What do you get when you cross Michael Hutchence’s rock posturing with some adolescent satanic imagery? Why, none other than Finland’s own H.I.M. (which deceptively stands for His Infernal Majesty, by-the-way), and their formulaic ‘love metal’, of course!
With its liberal dose of kitchy bad boy business, H.I.M. is taking Europe’s teenage market to Hell. And it’s no wonder why: singer and frontman Ville Valo has the good looks -and garb- of an ’80s rock icon. Not to say that he has little talent (his voice certainly has interesting qualities), but he is unabashedly using his image to reel in the little school girls. Case in point: the band’s greatest hits album has a fold-out poster of him (not H.I.M., just him!).
(Oh, how they must swoon at his every suggestion of letting their little 666 into his heart… whatever that means!)
No poetry contests to be won here, evidently, but that won’t matter to your average teenage ‘bad’ girl – the music is serviceable (certainly no worse than a standard INXS or U2 album), H.I.S. voice is fairly good (although he tries too hard at times), and it’s generally inoffensive (to non-christians :).
But there are no ‘fun’ awards to be won here, either: listening to this album is like eating a sand sandwich – pretty bland throughout, with the real high point being he crust (and the few crushed pebbles that get stuck in your teeth).
To think that The Mission have reduced themselves to opening for them…
We give this a 4.0 out of 10.
