I’d like to go off about how I don’t put enough pictures in the blog, but there’s more important things to discuss today. Like HIM. Back in July of 2004, not long after I redesigned the site, I reviewed HIM’s Greatest Hits CD. I don’t know where I’m going with this, so let’s just hit the usual. I first started listening to HIM near the end of my high school career. As you may or may not be aware, Mike is totally obsessed with the band, and that would be where I first heard of them. See, back in the days of high school, when I started listening to a new band, it was because one of my friends had been raving about them. It was just the way I went about finding new music to listen to. But that’s not the whole story. See, while Mike would rave about HIM for countless hours a day, I still never really picked up on them. It wasn’t until I watched the movie “Haggard” that I decided to give HIM a chance. See, “Haggard” was directed and whatnot by Bam Margera, who might very well be the biggest HIM fan in the world. Anyhow, I noted that the music in the movie was excellent, and coming as little surprise, it was all HIM songs. So I finally went and did a little P2P search for HIM.

There’s a lot to like about HIM. Most people seem to have some kind of brain defect where they think that anything from their country of origin or where their family comes from should be praised as some sort of diety, and since HIM is a Finnish band, I suppose that should be one reason I like them. The main reason I like them, of course, is because their music is awesome. It’s like a perfect mix of rock ‘n’ roll and metal with goth overtones. Some songs are hard rock anthems that could melt even the most jaded of faces, and other songs are some of the most touching ballads ever recorded. Not to mention their ten-point covers of “Solitary Man”, “Don’t Fear the Reaper” and “Wicked Game”.

HIM has released five CDs and a greatest hits collection, and though it needs not be mentioned, I own them all. The first, Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666 is probably the weakest of all (though I expect some people would like to impale me for saying so), but it does have its high points. The biggest problem is that the recording of “Wicked Game” on this one isn’t even as good as the Chris Isaak original. Fortunately, they redid it somewhere along the line and now it kicks so much ass. The next is Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights, which is so very much better than the preivous CD that you’d never believe it if you haven’t heard them. I love both “Salt in Our Wounds” and “Lose You Tonight”. “Pretending” is pretty great too.

Then along came Razorblade Romance, which sported some slick updated versions of “Your Sweet Six Six Six” and “Wicked Game” along with a plethora of great new tracks. Their fourth release, Love Metal, seems to be the most widely considered to be the best HIM CD available. Every song on Love Metal is incredible, but it does suffer from having only ten songs. It’s not really a huge deal, because HIM isn’t some dumb punk band whose songs are two minutes long at best. “Circle of Fear” is my personal favourite, but I’ve also taken a shining to “This Fortress of Tears” and “The Path”. The last two CDs are the greatest hits CD And Love Said No and the latest release, Dark Light. I’ve reviewed both in much greater detail elsewhere on the site, so I don’t feel I need to go into any greater detail here.

So that’s the end of that. I don’t think I should have to go into the whole “I like this band blah blah you should look them up blah blah download” spiel. That’s all very obvious and is a crappy way of concluding the post. So I’ll go out with a bit of advice today: “Vote for the man who promises least; he’ll be the least disappointing.”