HIM – XX ; Two Decades Of Love Metal (2012)

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This year HIM, the most successful Finnish band in the USA, celebrate 20 years by releasing a the compilation album “XX – Two Decades of Love Metal”.

Purveyors of what they term ‘love metal’, the album encompasses their entire career thus far and includes a brand new track, their first since 2010, “Strange World”, plus some rare cuts mostly published as single versions only.

I’d venture to say that HIM are more well known for their logo (the “heart-agram”) than for their music. But 20 years is a long time to be a band, and they’ve amassed quite a following throughout the world.

As for the music itself, it is very melodic and dark, with a heaviness that can’t be underestimated. The term ‘love-metal’ is pretty accurate, as the songs never get into the super screamy or incredibly black areas of some metal bands, but they still all have a very base heaviness.

Ville Valo’s vocals have a certain eerie smoothness to them that blend well with the pop metal rhythms to create a gloomy atmosphere.

“XX – Two Decades of Love Metal” comprises adequately the recording history of this singular band.

HIM has created a unique sound & style that appeals many rock fans from diverse genres. I found them pretty interesting, however, it should be noted they tend to not go outside this box they’ve established.

The band picked the correct songs to put on this album. I consider a good choice to include a new song in the tracklist to give their older fan base a taste of the future release, anyway I would recommend this compilation more to people who are first discovering the group. It’s a good album to help decide whether this band is for you or not.

They’re working on a new studio album to be released in winter 2013. HIM can be seen on tour and at festivals in the spring, summer and fall 2013.

01. Strange World [New Track 2012]

02. Join Me (In Death)

03. Heartkiller

04. Wings Of A Butterfly

05. The Kiss Of Dawn (Radio Edit)

06. The Funeral Of Hearts (Radio Edit)

07. Right Here In My Arms (Radio Edit)

08. Pretending

09. Buried Alive By Love (Radio Edit)

10. Gone With The Sin

11. Your Sweet Six Six Six

12. The Sacrament (Radio Edit)

13. Wicked Game

14. Killing Loneliness

15. Bleed Well (Radio Edit)

16. In Joy And Sorrow (Radio Edit)

17. Poison Girl

18. Scared To Death

19. When Love And Death Embrace (Radio Edit)

20. Heartache Every Moment

Ville Valo – lead vocals, acoustic guitar

Mikko Lindström – lead guitar, acoustic guitar

Mikko Paananen – bass, contrabass, backing vocals

Mika Karppinen – drums, percussion

Janne Puurtinen – keyboards, piano, backing vocals

BUY IT !

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