Musical Mondays - Love Metal (2003) by H.I.M.

So first things first, hello again! I took a whole week away! An actual entire week! Did it feel good? In places. Am I feeling ready for more blogging? Possibly. We’ll have to see how this review turns out. It is a beauty of an album, and it completes the trifecta of bands which I considered to be ‘the best’ back when I was a teen. I brought you Korn, I brought you My Chemical Romance, now, while the Valentines’ season is still somewhat relevant, I present H.I.M. – often referred to as His Infernal Majesty, though it’s been said this acronym can stand for anything. I quite literally fell in love with this band – hard not to when their frontman looks like this – and their sound was very different to what I had been used to at the time (The Used, My Chemical Romance, Linkin Park, Avenged Sevenfold, to name a few). Having listened more closely to their signature album Love Metal, released in 2003, I have come to realise that there have been subtle shifts in their sound over the first 6 years of their career, starting out on a deep, sickly and tragic note (akin to drinking absinthe), before becoming more polished, taking on richer, more mellow and gentle tones (akin to red wine). And indeed, the metaphor extends when you consider the variety and smooth tonal nature of this album’s instrumentation, its passionate poetry, and, of course, the velvety quality of our dear Ville Valo’s vocals.

For this album, I also noticed the way it is structured, each song seemingly unique and yet sharing its sound with another in an exact pattern. First there is the fast-paced duo of ‘Buried Alive by Love’ and ‘Soul on Fire’ (songs 1 and 5), both of which open with strong guitar/drum rhythms that, when played one after the other, are almost indistinguishable. Which isn’t to detract from their appeal: ‘Buried Alive…’ is packed with hefty guitar riffs, driving drum beats, and a touch of eerie synths, while ‘Soul on Fire’ has decidedly gentler interludes between its pounding choruses, placing a subtle guitar lick in your left ear, and a synth lullaby in your right, somewhat akin to Razorblade Romance’s ‘I Love You’. And Ville puts his all into both, at times tugging those silky vocals into an exuberant scream.

The second set – ‘Funeral of Hearts’ and ‘The Sacrament’ (songs 2 and 6) – is, by contrast, much more delicate, opening with simple piano melodies. ‘The Sacrament’s’ piano is beautiful for being unaccompanied at the start and enduring periodically throughout, balanced by acoustic and electric guitars, and Ville’s equally gentle vocals, a song which evokes the flavour of Razorblade Romance’s ‘Join Me in Death’. ‘Funeral’s’ piano doesn’t have quite the staying power, but it makes up for this with a richer variety of sound and Ville taking his vocals to new heights.

Set three takes a somewhat eerie turn with ‘Beyond Redemption’ and ‘This Fortress of Tears’ (songs 3 and 7). The former is introduced with a strangely ethereal synth tune, quickly followed by lower-pitched guitars and drums, and Ville’s husky baritone echoing and deepening between the bars. This one makes exceptional use of keyboardist Burton’s synths, allowing him a solo alongside the guitars, something ‘Fortress’ manages with equally epic results – have I mentioned I love a solid guitar solo? This song, romantic as it is, also exercises its spook factor, mixing in the echoing melody of a rustic guitar, some sombre piano notes, and Ville’s forlorn vocals alongside the ever-present, vibrant drum and guitars.

Which leaves the last set to slow things down a bit with ‘Sweet Pandemonium’ and ‘Circle of Fear’ (songs 4 and 8), Ville’s vocals being very much the main attraction here. While ‘Pandemonium’ is a gorgeous track for its lingering metallic guitar refrains, instrumental complexity, and even tempo, it’s Ville’s velvety croon which makes this song, particularly when it takes a resonant dive in the bridge, drawing each word out with a deep and blissful intensity. ‘Circle of Fear’ can’t claim to be quite as vocally spectacular, but amid the oriental guitar licks, siren-like synths, and steady drumbeats, that husky voice still shines through.

But oh no, what do I do with the last three songs? While they don’t fit the pattern, they do marry together several of these themes at once. Track 9 is the beautifully crafted ‘Endless Dark’, adorned with crystalline synth notes, searing guitar drones (including a fantastic solo), and the extremes of Ville’s light-as-air/sharp-as-glass vocals. This is followed (and in most cases, finished) by ‘The Path’, an almost 8-minute melancholic slow burner, comprising a gentle keyboard melody, a fanfare of slow drum and guitars, and the return of those forlorn vocals, claiming ‘with every step I take, the less I know myself’ but that ‘one look into stranger’s eyes and I know where I belong’. By the final 2-3 minutes, things start to pick up, leading to another epic guitar solo, bouncing off the strobing synths and drawing it to a close. But finally comes ‘Love’s Requiem’ with its unassuming yet eerie guitar/synth intro, hiding the sudden drop into ‘the heart of darkness’ that is the chorus. Packed with Transylvanian synths, stunning metallic guitar chords, and piercing drumbeats, this carries into the bridge, and what a sexy a bridge this is (can I say sexy?) This final part weaves the chorus with a new refrain which far from being chaotic becomes richly complex and sweetly entreating. I may have been yielding to toothache with YUNGBLUD’s cotton candy, but I think I’ve willingly given into heartache with this album, or better yet, just surrendered to its gothic overtures and let it sink its fangs in me.

FULL ALBUM: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lMK0a1J06zzn_ChoF1h18al649vmrvEBI

Ville Photo Credit: Tuomas Vitikainen, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons