Comments on: Album Review: HIM – Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice

By: Katy

Katy — Wed, 05 May 2010 06:05:14 +0000

I don’t get why everyone thinks HIM is commercial now….or that Dark Light was commercial. How many times have you heard them on the radio anyway? I only heard Wings of a Butterfly and Heartkiller MAYBE a handful of times. Yeah, some of their stuff is poppy and some isnt. Their next album will be different again. Thats the great thing about bands….they make you want more. After I listened to the new album a few times I REALLY got into it. The more listens the better in my opinion.

By: Raphael Tremblay

Raphael Tremblay — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:24:07 +0000

MMMM…i’m agree with some people about the fact that HIM has become..AMERICANIZED or maybe i should say : MORE COMMERCIAL. But i’m not agree with the fact that they don’t reinvent themself in their album : In my not so humble opinion, Dark light was the more commercial album of HIM, but he was still good ! On the other side, Venus Doom was so dark and so innovative with a lack presence of keyboards…and then Screamworks came out ! Screamworks actually need many listen to enjoy it, but it’s not the greatest album of HIM. It’s still commercial, but with a new pop genre and all short songs : about 3 min all ! HIM is always there…and HIM is HIM

By: Jordynne

Jordynne — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 15:42:39 +0000

I agree with the article when I heard the song Heartkiller I just knew that it was going to be crap. I had the CD pre-ordered tho and when I listened to the first song and how it starts its just so lame what about the amaizing guitar rifts from Buried Alive By Love? or have they Buried their talents of song writing?
I grew up with H.I.M. first Hearing them when Razorblade Romance first came out and it’s upsetting to see that a band so special to me has just become so…. American since Dark Light. I know bands and music change over the years but they are just playing for the 14 to 15 year olds now. Also they have decided they are too good to play Glasgow.

By: Reg

Reg — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 22:06:37 +0000

HIM have become totally Hot Topic…

By: Andy

Andy — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 06:09:39 +0000

I don’t understand why HIM is always attacked for having similar themes in lyrics. There are SO many bands that sing about love all of the time. Venus Doom was extremely unique and yes, this album is great too. Scott was 100% right. Bands can either stay the same or change and guess what? People will be pissed about either choice. However, one knows NOTHING about music if they cannot recognize that besides lyrics, HIM is one band where every record is substantially different from the last.

By: Craig Wilson

Craig Wilson — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:46:41 +0000

I agree with Lalala…

I’ll admit, I was skeptical of this album, being the only good song I heard was the single “Heartkiller”. As I listened to it more so however, I learned that they are just trying to get new fans hooked on their music and to experiment with a different sound than before. Yes the familiar cues are there indeed but with a different feel and outlook, as this is the first album Ville has done sober:

31.12.2009

HIM frontman Ville Valo recently spoke to Billboard.com about the band’s forthcoming album, Screamworks. An excerpt from the chat is available below.

“This is the first album I wrote fully sober, and I wanted to put all the energy I used to put into hanging out in pubs into working on the music. So it was pretty insane, working 18-hour days for the past year, year and a half. We really went for all those details and didn’t leave any stone unturned. Hopefully it shows.”

There said that reflects how it sounds in comparison to past works. I don’t think they ever were unsuccessful in any of their other albums before this, otherwise they wouldn’t have the fanbase they have now. They are reinforcing the fact that they still have the edge they had back in 1997 [Greatest Lovesongs, Vol. 666] if not more so.
And yes, they are from Helsinki, Finland.

By: Dave P.

Dave P. — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:21:07 +0000

Yeah, they’ve worked hard, all right – on trying to be successful. Like Lacuna Coil’s latest albums, the creative goth-appeal is gone, in favor of a bland, American metal sound that they hope might appeal to 14-year old girls. They are now sort of the Nickelback of the goth scene! Nothing matches the first two albums, particularly Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666. Really too bad.

By: Neil Lewis

Neil Lewis — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:21:58 +0000

I think it is fair criticism to expect more artistic development from a 7th album. The biggest change HIM made is to become so American..Remind me, I thought they came from Finland??

By: Lalala

Lalala — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:41:53 +0000

“It doesn’t even seem like HIM are trying any more…”
What? I’m sorry, I just can’t grasp that. I get the impression that they’ve worked really hard on this album, just like they have on all their former albums.

And no matter how much you twist and turn it, HIM will always be HIM. This just shows another side of the band, again, just like all their former albums do.

By: scott

scott — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:20:17 +0000

People complain if a band changes,people complain if they stay the same,people just complain period..

By: Teagan Rainford

Teagan Rainford — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:03:29 +0000

I can understand what you mean with the neutral Americanized feeling of this album, which heavily mimics Dark light. Although I do believe that with Venus Doom they did find the new sound that will be needed to carry them through the next few years.

But lets keep in mind that HIM will always have their familiar cues of love, death, pain etc, as people will always feel these things, even if our generation has outgrown it.