Begging for Finnish H.I.M’s 1997 album

Greatest Lovesongs Vol

Album introduction:

Since its formation in 1994, H.I.M. (His Infernal Majesty) from Finland has continued the British group Sisters of Mercy and The Mission

The essence of U.K. has become a new force in the revival of Goth Rock. The visual style is full of dramatic, exaggerated and even grotesque shapes and decorations. The cold synthesizers are combined with the thick post-punk guitar sound wall to construct a predictable mourning narrative epic. The gloomy and dark melodies combined with the description of weird and mysterious foreboding love add their unique mysterious charm. H.I.M., which is relatively unknown to Asian listeners, is led by Ville Hermani Vallo, the lead singer who controls most of the songwriting and production direction

, as well as Mige Amour (bass), Lily Lazer (guitar), Gas Lipstick (drums), and Zoltan

Pluto (keyboards), released its first EP "666 Ways to Love" at the end of 1996, which caused considerable ripples in Northern Europe. The album "Greatest Love Songs," was released the following year

Vol.666" brought their musical characteristics that skillfully blended metal, 80s rock sound and bitter-sweet pop melody

to the European market for the first time, and also marked their 1999 year full of love and death. The bloody heavyweight "Razorblade Romance" is a perfect front line and has received high praise for its artistry. In addition to the first single "When Love and Death Embrace" which represents the concept of the album< /p>

The reinterpretation of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" even surpasses the original singer's brilliant results. It is full of energy and vitality and has a clear arrangement.

It can be regarded as the representative of H.I.M. One of the works, it immediately received enthusiastic support from European fans, and was invited by various parties to embark on a non-stop European tour

In 1999, the special guest performed with well-known groups such as White Zombie, Nine Inch Nails, and Depeche Mode. In "Razorblade Romance" produced by co-producer John Fryer, H.I.M.'s unique gothic love metal has taken shape, including "Join Me" and "Right Here

in My Arms> are among the best-selling songs that performed very well. Sure enough, they have more explosive market power, and their unique style's popularity and reputation are even higher

and spread far and wide, and the H.I.M. trend is sweeping across Europe! It even landed in the US in 2004 and ranked #8 on the Top Heatseekers list! After going through the painful period of member replacement, "

Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights" was launched in 2001, and Kevin Shirley (Aerosmith, Iron Maiden) was invited to serve as the producer. The poet Valo directly depicts the dark and mysterious side of the human heart. His representative works include "Pretending" and "In Joy And Sorrow", which further consolidate the unique recognition of Finland's most magical rock group H.I.M. The mysterious totem on the cover of the 2003 "Love Metal" album seems to represent H.I.M.'s unique style in the music market, including the oppressive "Buried Alive by Love" and the pure beauty of "The< /p>

Funeral of Hearts>, all show H.I.M.’s natural creative ability and growth.

It has been 10 years since their debut. In 7 years, they have published 4 studio albums, sold more than 2 million copies, and conducted world tours of all sizes. This film witnessed the debut of H.I.M.

"And Love Said No", a growth record, not only selects representative works from 4 albums, but also includes "And Love Said

No" and a heavy metal version that reinterprets Neil Diamond's "Solitary Man" , the DVD that is a great value is a live performance of H.I.M. held in Helsinki, Finland in 2003

There is no dazzling stage lighting effect, but the members played in perfect harmony, and Valo smoked and smiled half-heartedly. With their expressions, you can completely feel why HIMsters (H.I.M. fans) are so engrossed and focused.

Whether you are a HIMster or not, you are welcome to experience H.I.M.’s love metal through this album!

Finland, the country of a thousand lakes, is also a place where musical geniuses emerge in large numbers. Inspired by Sibelius, generations of Finnish musicians held high the banner of nationalization and created countless melodic works. Reflected in the metal music industry, the tendency of melodism and nationalization is very obvious. Progressive metal includes Nightwish, which features a standard academic soprano as the lead vocal; death metal also includes Children of Bodom, which is famous for its high-pitched guitar solos and high-level keyboards; and there are countless Viking metal bands whose mission is to celebrate the glorious history of this nation. Lift. So in this land of melody, a gothic metal band was also born: H.I.M. (His Infernal Majesty)

The soul of the band, the handsome lead singer Valo, has a childhood experience that we don’t know much about. But we still know a little about the history of his adolescence. His father owned an adult health products store, so our lead singer helped his father stand at the counter during his spare time. ——What kind of parent is this? However, I have no idea about other information, such as how the band members met, how they came up with the idea of ??forming a band, and how they established their own style. Just knowing the musical preferences of the band. For example, it can be said with certainty that lead singer Valo likes U2, and Nirvana also had a certain influence on it; guitarist Linde is obsessed with Jimi Hendrix's works; and so on. In short, a group of extremely melodic young people got together and planned to make music with dark themes.

