On the pages of Kerrang HIM announce their Tour dates in the UK
13 Norwich, UEA 14 Manchester, Academy 15 Edinburgh, Picture House 16 Newcastle, Academy 18 Bournemouth, Academy 19 Birmingham, Academy 20 Nottingham, Rock City
Ville Valo on ROCKSOUND and METAL HAMMER Thanks to Magik on Dark Light U.S.
Ville recently talked about the last album Screamworks: love in theory and practice on Metal Hammer magazine:
Ville Valo: This Is Our Most Sexual Album
You've already read about our track-by-track guide to the new HIM album, now we speak to Ville Valo about what he's calling HIM's most sexual album! Ville Valo has spoken to Metal Hammer about the band's new album "Screamworks: Love In Theory and Practice" and he describes it as the band's most sexual work to date!
Hammer: It feels like a very horny album.
Ville Valo: "Lyrically, it's the most sexual one, the most horny one, we've ever made. The horny and the horned. Like the Impaled Nazarene song. It's got that and a sense of immediacy: "I want it now, now, now". It's not about being poetic or forlorn about something that is about to happen, it's actually about something that is happening at this very moment in time.
"I like the immediacy of it. There's a lot of information put in short songs and they don't let go. That was the whole vibe for me. You should have seen me working the vocals out in the middle of the night, amongst my taxidermy owls in the tower screaming my guts out, unable to stop until 9am and then sleeping on a couch for two hours before starting again. So the whole process of the album is very close to that mental boner that just didn't go away.
And discussed Rammstein's latest video "Pussy" with RockSound:
HIM frontman Ville Valo has told Rock Sound that members of Rammstein have done a great job with their controversial video for 'Pussy'. Only one thing...
"I really think Rammstein did a beautiful thing with that video," Valo said recently. "They must have used prosthetics though, my dad owns a porn shop and I've been working in the industry for a while, I've seen shit tons of porn films and nobody has a cock that perfect! Colourwise, veinwise or being so straight, I've never seen anything like it."
SCREAMWORKS: LOVE IN THEORY AND PRACTICE-TRACKLIST AND FIRST COMMENTS.
Finally thanks to Metal Hammer, Euro Rock Radio and Valo Daily we know the tracklist of the next HIM new album: Screamworks-Love in theory and practice. The songs may not be listed in the right way but these are the titletracks:
1. In Venere Veritas 2. Scared To Death 3. Heartkiller 4. Dying Song 5. Disarm Me (With Your Loneliness) 6. Love, The Hardest Way 7. Katherine Wheel 8. In The Arms Of Rain 9. Ode To Solitude 10. Shatter Me With Hope 11. Acoustic Funeral (For Love In Limbo) 12. Like St. Valentine 13. The Foreboding Sense Of Impending Happiness
Thanks to Metal Hammer we have the comments of the first ones who had the chance to listen to the songs. There may not be an association between the tracklist above and the order of the comments. Track 1 Eerie industrial drums lead into a beast of a riff. It sounds like 80's hair metal with a punk chug and all wrapped up in HIM's inimitable style. The chorus has an insanely catchy hook that evolves around the lyric "here's to pain". A storming, up-tempo start to the album.
Track 2 It's a very poppy second track. By that we mean that it's tailor-made for the radio. It's played at a similar pace to Funeral Of Hearts but doesn't have the same moody overtones. The lead hook evolves around the lyrics "I'm not afraid to say I love you".
Track 3 After an intro that sounds like it was put together on a Casio-keyboard, arena-sized guitars crash through the barricades. HIM are setting their stall out here, it's the commercial know-how of Dark Light combined with the pace of Love Metal. There's an epic building solo in the middle too, really impressive stuff.
Track 4 It's got the sound of a single. Off-kilter drums build to a massive, epic chorus where Ville croons that he's shedding skin to a dying soul. There's also a heavily Slash-influenced solo on display.
Track 5 Opening with acoustic guitars, the 5th track is a sweeping ballad that sounds like it could be the gothic soundtrack to a Hollywood blockbuster. Twilightcore? Hmmm, possibly not but it's certainly in that ball-park.
Track 6 The sound of a band rediscovering their strongest areas of expertise. Unmistakably HIM, it's fuel-injected and recapturing the anthemic sounds of the Love Metal era.
Track 7 Atmospheric verses give way to one of the finest choruses on the album. "These are the things that you make me do" sings Ville.
Track 8 Once again, a bizarre keyboard intro that sounds like it could be lifted direct from the 80's video-game Pong (ask your dad). The song itself sounds like Killing Loneliness on steroids. Massive vocal hooks all around this track and if it's not called "In The Arms Of Rain", we'll eat our hat.
Track 9 The heaviest moment of the record so far, HIM break out the palm-muted riffs but it does once again have a very radio-friendly edge. Be warned: there's a monster of a dirty riff in the middle of this one.
Track 10 "Let's fall apart together now" is the sultry introduction to this slick and club-friendly track. There's an odd almost monk-chanting moment in the middle but this is perhaps the poppiest track on the album.
Track 11 Keyboards that sound as if they could come from a music box usher in a massively dramatic track that builds around sweeping, ringing power chords. Not a full-on ballad but certainly one of the more tender moments on the album.
Track 12 A drum n'bass (yep, you read that correctly) intro gives way to a stomping riff. HIM reach out beyond their comfort zone and into the unknown on a song that continuously mentions St Valentine. It's bold and brave but it certainly works!
Track 13 And now for something completely different. 80's fat bass sound that sounds as though it's been lifted from a horror movie from the same era. Gentle electronic drums play on this ambient ode that sounds like DJ Shadow's interpretation of HIM. It's still distinctly HIM because of Ville's unique vocal tones but it's done in a electronic/restrained way. One of the best tracks on the album but this will definitely ruffle a few feathers.
Source: MetalHammer
The only thing we have to do, after this is...waiting. For Love in Theory and Practice, of course!
IN THIS ISSUE: LEGENDS OF ROCK: TONI IOMMI (Rosanna) TONI MARIE IOMMI, ROCKING DAUGHTER (Toni Marie Iommi) FINNISH BANDS: HALO (Rosanna) SYNNIN VIEMAA. Chapters 1-2 (Transl. Monni-Vaneitalia) FOCUS ON:VILLE HERMANNI VALO (Monni) HIS INFERNAL SKETCHES (Elettra-Rosso Ciliegia)