Gothic Love
H.I.M.'s "Razorblade Romance"
by Don Sill
November 2003
Finnish rock superstar Ville Valo is hell bent on breaking into the states with his latest album from his world-renowned Goth/Rock outfit H.I.M. Best known in the U.S.A. for his work on the CKY films, Valo is a bona fide universal sex symbol who has sold over two million albums worldwide and denting the American market is the next step. "It would be excellent to come over there and just tour our asses off," Valo says with a bit of sarcasm in his tone. "I want to live in a place called Neverland and shag a monkey too."
H.I.M earned notoriety much like Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper and Marylyn Manson did, by playing with satanic symbolism for shock value. Valo embraces the dark imagary of the occult and even uses a "heartagram" - combination of a pentagram and a heart- as the bands logo. Valo explains that the "heartagram" represents the bands self-proclaimed "Love-Metal" sound. "When we first started out a lot of these record-people didn't know which category to put for what we do," he said. "They called us all these things and whatever and we just thought we were a bit more romantic than the average gothic band so we just created a category of our own. Love-metal sounds pretty good in a way that it has both of those extremes. We're big fans of King Diamond and Slayer and all of that, but on the other hand I'm a huge fan of Neil Young and Cat Stevens. So, we created a unique cocktail and put our influences into what we do rather than restrict ourselves to a certain kind of category that already exists."
H.I.M's latest album "Razorblade Romance" released Oct. 28th exudes Valo's 'love-metal' ethos with a dark passion. Produced by John Fryer (White Zombie, NIN), "Razorblade Romance" is a tightly mixed album making for an ultra clean recording that ultimately blends 80's new-wave, Depeche Mode and Joy Division with Billy Idol, and mixes it with some 70's styled Bowe. Then adds a tinge of 2000's nu-metal sounds of Chevelle and Trust Company and shakes it all into one solid concoction. "I grew up in the '80s and that time is very well known for all these big, huge, gigantic melodies. I grew up listening to Duran Duran and Ozzy Osbourne and it was always very melodically orientated and it was good music and that's a lot of what we do," Valo said. "All I know is that it felt good when we were recording it and this album represents a very important chapter in our lives."
Joined by bandmates Bad Mige Bass, Linde Guitar, Zoltan Pluto Keyboard & Gas Lipstick Drums, Valo's poetic lyrics drip with passion and intensity. With songs revolving around love and hate relationships he blurs the line between tragedy and romance as he intertwines the two extremes like a Shakespearan play. Valo's deep lethargic voice sends the words straight to the heart while a Linde's guitar mimics the lyrics sentiment with its riffs. "My music is almost like my diary," he says, "I write always about the stuff that I'm going through. With 'Razorblade Romance' I was going through some real heavy times, so I cleaned my heart and soul from all the bullshit."
H.I.M. pays homage to goth and romance on tracks such as "Your Sweet 666," which starts off with a great guitar and keyboard entrance. Lyrics such as "I'm losing my faith in you/And you don't want it to be true/But there's nothing you can do/I've lost my faith in you", has a double meaning which flirts with religious struggles as well as failing relationship. "I heard that some American priest said that if you listen to Zepelin's 'Stairway To Heaven' backwards you can hear the words, 'here's to my sweet satan' so that's where it all comes from," Valo explains. "But, for me personally the relationship of '666' is the more of a animalistic side where '777' represents more of a pure, soulful aspect. I grew up Catholic so using words like redemption and '666' gives me a little boner and that's why I keep doing it."
H.I.M. will also release their first-ever live album, tentatively titled "Live Metal", on November 17. The album, which will be issued in a special package that will also include a DVD, was filmed/recorded last spring when the group played seven consecutive shows at Semifinal club in their hometown of Helsinki.
H.I.M's video for the song "Buried Alive By Love" has been posted online at the G.U.N./ Supersonic Records web site. The clip was shot over the Dec. 15-18, 2002 weekend with Bam Margera of "Jackass/CKY" fame in the director's chair. Juliette Lewis was the female person in the video, which was filmed at the spectacular Los Angeles Theatre in downtown L.A.
In addition, BMG will be releasing a "Greatest Hits" album sometime next year. A new H.I.M. studio album (some of the material for which has already been completed by mainman Ville Valo) will not surface before 2005.
