HIM - Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666

I didn't get into HIM (His Infernal Majesty) until the video for Wing Of A Butterfly came out. I heard a couple of tunes before that, but I really didn't know all that much. To this day I still haven't bought enough HIM albums, but when the economy sucks what are you going to do? Also having kids slows down your album buying powers as well.

So, to continue on, I always keep an eye out for weird and unusual CDs from artists, especially if they are cheap. That doesn't always mean you are going to get a good CD, but sometimes you luck out. Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666, is a half and half album. However, there are some parts about this album that really piss me off. The biggest is the 55 tracks of dead air space, that vary between nine seconds and thirty-three seconds. I have yet to see if there is some type of message in the number of times, but I really don't care that much. The problem is that they lead to a track that's pretty much all dead space and when something does finally play it's complete shit. Not worth all the dead air time you have to sit through, or take the time to skip through. Also it really fucks up the flow when the CD is mixed into my 25 disc player.

The album opens with Your Sweet Six Six Six, which is a good Love Metal song. I know, right now you're going "Love Metal?" It's the best way to describe HIM's music and they have an album of the same name, which is where I stole the phrase from. As for what Love Metal is, well it's pretty much Black Sabbath meets The Doors meets Def Leppard. It's music meant to sweet talk women with a fun darker side. It's romantic, while still being heavy as all fuck, and contains the lyrical content of macabre poetry. Basically, HIM is audio panty remover for Goth-like chicks. But, back to the song at hand.

Your Sweet Six Six Six has a great rhythm and driving beat. It's quick, but slow and smooth and there's just something so beautiful about a man taking in a woman's evil. "I'm losing my faith in you / But you don't want it to be true / But there's nothing you can do / There is no thing you can do - yes, I've lost my faith in you / Waiting for your call / And I'm ready to take your six six six in my heart / And I'm longing for your touch and I welcome your sweet / Six six six in my heart / Right here in this heart".

The next track is one of the best covers I have ever heard done. There are some songs that when you hear them for the first time you fall in love. Chris Isaac's Wicked Game was one of them. I think the song is just so sexy. The version that HIM performs on this album, isn't just sexy. It's everything that the video for the Chris Isaac version of the song was, but just in audio form. It is the vocanic island, with the sexy couple passionately soaking each other in, while David Lynch directs, and an awesome song plays. I mean it is so sexy, and hot, and dirty, and heavy, and yummy. This song is so fucking yummy.

The Heartless is one of those songs that's a little closer to Def Leppard sounding than it is to Black Sabbath. I don't mind it in a mix, but I'm not fond of it just on the CD. The song does have some coolness to it, but for the most part it's a skipper to me.

Our Diabolikal Rapture is really heavy. I don't care how pretty Ville Valo is, this song is still a monster kicking the door in. As well as being a shining example of effective ambience use. The only problem I have with this song is that it tends to feel like it runs longer than it really does. The song is 5:21 and feels closer to 7:30, maybe even a full 8:00.

The tempo feels much quicker, there's a nice even flow, and the vocals have more dynamics. It's All Tears (Drown In This Love) is a good pick-me-up, after the last track. Somehow this song also tends to feel longer than it really is, but this time it's not a bad thing. It just manages to have an epic like feel to it. I do really hate the way the song ends, though. It makes me think something just shorted out in my stereo everytime.

You don't get anymore Def Leppard sounding on this album than When Love And Death Embrace, which I'm willing to argue was inspired at least in part, by When Love And Hate Collide. This is the second longest real song on this album, and it's so well done that you don't notice the length so much. My only real complaint is how repetative the song gets. The solo should have kicked in around the four minute marker instead of at 5:17.

I'm not sure what to make of The Beginning Of The End. It's one of those songs that seems over produced, to try and make it overly artsy. At the same time it's heavy in a weird way.

After that it's on to a cover of (Don't Fear) The Reaper. It's not as good as the original, but the way it's been turned into a duet is very nice. It gives it a completely new feel, while staying faithful to the original.

The album ends officially with For You. It's pretty basic, and nothing overly special. It's another filler.

Then it's forever and ever until the bonus track, which as I mentioned isn't all that exciting. In fact it's total crap, and I wouldn't even wait for it.

On the whole I'm not overly impressed with this album, it's decent, but better as just a few mp3s on my player instead.

6/10 - content

5/10 - production

4/10 - personal bias