I first met H.I.M. in the seventh issue of "Extreme Music". "A Black Romance of Love and Death" was the title introduced by the magazine to the band. Then I listened to the attached disc, and the first song was Gone With The Sin by H.I.M. It feels strange at first listen. Other goth bands have female vocals, but not this one. A deep voice exaggeratedly slowed down the singing speed, and the lyrics slowly poured out of his mouth like thick poison: I love your skin oh so white/I love your touch as cold as ice/And I love every single tear you cry/I just love the way you losing your life/Oh my baby, how beautiful you are/Oh my darling, completely torn apart/You gone with the sin my darling, how beautiful you are... The lyrics are very dark , the singing is also very dark, but the melody is very nice and simple, which can be said to be catchy. After listening to it a few times, I could almost sing it from beginning to end. So I just fell into the trap of their melody.

Gone With The Sin is a song from the band's second album "Razorblade Romance" released in 2000. But the first album I listened to was their debut album "Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666" in 1999. As we all know, 666 is "The Number Of The Beast", which is the symbol of the devil explicitly stated in the Bible Revelation. This guy Valo used 666 to show that my band is dark; he also used "Love Songs" to show that my band sings love songs. Devil and love have a wonderful reaction and are combined here in H.I.M., just like the band's logo: an inverted five-pointed star bent into a heart shape - you must know that this inverted five-pointed star is also a symbol of Satan; this logo, together with the goat's head, has been used countless times It appears on the album covers and team logos of Satanist black metal bands, and here at H.I.M., the inverted five-star naturally softens into a heart shape symbolizing love. This is probably what the title "Black Romance of Love and Death" means. Let’s take a look at how this romance turned dark.

Album introduction:

The first song of "Greatest Love Songs Vol.666" is called "Your Sweet 666". The symbol of evil becomes a reason for love in Valo's song. His voice, which he didn't fully let go in this song, was put to full use in the second song, "Wicked Game." "No I don't wanna fall in love/this world is always gonna brake your heart" is accompanied by tough and moving guitar and spiritual keyboard, and Valo's attractive and magnetic voice tells the story of love or not. The troubles of love. The next few songs all have a melodic and refreshing atmosphere in the evil spirit.

Valo always explores the relationship between love and death in his singing. It seems that the combination of the two is the perfect ending: I love you, so let you and I die together. This artistic conception reaches a climax with his stunning falsetto in "When Love And Death Embrace". In "The Beginning Of The End", "Your blood tastes like wine" clearly exposes his vampire complex. The real highlight comes with “Don’t Fear The Reaper.” This is H.I.M.’s only male-male duet song since their debut. A simple harpsichord chord serves as the background of the entire song throughout; a riff with a strong metallic texture is built on top of the piano tone, like dark clouds that block the sun. Against the occasional light, it has a unique beautiful. Regarding the duet of this song, a music review can be said to describe it perfectly: "When the duet duet between Valo and female singer June Hyde sounded, it reminded me of Li Guohao's relationship with Li Guohao after his revenge in "The Crow". The speechless scene of meeting Sarah - a reborn and even tender female voice lingers endlessly. Her voice is so straightforward, but extremely lethal, and the polar opposition between her and Valo creates a vortex-like gravitational field." In this Romeo and Juliet-like duet, the themes of love and death are taken to the extreme. Love is enough; if you have love, you won't be afraid of death, and you won't be afraid of The Reaper; the god of death with the sickle only harvests life, and it cannot and does not have the ability to take love away from us. There is also a female voice in the last song "For You", but it is just a soft hum in the background. Under the background of this distant voice, Valo shouted hysterically, "I am for you!" This is probably the destination he has arranged for himself: die for love, die for her, because everything is "For You". The whole album is addictive to listen to, and you will be immersed in the sweet yet poisonous web woven by this melody for a long time. Valo's performance this time is worthy of the honor of "the melancholy prince of the dead"! The same music review above even compared him to Brad Pitt in "Interview with the Vampire", as "an urban wandering soul".

I have no intention of writing too much about H.I.M. The subsequent three albums "Razorblade Romance", "Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights" and "Love Metal" are all softer than the last, more melodic than the last, and more popular than the last. The band has even been called the "Bon Jovi of extreme metal." Some extremely die-hard music fans have long begun to reject them. But that doesn’t stop him from sounding great! For me, after staying in the world of dragons and swords, Viking warriors, and Babylonian epics for a long time, in an environment of loneliness, self-pity, and inexplicable sentimentality, I come out for a change and lie in bed with Valo’s music. It's not bad to croon and fantasize about love.

Goth can be popular too.

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