what can be said about E6? For any artist...THIRTEEN albums is a hell of an achievement…but the fact that the band has released virtually one every year since their debut comes with its problems. Sure they are prolific and clearly have the creative bug…but in ways it’s partly the reason why they aren’t as big as they could be. When they dropped “Gay Bar” the reaction was phenomenal…comedy rockers yet but it was more than an in-joke…everyone enjoyed it…in the years since, it’s like the band have opted for quantity not quality. Sure there are absolute gems in the bands back-catalogue that you will love…but you have to dig through so much to find it. This is a solid record and to be honest their best in a few years but, honestly…we’re exhausted. How dare you give us so much Electric Six! Warning! Danger! High Voltage! [6]