If any metal album that has been released so far this year has the potential to be a diamond selling effort, it's 'Dark Light.' The buzz around this release is tremendous, as it's the first proper American album for a band that have reached god-like status in Europe and that status is now imminent in the US as well.
Kicking off with the brooding, soulful 'Vampire Heart', listeners can fully anticipate the band's signature sound to be completely intact, as HIM reintroduce themselves with yet another instant classic. Valo's distinctly recognizable crooning is in top form as he extracts the maximum amount of dark romanticism his highly emotional soul can muster. 'Rip Out The Wings Of A Butterfly', the album's leadoff single redefines the benchmark for a solid gothic rock track, Valo's shadowy lyrics resonating with passion, soaring above the group's articulate, dramatic shifting.
Producer Tim Palmer (Ozzy Osbourne, U2) does a masterful job of capturing the group's restless spirit on 'Under The Rose', another anthemic hit-to-be. While the tone of the album on the whole is not overly slick, it conveys the ardor behind the group's substantial songwriting most auspiciously. With the spacey, dynamic 'Killing Loneliness', the band drifts into a familiar vibe that is further accentuated by Valo's outstanding vocal performance.
The magnetic Valo's smooth crooning on the album's well-named title track is alluring as well as haunting. Featuring some of the band's most compelling instrumentation ever, this cut seethes with an underlying, evil, beauty that is nothing short of remarkable. Quite simply, this ensemble seems incapable of writing a poor song. 'Behind The Crimson Door' and 'Drunk On Shadows' each deliver a refined update on the band's instantly recognizable sound, imparting a surreal, at times almost out-of-body experience that is both artistically pure and overwhelmingly contagious.
Consequently, the greatest problem with 'Dark Light' would be in predicting exactly how many hit singles this masterpiece can produce. Destined for domination, 'Dark Light' is an album that has the power to consume the listener's emotions and imagination, making it one of the most brilliant recordings of both the career of HIM, and for that matter, the last decade.
Review by: Erin Fox
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