Last week my review of the surprisingly tuneful new HIM record ran in the NME, so here’s a reprint.
HIM
Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice
(SIRE)
6/10
Seven albums in and panda eyed love metallers HIM have thrown us all a curve ball-they’ve made a record that we could actually give a shit about. Clearly pushing themselves out of their comfort zone, Ville Valo’s mob flirts with drum and bass (‘Like St. Valentine’) glam rock (‘Dying Song’) and electro pop (‘In the Arms of Rain’) to deliver tunes tailor made for the next Twilight soundtrack. Yes, the lyrics are still as vomit inducing as ever and make celebrity Jesus lover Stephen Baldwin look tactful in comparison, but then the Finnish five-piece have never been the most self aware. It may have taken them 19years to make a decent racket, but they got there in the end. Edwin McFee
DOWNLOAD: ‘Like St. Valentine’
