HIM

[Smitherman]

Was just wondering what people's opinions are on HIM. From what i've heard they have quite a bad reputation, and watching them get booed off at Wembley supporting Metallica didn't do them any favours either. I've heard quite a few of their songs and they don't seem as bad as people make them out to be. Anyway, opinions? Any good songs?

[DMN in the House]

I love them, but admit its a case of you're either going to really love them, or really hate them, and all of their shit sounds the same.

[Gabriel]

DMN's right. The people that love them, are very loyal and love them a lot. The people that don't like them, are usually pretty vocal about their distaste for the band.

Most of the hate stems from the fact that its' fanbase is so large, really. HIM is almost a brand as much as it is a band, and a lot of people don't like that. I wear the heartagram proudly, displaying my love for the group, but I get just as many people commenting negatively as I do positively.

It really depends on your taste and whether or not you're an elitist douchebag who hates everything that makes money.

[DMN in the House]

To be fair, CKY is better.

[Smitherman]

To be fair, CKY is better.

[Turbo Yannis]

The main difference for me between CKY and HIM is that I still find CKY listenable.

[Toe]

To be fair, CKY is better.

[DFF]

I personally like certain HIM songs, but their back catalogue is quite bland and samey. I have the 'Love Metal' album, and it quite good.

I think the problem is that are phenomenally popular despite only being a decent band. I think this irks people somewhat.

[Toa]

They have some okay melodies, a competent vocalist and a formula that works, although it's dangerously close to being insultingly repetitive. The Deep Shadows...-CD is the only album of theirs I would ever consider listening to again, and chances of me doing that are very slim, but I don't particularly dislike the band. The fact that some of their fans now think there's a genre called Love Metal annoys me a ton more than HIM's music.

Shadows, not Shallows. Oops.

Edited November 4, 2007 by Toa

[Skummy]

I picked up Deep Shadows Brilliant Highlights years ago dirt-cheap because it looked interesting, and thought it was fairly competent goth rock stuff, and didn't mind "Buried Alive By Love" when I first heard it, and don't mind it too much now, but the more I hear of them the less I like, there's only so long I can put up with lovedeathlovedeathlovedeathlovedeath ad nauseum, especially when they haven't done anything new with their musical style in years, so basically once you've heard one or two songs that's it. And the Heartagram thing annoys me partly because of the pretention of claiming it's "the new yin-yang" or some such shit, but mostly for the same reasons KISS merchandise pisses me off, it's mass marketing, style over content, money over music, and propaghates the idea of rock music as some kind of cultish thing full of hero worship, and I hate the idea of musicians being considered "better" than the rest of us because they bother to pick up a guitar or stand on a stage once in a while.

That said, Ville Valo & Agents were brilliant.

Edited November 3, 2007 by Skummy

[Liam]

I like the occasional song, but don't love them or anything. I picked up their greatest hits, as it covers most of the songs I actually enjoy.

[TheRyno]

To be fair, CKY is better.

[DMN in the House]

Yeah, thats pretty much the only reason I brought up CKY. I have them linked in my mind for that reason, so...

[Robsturgh]

The way HIM were treated at the Metallica Wembley gig was kinda harsh, but does actually sum up how much I like the band.

[lari]

Not a huge fan, but they'd probably be near the bottom of my top 50 bands list, if such a thing existed. But yeah, they are pretty good.

Here's how I'd rank the albums:

1. Love Metal (solid overall, and I love Buried Alive by Love)

2. Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights (doesn't rock that hard, but the compositions are better than some of the more straight forward, heavy HIM songs)

3. Venus Doom (is probably in my top 20 albums of the year)

4. Razorblade Romance (has my favourite HIM song - Right Here in these Arms - otherwise mostly overrated and cheesy)

5. Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666 (kind of dumbed down - and the cover songs are terrible. Especially the Blue Öyster Cult one)

6. Dark Light (a pretty useless album... nothing new, nothing interesting)

[TheRyno]

Here's my rankings of the albums:

1) Razorblade Romance - It's almost like a "Best Of" album in the sense that its filled with most of their best and well-known songs.

2) Venus Doom - Awesome album all around. I'd put it in my "Best Of 2007" list too. If this doesn't get them more stateside fame without the aid of Bam, I don't know what will.

3) Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights - Their best "slow" album. I didn't like it a whole lot at first until I really listened to it.

4) Dark Light - Not a whole lot in the way of new sound but the songs are solid. By the way, download "The Cage" if you can. It's the bonus track on the special edition and it's my favorite song on the entire album which confuses me as to why they would leave it off the original.

5) Love Metal - I was disappointed in it, to be honest. Their rock songs were kinda half-assed and their emotive songs fell short of Deep Shadows or even Dark Light.

6) Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666 - Only worth it if you're a completist like me. Songs like "Wicked Game" or "Your Sweet Six Six Six" were done better on Razorblade Romance but its kinda fun to see what they sounded like before finetuning.

Again, if you're a big HIM fan, check out the recently released Uneasy Listening discs. Volume 1 is full of live stuff, demos and remixes of their slower songs while Volume 2 is the same done with their rock songs. If I had to pick one, I'd definitely pick Volume 2 as it has the demo version of Buried Alive By Love from CKY4 that I wish was on Love Metal. Plus, Ville Valo sounds a little too much like Tiny Tim on some of the tracks from Volume 1.

[Turbo Yannis]

I actually listening to a HIM song for the first time in ages today. "Soul On Fire" from Love Metal. Better than I remember it.

[JoeMimic]

I've been listening to Venus Doom for well about a month now and it's pretty solid. I enjoy it especially the first 4-5 on the CD. It reminds me to pull out my Viva La Bands Vol 1 CD out and play that as well.

[KillingMachine]

I actually listening to a HIM song for the first time in ages today. "Soul On Fire" from Love Metal. Better than I remember it.