Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice

HIM’s success secret

HIM’s leader and ideologist Ville Valo once said honestly that when he was only starting the band he wanted its music to combine the influences of Cradle Of Filth, and Black Sabbath. As a result we got a blend of gothic lyrics and abundance of keys just like in the symphonic black metal, and straight-in-your-face riffs just like in old-school heavy metal. Now, add Ville’s unsurpassed vocals here and you will discover HIM’s amazing formula of success, a structure that holds the Finnish band’s whole music. The Scandinavian romantics who cast love metal at the globally known HIM factory released in 2010 their seventh long player. Since it plays long, the musicians decided to give it a long name. Screamworks: Love In Theory And Practice sounds weird, doesn’t it? Preserving the perfectly thought-through style, these guys are known playing with the ‘heavy-soft’ proportion. After the tough Venus Doom with its juicy riffs and doom-metal atmosphere, the Finnish masters delivered a much softer record, at the same time featuring every thing they have been loved and enjoyed for fifteen years.

A 100% HIM album

Screamworks: Love In Theory And Practice sounds like a title of a research work or a instructive manual. Why not? You may use it to study all the nuances and aspects of the band’s music and to learn how to make top quality gothic-metal. Everything here is done in full accordance with the traditions of the genre founders. You only need to consider one little remark: the musicians modified guitars slightly to adjust them closer to American rock, which certainly is about to enroll many more troopers to their fan army. As for the rest, it’s a purely HIM album. You will find here energetic hard rock stuff like In Venere Veritas, or Heartkiller, and inevitable touching ballads, Scared To Death, and Dying Song. Ville’s character is still suffering from a lethal, unrequited, fatal, cruel, wicked (now you may continue the list to your own preferences) love. Even the titles of the tracks leave no doubt that the guy keeps writing poems about the same things. Yet Valo’s vocals grew more diversified. There are moments when he leaves the comfortable zone of sweet, yawning singing for the undiscovered territory of harsh rock-n-roll performance, which might not come to please everyone. Briefly speaking, not much is changed, and there is a right reason for that. If you music brings success to you and pleasure to your listeners, why on earth would you try anything different?

Be the first, remain the best

Ville Valo and his band-fellows might give a thought to starting a course of lectures on ‘Basic theory of musical evolution within a chosen genre’. HIM are amazing at playing one and the same music for more than a decade and remaining fresh and interesting. You will find it impossible not to recognize them. Meanwhile, in Finland alone, there are dozens and dozens of gothic-metal bands. These guys were the ones to shape this style and it became their own element to them. HIM easily change directions for moving forward and never cross the borders of this area. This is the reason why their old fans still adore their music while the number of new supporters never stops growing. Enemies prophesized a quick creative death to this band, but the time proved them wrong. There is no scientific approach to define how these musicians have managed to release seven albums none of which turned out a failure or a step back. Cherishing their good name and place in the music society, HIM do not betray themselves or undermine the expectations of their audience. Screamworks: Love In Theory And Practice is another splendid piece of love-metal, clad with a precise understanding of the modern music fashion. HIM are just like a good wine, getting better with each new year. They used to be striking in their newness in the beginning; now they guarantee a superb quality.