Description

You wouldnt expect a lot from a band whose debut album is entitled Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666, but H.I.M. surprises in a very positive way. H.I.M.s stigma of so-called love metal is actually undeserved and relates only to Ville Valos love-oriented lyrics; the music itself combines metal with 80s rock and some goth influences, and the album as a whole has a very diverse sound. Songs such as The Beginning of the End and Its All Tears especially prove that H.I.M. can do a lot better than their poor single track When Love and Death Embrace. Two cover songs on a nine-track debut album might be too much, but Ville Valo seems to beg the difference. In fact, H.I.M.s versions of Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game and Blue Oyster Cult’s Don’t Fear the Reaper are very idiosyncratic and fit very well on Greatest Lovesongs, Vol. 666. Wicked Game, especially, is somehow even better than Isaak’s original version, or at least it proves that H.I.M. does have a sense for dynamics instead of playing just quiet or loud, which is pretty typical of H.I.M.’s contemporaries. Don’t Fear the Reaper intriguingly reduces the volume at the end of the album and the female vocals and piano add hopeful tenderness. Greatest Lovesongs, Vol. 666 succeeds in pleasing everyone, whether they’re into rock or pop.

Track listing:
1. Your Sweet Six Six Six
2. Wicked Game-Chris Isaak cover
3. The Heartless
4. Our Diabolikal Rapture
5. Its All Tears (Drown in This Love)
6. When Love and Death Embrace
7. The Beginning of the End
8. (Dont Fear) The Reaper-Blue Oyster Cult cover
9. For You